Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, March 29, 2009

— For whatever reason, either to deflect attention or to send a message internally, it’s in almost every coach’s nature at one point or another to downplay the expectations of an upcoming season.

Try as he might, though, it’s going to be very difficult for Western boys track and field coach Marvin Boswell to soft-sell the Panthers for the upcoming outdoor campaign.

That’s because Western, after winning its second outright Kokomo Sectional title in 2008, captured the indoor Class A-3A of the Hoosier State Relays championship March 21 at Purdue University.

“That was phenomenal the way the kids came out and performed and what they were able to accomplish over there,” Boswell said of winning a mythical state title. “I was hoping we would be able to finish somewhere in the top five. The kids just came through with big times and ended up winning it fairly easily.”

To a man, the other Howard County coaches had but one word to describe the Panthers, who return 12 athletes with regional experience — loaded.

“It may look that way from the outside, but from the inside it’s one of those things that can look good but you just never know with injuries and everything else that can come along,” said Boswell, attempting to sound convincing. “You just are real skeptical about how good of a season you might have.”

The following are capsules of the five county teams in order of their sectional finish.

Western

The Panthers weren’t unscathed by graduation, losing Patrick Lennon, Alex Sigler and Kyle Young, but the cupboard is anything but bare.

Leading the way is senior Corey Scott, who after an outstanding cross country season, won the 3,200-meter race at Purdue a week ago in a blazing 9:22.93.

“Last year was frustrating for [Scott] just because he really struggled with some Achilles’ tendon problems,” Boswell said. “He just didn’t feel good and every time out he had pain when he ran. He is healthy right now and off to a great start.”

The sprints last year were ably manned by Jerel Hall and Kyle Brown.

Hall was a quadruple winner at sectional, capturing the 100 and 200 meters as well as the 4x100 and 4x400 relays along with Brown, who was second and third, respectively, in the 100 and 200.

Hall and Brown are seniors.

Boswell says Hall could step up to include the 400-meter dash to help fill the holes left by Sigler and Young, with sophomore Brad DiCarlo in there as well.

A pair of juniors, Lucas Luckey and track newcomer Jake Askren, should add depth in the sprints as well as the long jump, where Brown is the defending sectional champ.

Junior Indy Mathew will plug the gap left by Lennon. Mathew qualified for regional in the 300-meter hurdles last year and will be aided by classmate Aaron Van Auken. Mathew also is a long jumper.

Senior Zac Martinez returns in the 800 meters and 4x800 relay. Junior Kody Harmon was eighth in the 1,600 at sectional and classmate Austin Young is a nice compliment to Scott in the 3,200, where he was eighth at the Hoosier State Relays.

Western has the luxury of three pole vaulters capable of jumping 13 feet or better. They are seniors Dean Shepherd, Chris Harter and Trent Lawlyes.

Senior Bart Shepherd leads the throws as a regional qualifier in discus. He’s joined by classmate Russell Mueller and juniors Trevor Buckalew and Kevin Funk.

The Panthers are mostly untested at high jump. Senior Dalton Head returns with sectional experience and will be joined by freshman John Capps, newcomer Jamal Johnson and Van Auken.

Boswell believes the Panthers have the proper perspective about what lies ahead as they defend their sectional title.

“The thing that I’m just so tickled about is the amount of competition that we have on our team just to be in the top two people in each event,” said Boswell. “That’s probably the thing that helps us the most. You’d better be on it every day to keep your position.”

Northwestern

The Tigers made great strides in 2008, winning their own relays and the Mid-Indiana Conference title before finishing third at sectional — half a point ahead of host Kokomo.

Northwestern loses a pair of regional qualifiers in Cam Bannon and Quintin Burkett but with another large turnout, coach Dave Stevens is optimistic once again.

“Right now, we’re got so many guys doing so many things it’s hard to tell who’s going to be the best in each event,” Stevens said. “It’s kind of a luxury — I can live with it.”

One athlete who knows his place is senior Kory Kennedy, a three-time regional qualifier in the 3,200 meters, although he has yet to advance beyond regional to the state meet.

“We’re going to expand [Kennedy’s] role a little bit this year to see if we can’t help him get faster,” said Stevens. “That’s one of my goals, to get him to the next level.”

Senior Nathan Brun and juniors Michael Schulte and Jamey Werich return in the sprints, assisted by seniors Ben Catt, Eric Gale and Imhotep Thomas-Miller and underclassmen Corey Rupert, Jordan Wilson, Marcus Salazar and Justin Tryling. They will also handle long-jumping duties.

The strength of the team last season was in the middle distance and distance corps and they return nearly intact, including Ryan Pattison, Steve Vas and Mervis in the 400, regional qualifier Sam Freeman and Jeremy Robison in the 800, and Kennedy in the 1,600 and 3,200.

Junior Rob Brunner, sophomores Bryan Weaver and Nick Dannen and freshman Kylan Dubbels will fill the hurdles positions while sophomore Matt Johns, Dubbels, Brunner and Mervis take a shot at high jump.

Senior Brock Ford already has a personal-best this spring indoors in shot put (second at Hoosier State Relays) and was a regional qualifier in discus last year. Juniors Andy Hunkeler and Kyle Miller and sophomore Tanner Barton complete the throws.

Sophomores Chris Vas and Adam Fessenden hold down pole vault, along with senior newcomer C.J. Hansen, who may also help out in sprints and long jump.

“They’re all working hard and I’m proud of them,” Stevens said of his athletes. “They all want to take a full team to the regional. They don’t like this idea of only one or two going. They like my goal of getting one or two in each event.”

Kokomo

The Kats finished fourth at sectional last year after having placed fifth in the North Central Conference meet.

With 55 titles all-time to its credit, Kokomo hasn’t won its own sectional since 2006, a trend coach Tom Byrnes wants to see reversed.

“I don’t know how much better we’ll be but I’ve been very pleased with the efforts of the kids over the last month,” Byrnes said. “We have some young kids out who I think are really talented and are going to step up right away and be major contributors for us.”

Field events were a strength last year and the Wildkats return three individual regional qualifiers there — seniors Jerell Johnson (shot put) and Jeremy Gilman (pole vault) and sophomore John Alsup (long jump).

Senior Jacob Schick backs up Gilman in pole vault while Johnson is joined by senior returnees Cliff Burns, Doran Slater and David Sirmon in the throws.

Alsup is the son of 1990 state champion John Alsup Sr., the first in a long line of outstanding long jumpers for Kokomo in the 1990s. He’s joined by Diamanta Hayes, S.J. Moultrie and T.T. Catlett.

Also in the mix is Tyler Pigg, whose father, Jauron, was state runner-up twice and third once in long jump behind teammate and three-time champion Frankie Young.

High-jump duties fall to freshmen Dominic Wilson, Michael Clifton and Tony Moses, as well as senior Tyrone Brown, out for the first time.

Braxton Shelton and Onesimus Blackamore join Alsup, Clifton and Hayes in the sprints, with Darius Williams, Moses and Clifton in the 400 meters.

Sophomore Robert Lancaster, Terrail Johnson, Gilman and Williams are hurdlers.

Senior Ian Holtson anchors the distance corps anywhere from 800 to 3,200 meters, including the 4x800 relay team that won sectional a year ago.

Helping Holtson are Matt Wyss, Drew Simon, Vince Calabro, Kyle Wysong and Adrian Glover.

“The thing I am most pleased about is that some of our seniors, especially kids like Terrail Johnson, have really done a good job of being leaders for our young kids, and our kids are taking things a lot more seriously,” said Byrnes. “I’ve really enjoyed the spring so far and I just can’t wait until the competitive part of the season gets here.”

Eastern

Western isn’t the only local team sporting a state champion to start the season.

The 4x400 relay team of Hansen Martin, Drew Maple, Mitch Padfield, Brett Buckmaster captured the title at the Hoosier State Relays for the Comets, who were sixth at sectional in 2008.

“They’ve all gotten stronger and it’s going to be fun watching them,” coach Paul Nicholson said of his quartet of juniors. “I know they’re going to have their moments when they’ll get challenged, obviously, and maybe even beaten, but it’ll have to be a pretty fair team to do it. They really have a mission.”

Those four as well as classmates Kevin Jackson, runner-up at the Hoosier State Relays in pole vault; Caleb Gibson (distance), Dylan Buck (4x800, 4x100, 300 hurdles), Kelly Kingseed (long jump) and Chris Pratt (throws) form the nucleus of the team.

Buckmaster and Maple run the 400 meters, with Martin and Padfield in the 800.

“I told them two years ago that going into their junior year we’re done with any [excuses] why we shouldn’t be good, and they obviously understand that,” said Nicholson. “They know there’s no reason to not be a threat this year.”

Seniors are J.R. Johnson (throws), Paul Scheidler (hurdles), Cody Young (distance) and Seth Kirchner (hurdles). Sophomore Cale Roark returns in the sprints and long jump along with classmate Ryan Horner, the MVP of the cross country team, in the distance events.

Blake Donson is back in discus and high jump, along with classmates Bruce Turner (sprints) and Reid LaRowe (hurdles). Freshmen Sam Clark (distance), Braden Barnett (high jump) and Blake Thomas (sprints) will all have an immediate impact.

“We’re going to be competitive in several events,” Nicholson said. “It remains to be seen how we are in the distance events and our sprinters are sort of untested.”

Taylor

The Titans look to rebound with improved numbers after finishing 12th at sectional.

They’ve made strides already after beating Tipton last week, their first dual-meet win in a couple years.

“I’ve been very pleased with the effort,” said Taylor coach Steve Hanlon. “Effort’s not going to be an issue with this group. The numbers help a lot. It’s going to be interesting to watch the kids progress.”

Hanlon will rely heavily on a pair of outstanding performers from a year ago, senior Shawn Fogleman and junior Austen Conwell.

Fogleman, the area’s offensive player of the year in football, qualified for regional last year in the 100 meters and returns in the sprints and long jump. Joining Fogleman in both events is freshman Gordon Jenkins.

Another sprinter is junior Walt Wheeler (as well as high jump), with sophomore Billy Jones and junior Cody Skalf in the 400 meters and foreign-exchange student Andrea Ghilotti in either the 400 or 800.

Conwell was a double regional qualifier in the hurdles and finished sixth in the 55-meter hurdles at the recent Hoosier State Relays.

“Austen ran well over [at Purdue] and he ran well [in the dual meet],” said Hanlon. “We’re hoping for a big year out of him.”

Freshman Julian Nieto will have an impact in the distance events, along with sophomore returnee Anthony Rentz and first-time junior Justin Anderson, who went under five minutes in 1,600 last week.

Throws will be handled by seniors Andrew Rusch, Matt Williams, Justin Welsh and Chris Ellison.

Seth Stockdale is trying his hand at pole vault, but Hanlon admitted they could use some help.

“Quite frankly, we’re looking for a vault coach,” he said. “You either know how to coach it or you don’t. It’s such a technique event. If we could find a local coach willing to give us a hand, that would be great.”