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In the days and weeks leading up to last season’s Madison-Grant Sectional, Kokomo girls track and field coach Dave Barnes pulled off one of the great Lou Holtz impersonations of all time.
Like the sand-bagging former Notre Dame football coach, Barnes insisted time and time again his Wildkats didn’t have the depth necessary to unseat defending champion Western.
To that end, Barnes used four substitutes in the meet’s first event, the 4x800 relay — and finished last — then watched his girls dismantle the field and capture their 14th sectional title in 16 years by 38 points.
This year Barnes won’t have the luxury of sneaking up on anybody as the longtime Kokomo mentor welcomes back plenty of firepower from 2009 as well as a couple former regional qualifiers who missed last season.
“That’s fine,” Barnes said of having the target on the Kats’ back this season. “We’re kind of used to that.
“We’re proud of that [sectional record for the past 16 years]. Come and get us. We love great competition. We always have. That’s the beauty of it.”
Western, despite some key graduation losses, still has plenty of horses in the stable. Northwestern, which was slowed by injuries at sectional time, returns nearly everybody.
And Eastern, already flying high in cross country and basketball with the arrival of the Neeley twins Brittany and Bethany, is anxious to see what that dynamic duo can do on the track.
The more the merrier, says Barnes.
“You’ve got some great athletes out there,” he said. “Eastern has some outstanding freshmen, Western’s got some outstanding athletes, so I’m looking forward to some good competition.”
Taylor and Western opened their schedules Monday in Russiaville while Eastern hosts Northwestern today. Kokomo will host Maconaquah on Wednesday.
The following are capsules of the five Howard County teams in alphabetical order.
Eastern
The Comets return their top three scorers from last season to go along with a talented freshman class that captured the middle school Mid-Indiana Conference title a year ago.
Returnees Jordan Powell in sprints, Emily Wilcox in distance events and state qualifier Zoe Wolfe in the high jump lead the charge along with freshmen Brittany and Bethany Neeley, who led Eastern to its first-ever cross country sectional victory.
“We are going to be a young team with only two seniors, Sara McMahon and Lindsey Reprogle,” said coach Michael Goodspeed. “Both will run middle distance and fill out the 4x800 relay team.
“Based on the results of the cross country season, we should be much improved in the distance events.”
Also running distance are Danielle Comfort and freshman Sarah Wagner, another member of the cross country team.
Wolfe, a junior, is a two-time regional qualifier who won the sectional 300-meter hurdles as a freshman. She’s joined in the high jump by Wagner.
Both Neeleys long jump and qualified for the Hoosier State Relays 1A-3A Finals at Purdue University March 20, where Bethany’s fifth-place finish (16-10) helped Eastern also finish fifth.
Wilcox, Wolfe and both Neeleys teamed to finish second in the 4x400 relay in 4:12.10.
Demi Shafer has been slowed by injury but returns in the pole vault along with freshman Kayla Visser. Jessica Nelson leads the throws along with freshman Breann Donson and sophomore Taylor Hendrix.
In the sprints, Mercedes Rubow and Kayla Hight will join Powell and Liz White in the 100 and 200. In the 400 Joy Sommers, Brittany Neeley and Kelly Reed will provide punch. The hurdles should be strong with Wolfe in the 300 hurdles along with Powell, Reprogle, Rubow and Bethany Neeley.
“I anticipate having a great year for our program,” Goodspeed said. “We have a group of young ladies who are competitive and are working hard to put Eastern on the winning side of the ledger.
“We just want to improve every meet and get our underclassmen some experience so that we can win the big meets. I believe we have the potential to be the best team Eastern has ever fielded.”
Kokomo
Injury is about the only thing that can slow down the Kats as they seek not only a sectional championship but also their first North Central Conference title since 1987.
No fewer than three girls are recovering from offseason surgery, including sophomore Annika Taber, who captured sectional crowns in both the 800 and 1,600 meters as a freshman.
“That always is a question mark when they come back,” Barnes said of senior Hailey Rice, injured at the start of the 2009 season; senior Rachel Pace, who had surgery on her ankle during the diving season, and Taber.
“She’s working real hard,” Barnes said of Taber. “She always does.”
Rice was a regional qualifier as a freshman in the 300 hurdles. She’s joined by classmate Shelby Ransbottom, the 100 sectional champion as a freshman who also sat out last year’s meet.
Also returning is senior three-time regional qualifier Madi Cassidy in the 400, as well as senior three-time regional qualifier Whitney Weir in the 300 hurdles.
Add to that junior Brielle Bonnafon, the sectional lump jump winner; senior regional qualifier Clarissa Woodard in the discus and senior Kellie Miles, a regional qualifier in cross country, it’s easy to see why Barnes is high on this team.
“It’s a fun team to coach. There’s not a better time of my day than being with these young ladies. This is an outstanding group.
“The talent is there. If they’ll all work hard and things fall into place, I think we’ll have a pretty good year.”
Junior Emily Keller ran on all three relays at some point last spring and sophomore Courtney Gilman was sixth in the sectional 400 while classmates Portia Lang and Sarah Frey were seventh in the 100 and high jump respectively.
Barnes is excited about several freshmen, including Brayana Fowler (sprints), Samantha Johnson (hurdles, long jump) and Emily Parkhurst (discus).
“What’s kind of neat is that this group of freshmen remind me of these seniors when they were freshmen — same kind of work ethic, same kind of drive,” said Barnes. “They want to learn and they want to get better.”
Northwestern
The Tigers are led by a core of seniors that includes Lauren Dewhurst, Courtney Silvey, Sarah Lubben, Kara DeFabritis, Stephanie Colter and Allie Combs.
“They are going to be big leaders this year,” coach Mary Clem said. “What’s nice is you’ve got sprinters, hurdlers, long jump, high jump and throws, so we’re pretty well covered with seniors except in the distance events.
“So far they are showing a lot of leadership, probably the best I’ve seen.”
Silvey was sixth in both the 100 and 300 hurdles at Madison-Grant last year when Northwestern finished fourth despite the loss of DeFabritis, who won the sectional long jump as a sophomore.
Dewhurst was a member of the winning 4x800 and the second-place 4x400 relay teams, which return all but one girl.
Those relays include juniors Hannah Ault, a regional qualifier in the 1,600, and Rachel Lowden. Sophomore Kylie Ballard, also a sprinter, recently placed fifth in the high jump at the HSR Finals.
Ballard and Colter were third and fifth, respectively, in the sectional high jump in 2009.
Brittany Jocius (400, 1,600), Missy Ullmer (800), Jenna Lubben (200) and Tianna Oden (100 hurdles) are a quartet of returning sophomores, along with first-timer Nia Cobb and move-in Andrea Myers.
Joining Combs in the throws are sophomores Peyton Hite and Katie Cossell. Sophomore Mollie Daily returns in pole vault, along with Jenna Lubben and Anna Sloss.
Freshmen Heidi Freeman was a semistate qualifier in cross country last fall and classmates Elise Cobb, Addison Dubbels, Amanda Kuffel and Erin Kessler are all expected to contribute.
“I think we have a good group of girls who are going to round everything out and step up to the plate,” Clem said. “We’re hoping this is our year.”
Taylor
In just five seasons from 2005 to 2009, the Titans went from winning county, conference and sectional titles to last place at Madison-Grant last year.
Ironically, 2005 was the year first-time head coach Nick Weicht joined Taylor as an assistant. He replaces Alan Tunmer.
“What we really need is more girls out for track,” Weicht said. “That largely falls on me doing some recruiting, getting girls out.
“We’re going to have some new junior high coaches who are young and energetic and that will help too.”
Weicht has three seniors — Skylar Denman in the 300 hurdles and Mary Troyer and Rebecca Weirauch, both middle-distance runners. Troyer is also a returning pole vaulter.
Junior Halle Fletcher returns in both throws and also part of the 4x100 relay or even high jump. Sophomore Lesly Winburn has experience in the 3,200.
After that it’s mostly freshmen and sophomores with no experience like sophomore Ashley Faller in the hurdles, freshman Andria Eddington in the sprints and freshman Lindsay Sanchez in the 400, 800 and high jump.
Sophomore Brooke Barbary and freshman Katie Mullinax also run sprints and relays as well as Barbary and Eddington working at the long jump.
A pair of freshmen, Jordan Douglas and Jordan Wheeler, join Fletcher in the throws.
“I’m really excited that we’re looking at freshman, sophomore, freshman, sophomore,” said Weicht. “I’m excited we do have a lot of younger kids out and that they can bring in some younger kids next year too.
“This is a good start. We’ll start building from here.”
Western
The Panthers lost some heavy hitters including Nikki McCracken, the Kokomo Tribune’s all-time all-area pole vaulter; Cara Earlywine, the two-time sectional 100-meter champion, and four-year letter winner Jenn Elliott in the distance events.
On the plus side, one of three seniors returning to the team after taking a year off is all-purpose athlete Jennifer Dale.
“We really missed her last year,” coach Marvin Boswell said of Dale, a regional qualifier in two relays and pole vault as a sophomore.
“During the offseason she came to me and said, ‘I’d really like to come out. Would you take me back?’ And I said, ‘You bet I will!’ She’s going to be a tremendous asset in several areas.”
Dale and classmate Casey Herr will shore up the sprint corps that includes two-time regional qualifier Alleca Kerker, who had offseason foot surgery.
Sophomore Taylor Young will now be able to move to the shorter sprints after running the 400 last season, where junior Allison Everetts returns.
Sophomore Kim Grider will be called upon to fill McCracken’s shoes in the 100 hurdles along with freshmen Natylee Nation, Carley Lawhead and Madelin Duke.
“They’re the ones we’ll have to look to and hope they come along in time for the big meets,” said Boswell. “Hopefully we can be strong in some other events.”
Middle distance and distance events are stocked with experience in juniors Corianne Myer, Ashley Gaskins, Kayla Gaskins, Bre Nicholas and sophomore Krissy Durr as well as sophomore newcomer Gina Jakubowicz.
Sophomore Corinna Cottingham returns in pole vault, joined by Everetts and Herr. In long jump Dale has already been 16 feet, 4 inches indoors, finishing ninth at the HSR Finals. Everetts and Kerker also can long jump.
In high jump look for Dale, Nation or senior Maggie Talbert, also returning after taking some time off.
Caily Tanner unfortunately will not return for her sophomore year in the throws due to health complications, but junior move-in Breanna Cable has filled the void nicely. She was seventh at the HSR Finals. Freshman Katee Chandler and junior Britteny Cornelius are also vying for spots.
Boswell says it’s a good mix of athletes.
“We’ve got a good, core group of athletes who get excited when it comes time for track and field,” he said. “They like winning trophies and medals and they bond together as a team to make it a team effort. That’s really unique.” |
