Kokomo — As winter grudgingly loosens its grip on spring, the boys track and field season can’t get geared up fast enough for some local athletes who have enjoyed a successful indoor season.

Kokomo senior John Alsup captured the long-jump title for Class 4A-5A at the Hoosier State Relays March 19 at Purdue University while Western senior Jeff Stout hauled in top honors for pole vault in Class 1A-3A.

Both hope to lead their teams to a championship when the IHSAA State Tournament begins May 19 with the Kokomo Sectional.

The following are capsules of the five Howard County teams in order of their 2010 sectional finish.

Kokomo

The Wildkats returned to the top of their sectional in 2010 after a four-year hiatus, then nearly captured their first regional crown in 15 years, narrowly losing to South Bend Washington by a single point.

“The kids are excited about the outdoor season getting here and seeing what it all looks like when we put it together,” says coach Tom Byrnes, who welcomes back a handful of state qualifiers, including Alsup.

Alsup won the regional long jump a year ago and wound up fifth in the state. He was second in the regional 200, third in the 100 and helped the 4x400 relay team finish second for the Kats, ranked 20th in this year’s preseason poll.

“And to be honest, in practice we had done nothing for the high jump or long jump,” Byrnes said. “Coach [Phil] Cox just joined us from basketball, and all I tried to do was make sure John was on the board. He jumped very well.”

Senior Robert Lancaster was a state qualifier in the 110-meter hurdles and teams with junior Taylor Killings to provide an outstanding 1-2 punch in the hurdles. Junior Michael Clifton was a part of the 4x400 team and will be strong in 100, 200 and 400. Sophomores Troy Soloman and Brycen Morgan should also add some quality depth in the sprints.

Senior Adrian Glover will compete anywhere from the 800 (2nd in the regional) to the 3,200, where he finished sixth at the HSR this spring. He’s also a member of the 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams, along with junior Tyler Pigg (400, 800) and sophomore Waylon Coulter, who also pole vaults.

Sophomores Brent Noll and Minh Pham will concentrate on the 1,600, the 3,200 and the 4x800 relay. Freshmen Jeremy Breedlove, Jordan Fivecoate and Joe Williams all man distance events.

In the field Alsup is joined by Harvey Lenoir in long jump. Morgan joins Coulter in pole vault along with newcomer Zacc Truman. One area without any returnees is high jump, where Tyler Gaillard and Jaylin Waldon will have to adapt.

Throwers Jake Roberson, Andrew Van Meter, Michael Zehner and Christian Collins will try to replace the graduated David Sirmons, a state qualifier in shot put, and Vincent Jackson.

“I realize some of our good kids are real good kids, but the big thing for us is ... some of our younger kids have to step up and fill some areas we’re weak in,” said Byrnes.

“It would be nice to win a regional but we’re just going to take it one week at a time. That’s two months from now, and if everything comes together maybe we’ll have a shot at it. But we’ve got to score some points out of pole vault and high jump and throws.”

Eastern

In addition to winning county and Mid-Indiana Conference titles, the Comets finished a strong second at sectional, thanks to heavy contributions from graduated seniors Kevin Jackson, who wound up second in the state in pole vault; Hansen Martin, Mitch Padfield, Brett Buckmaster, Dylan Buck, Caleb Gibson and Kelly Kingseed.

“We obviously miss the leadership [of those seniors]. They led by example,” coach Paul Nicholson said. “[Their leadership was] contagious and hopefully we have an epidemic going here.”

Eastern sent 13 team members to the Class 1A-3A HSR finals, where senior Reid LaRowe placed fourth in the 55-meter high hurdles. High jumpers Blake Donson and Braden Barnett tied for sixth and the 4x800 relay team of freshman Lewis Duke, Adam Schaaf, Sam Clark, and senior Ryan Horner was 10th out of 24 teams.

Other qualifiers were senior Cale Roark and Blake Thomas (sprints, long jump), senior Logan Hetzner-Stephens and Gatlin Hinesley (400, pole vault), Clay Marner and freshman Will Porter (sprints, relays) and Grant Cole (hurdles).

Donson last season equaled the Kokomo Tribune All-Area mark in discus with a throw of 177 feet, 5 inches, a 30-year-old record. He placed sixth in the state finals.

Joey Price joins Donson in throws along with James Reed, Chris Travis, Micah Thomas and Levi Marx. Upperclassmen John Horner, Uriah Cook and Brandon Marx, sophomores Josh Mentis, Josiah Marx and Jonah Evans, as well as freshmen Luke Banner, Matt Lamb and Josh Sommers should bolster the Comet cause.

Nicholson said his athletes understand there might be some payback for their success in 2010.

“Nobody lays over and plays dead after getting beat by Eastern,” said Nicholson. “We have a target on our backs but it’s a nice target to have.

“We’ll do our best and hopefully, barring injury, we can be very competitive.”

Western

The Panthers played second fiddle to Eastern in the county and MIC meets and slipped to fourth at the Kokomo Sectional after winning back-to-back championships in 2008-09.

Coach Marvin Boswell says focusing on recapturing a sectional crown is their top priority.

“That’s the ultimate goal,” said Boswell, who will have the responsibility of coaching only the boys this season.

“We set our sights on winning the sectional. We figure if we have a team that can win sectional, then all the other meets should take care of themselves.”

To that end Boswell will mix several veterans with a burgeoning freshman class of 28 athletes, some of whom have already proven themselves at the varsity level.

They include Matt Grider (7th in the 3,200 at the HSR) and Austin Elliott, who helped the cross country team recapture a sectional title and qualify for semistate. They combine with seniors Chris Love and Chris Nunan to form a potent distance corps.

Senior Garrett Welker leads the sprints, as well as James Davis, Matt Riley and freshmen Christian Glenn, Kelvin Johnigan and Ben Lenahan. Welker also teams with Stout in the pole vault, along with freshman Grant Harbaugh.

“Garrett had a great offseason,” said Boswell. “He has gone to work in the weight room, gotten a lot stronger and I think he’s going to turn some heads when the season opens. Some of the people who have beaten him in the past, he’s now going to be able to beat.”

Seniors Ben Bradshaw, John Davis and Chris Riley and freshmen Dustin Hinkle and Dmario Young man the middle distances from 400 to 800 meters.

Jacob Hopkins returns in hurdles alongside Nick Braden and several freshmen learning the craft, such as Braedon Cannon, Zac Simpson, Chris Carter, Brandon Silvers and Harbaugh.

Matt Riley qualified for the HSR in both high jump, finishing fourth, and long jump. He’s joined in the jumps by senior Brice Sheets, Stout, Welker and Glenn.

Senior Dakota Bagwell will lead Hudson Featherstone, Jake Boswell, Brad Penning, Calvin Park and freshmen Austin Berndt and Brett Boswell in the throws.

“By having the numbers out that we do and this quality freshman class that we have, our depth has improved quite a bit,” Boswell said. “I really think that’s going to make us stronger this year.”

Northwestern

The Tigers finished last season sixth at sectional and begin 2011 with a full stable of 64 athletes — half of which are freshmen or newcomers to the program.

“Our philosophy is to get the numbers first and then we do our best after that to do things right,” said coach Dave Stevens. “That puts the pressure on me and the assistant coaches to figure out where they belong.

“And the boys are working hard at whatever we ask them to do. That’s what makes it fun.”

This spring senior Austin Finley placed sixth in the high jump at the HSR indoor finals and helped classmates Sam Freeman, Bryan Weaver and sophomore James Schulte place seventh in the 4x400 relay.

Weaver returns as the team’s leading hurdler and Freeman sets the pace in middle distance. He was fifth in the sectional 800 meters a year ago.

Stevens needs a big effort in the sprints to replace Marcus Salazar, still recovering from a broken leg in football, and the graduated Cory Rupert.

The list of candidates includes Justin Tryling, Nick Daanen, Ian Witter, Brandon Curry and freshmen Keegan Fessenden and Cameron Oden.

“Right now I’m waiting [until after] a couple meets to really see who shows up,” Stevens said. “We can run them to death indoors but until they get on that [track] it’s hard to tell.”

Distance events will be manned by seniors Nolan Cockrell, Billy Pasquale and Adam Fessenden, juniors Ian Moss and Jacob Heredos, sophomores Austin Hartman and Chris Hendricks and freshmen Logan Redman, Charlie Neher and Zach Duranto.

Senior all-state footballer Tanner Barton is a newcomer in throws while junior Ray Monroe returns the most experience. Seniors Aaron Henson, Donald Luckey and Carson Eller and juniors Kyle Hardwick and Jesse Hunt round out the group.

Joining Finley in high jump are sophomores David Wilkinson, Adam Leach and Curry. Regional qualifier Chris Vas returns in pole vault along with Ethan Ault. Witter, Tryling, Oden, Keegan Fessenden, freshman Tyler Martin and Daanen, if needed, will attempt to replace Salazar and Rupert in long jump.

Taylor

The Titans were 10th at sectional last season and lost their leading scorer, hurdler/sprinter Austen Conwell.

Coach Steve Hanlon has only 17 or 18 athletes in the fold, a mix of returnees and newcomers.

“We are thin in most places except distance runners,” coach Steve Hanlon said. “Numbers are an issue and we don’t have much experience.”

One area of strength for Hanlon could be distance, with juniors Julian Nieto, Colin Osman, newcomer Stephan Wallace and senior Billy Jones in the 400 and 800.

Ben Sanchez returns in shot put with Bo Bolinger in the discus, joined by Kaleb Bitner. Sophomore Jayshon Jones was eighth in the 300 hurdles at sectional a year ago and senior Seth Stockdell returns in sprints and pole vault.

One of the first-timers, senior Christian Harvey, was a middle-school sprint champion.

“We’re going to be there. We’re trying to combine working hard with having fun,” said Hanlon. “Hopefully some of them will develop.”