Kokomo Tribune - Tuesday, March 28, 2012

—The 2012 Howard County girls track and field season offers plenty of promise.

Team-wise, Kokomo is the defending Madison-Grant Sectional champion while Eastern is hungry for a shot at its second sectional title in three years. The Wildkats edged the Comets by five points, 127-122, for the 2011 title and the squads are expecting another battle this year.

Kokomo coach Dave Barnes expects more than a two-team battle for the 2012 title.

“I think the team that people need to take a look at is Northwestern because they’re very balanced this year. And, Western has some very good athletes,” he said.

Individually, Howard County returns five athletes who have state finals experience — Kokomo shot putter Summer Blackamore, Eastern runners Bethany Neeley and Brittany Neeley, Eastern high jumper Sarah Wagner and Northwestern high jumper Kylie Ballard.

Barnes noted the Neeley twins make Eastern a formidable squad once again — and also an easy opponent for which to root.

“They are great ladies. I love them,” Barnes said, noting their support during his battle with cancer. “As long as I have the Neeley twins if I’m a coach, I’m competitive in the big meets because they can score a lot of points. I think they’re both capable of winning individual state titles this year.

“I don’t know if we have the depth to offset [Eastern] this year. Last year we had the depth — we scored twice in about every event,” he added. “Teams with depth like Northwestern, Oak Hill and Western will have a whole lot to say about the outcome.”

The following are looks at the five county teams, in order of how they finished in the sectional last year.

Kokomo

Barnes returns some experience from his sectional championship squad including seniors Courtney Gilman, Stacia Fletcher, Annika Taber and Sarah Frey and junior Madison Thompson.

Gilman was the squad’s co-MVP last year. She was the sectional runner-up in the 400 dash. Fletcher runs the 300 low hurdles, Taber is a middle distance runner who might see time in the 300 hurdles this year and Frey and Thompson are high jumpers.

Other seniors in the Kats’ camp include high jumper Courtney Hutchison, long jumper Portia Lang and middle distance runner Rosie Levine.

Blackamore is part of a talented sophomore class. She swept the shot put and discus events in the sectional meet, then was runner-up in the shot in the Bremen Regional. She finished 19th in the event at the state meet.

“In our inter-squad meet [Wednesday], she threw 38 in the shot and threw 100 in the discus,” Barnes said.

Kokomo’s throwers also include junior Emily Parkhurst and freshmen Mykayla Fowler and Gabby Taylor.

“We’re strong in the field events,” he added, noting the Kats also have some promising high jumpers and long jumpers.

The Kats’ sophomore class also shows Raven Pugh, Ma-Ryssa Martin, Brianna Lancaster and Iesha Wallace. Last year, they teamed to win the 4x100 relay in the sectional and Wallace also qualified for the regional in the 100 dash. They picked up where they left off, qualifying for the 2012 indoor state meet in the 4x200 relay.

Another talented sophomore is Anh Pham, who set a school record a year ago by clearing 10 feet in the pole vault. She was a sectional champion.

Pham, juniors Brayana Fowler and Briana Ash and freshmen Alex Anderson, Darryelle Cole and Sharde Young are competing for spots on the speed relay. Junior Erica Goodman will lead the middle distance crew and Barnes noted she is looking good in the 800. Junior Kierra Bronson is back in the 1,600 and juniors Ashley Pervez, Alyson Rohlfing and Briel Robinson offer depth in the distance events.

Junior Addy Takacs, a promising sprinter, will miss the season while recovering from knee surgery.

Kokomo has finished as runner-up in the North Central Conference three straight years. Barnes noted Huntington North looks like “a powerhouse this year,” Anderson and Richmond are on the rise and Marion has some good athletes in specific events.

“The conference is getting much, much more competitive,” he said.

Eastern

The Comets are led by the Neeley twins and Wagner.

“This trio of junior runners gives Eastern a lot of strength in events from 400 to 3,200 meters as well as longer relays,” Eastern coach Michael Goodspeed said.

Last year, the Neeleys and Wagner carried the Comets to a runner-up finish in the sectional. Bethany Neeley won the 800 run and 300 low hurdles and was second in the 100 hurdles. Brittany Neeley won the 200 and 400 dashes. Wagner won the 1,600 run, took second in the 3,200 and tied for second in the high jump. In addition, both Neeleys ran on the winning 4x400 relay team and Wagner and Brittany Neeley ran on the winning 4x800 relay team.

All three reached the state meet, in an individual event apiece. There, Bethany Neeley took second in the 800 run in 2:11.58, Brittany Neeley took fifth in the 400 in :57.02, the Neeleys helped Eastern’s 4x400 relay team take eighth place and Wagner was 20th in the high jump after clearing 5-2.

Eastern began the 2012 season with a strong fourth-place finish among Class 3A-2A-A football schools at the indoor state meet. The distance medley team of Wagner, Brittany Neeley, Bethany Neeley and freshman Avery Ewing set an indoor state record.

Goodspeed believes “our team has a good shot at taking the [Mid-Indiana Conference] this year as well as threatening Kokomo for the sectional crown.”

The Comets were second in both meets last season.

Eastern’s roster also shows seniors Demi Shafer (pole vault/hurdles), Jordan Powell (sprints), Taylor Hendrix (throws), Hannah Kelly (jumps) and Brittney Anderson (distance) and freshmen (middle distance) and Danielle Reed (throws). Goodspeed noted both freshmen had good indoor performances.

In addition, newcomers Hannah Kelly and Elena White are expected to make impacts in the sprints and jumps.

Northwestern

Coach Mary Clem likes the mix of seniors and freshmen she sees in the Tigers’ camp.

“We had a good turnout. We have 40 girls on the team,” she said. “We have a solid group of seniors. Leading us off is Kylie Ballard, who won indoor state in high jump and is a returner from state last year.”

Northwestern’s senior class also includes Tianna Oden, Peyton Hite, Britanny Jocius, Mollie Daily, Nia Cobb, Jenna Lubbem and Kristina Arslain.

In the 2011 sectional, Ballard tied for second in the high jump, Oden was sixth in the 100 dash, Hite was seventh in the discus and Jocius was eighth in the 1,600 run. They helped Northwestern to a fourth-place finish in the 12-team field.

Junior Hannah Treadway and sophomore Amber Miller are also back from the sectional roster. Treadway took sixth in shot put and Miller took second in long jump and tied for fifth in pole vault.

Miller is a versatile athlete who also will help in sprints this year.

“I think our field events are going to be strong this year and our sprints are always pretty strong,” Clem said. “Our distance is where we’re a little weak, but we have enough girls that we can move around and we haven’t decided who goes where yet.

“We have a bunch of freshmen. They’re looking good, but we have to see how they are. A couple of them are going to be pretty strong, I think.”

One of the freshman is Hannah Ballard, who is joining her older sister in the high jump. Clem noted Hannah Ballard is new to the event, but is showing promise.

Northwestern, which tied Eastern in its season opener Tuesday, hosts Western today.

Clem thanked Pete Schroer for filling in for her while she has tended to a family medical matter. Clem also noted the squad has a new throwing coach, Adam Ferguson.

“We’re excited. I think the throwing will get a lot better,” she said.

Western

Coach Joni McCracken noted her squad was able to hit the ground running when the season opened this week.

“We did a great job of doing some preseason training this year,” she said. “We got started a little bit earlier. Some of the girls started before Christmas and then we kind of got started as a group after Christmas. One of the positive things about that was I have an extremely young team and not only are [the newcomers] young, they’re green. I have kids who had never been to a track meet in their lives so we used the indoor season as an introduction to how meets are ran.”

The Panthers, who will look to improve on a sixth-place finish in the 2011 sectional, have approximately 35 athletes. McCracken points to the throwing events as potential strengths.

“We have senior Caily Tanner returning. She was a regional qualifier last year. She is our stable base in that crew,” she said.

In the sectional, Tanner took second in the shot put.

“Junior Katee Chandler also is returning and she is improving,” McCracken added. “Then we have two new throwers and I think they’ll make our throwing crew stronger and they are freshman Cybil Johnson and sophomore Faith Mooney. Faith has always just ran and we put her in discus this year and she is coming along really well.”

Another strong event for the Panthers is the pole vault where senior Corinna Cottingham returns. She was second in the sectional last year.

The Panthers’ sprinters include senior Taylor Young, freshmen Lexi Everhart and Madi Shepherd and sophomore Sara Blume. Young primarily will focus on the 400 while Shepherd is pegged for the 100 and 200. Everhart is a versatile athlete will see time in the 100, 200, 400, hurdles and long jump.

The distance crew includes senior Katie Singer and freshmen Emma Nixon, Nicole Hampshire, Amanda Seaman and Emily Mullens.

McCracken noted about half of the squad is freshmen.

“I wouldn’t say we have a lot of depth, but we have a lot of potential,” she said. “There are some spots open. High jump and long jump are open for anyone to fill into. We have five freshmen who are high jumping and long jumping so we’ll see.”

Western, which opened with a victory over Taylor on Monday, visits Northwestern today.

Taylor

The Titans have 18 girls, a slight improvement from the previous two seasons.

“It may seem small, but we’re growing so I’m happy with that,” coach Nick Weicht said. “And what I’m really happy with workout-wise is we have a lot of girls who come out and work [with] good attitudes. That creates room for improvement.

“The biggest goal is really to improve and to come out each night and put in the work needed to improve and to do the best that we possibly can. We have some girls who are going to be pretty successful.”

Taylor finished 10th in the sectional last year.

The Titans’ top returning athletes are seniors Ashley Fowler (hurdles) and Kassadye Hook (distance) and junior Andria Eddington (sprints).

“We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores,” Weicht added. “A sophomore who I think is going to improve this year is Kim Seal in the hurdle events and the 4x100 relay. She is starting to figure out her potential. And Lauran Reece in the throws, I think she is going to make a jump this year. She is going to have a learning curve, but she is going to have some success.”

Weicht noted there are opportunities for everyone on the team to contribute in some way.

“We still have a small team and we understand that so everybody is going to be running and probably going to be doing more than one event per night. So, that’s one of the nice things — they all get work in,” he said.

Taylor, which opened its season Monday against Western, will resume action following spring break.