BOYS TRACK: Howard County season preview

Much like last year, Kokomo’s boys track and field team enters this season seemingly ahead of the curve on the heels of another highly successful campaign, one that saw the Kats win their 60th sectional championship last May.

Several key components are gone from that squad, but with a big group out and state qualifier Andrecus Eddington back for his senior campaign, the Kats look poised for another successful run.

According to head coach Tom Byrnes, 2017 “has some big shoes to fill but overall numbers of athletes are up a little with 50 kids out. Part of this is because of football coach Brett Colby and basketball coaches Matt Moore and Phil Cox working hard to encourage some of their athletes to run track.”

Eddington made his first trip to state last season after posting a lightning fast 11.15 in the 100 dash to take first in the Warsaw Regional. He’ll lead a strong returning sprint corps that also features several lettermen in senior Caleb Cook, juniors Tyler Shelly and Joseph Nieto, and sophomores Julian Wallace and Andra’ Nash, who all look to be major contributors.

“The key to the sprints may be our rookies, who show some natural talent but have a lot to learn about track and field and finding the right spot for them to help fill in the missing pieces,” Byrnes said of several new faces looking to bolster the sprints crew.

Those sprinters include three juniors in Antonio Jones, Brody Smith and Qin Wei Yang, and a pair of sophomores in Adidas Clark and Shemar Robinson. From there, Byrnes is looking at several freshmen to make noise. They include Quincy Armstrong, Jeremy Baker, Kohl Beard, Alex Bolinger, Elias Fuentes, Malakai Smiley, Daniel Smith, Chris Thomas and Gene Yang.

Juniors Cory Dea, Max Esponda, Justin Taflinger and senior Coy Brandon highlight the distance crew. Alex Ward is another strong junior getting into shape to compete in distance runs. Freshman Nat Elkin and juniors Noah Gallagher, Austin Shapiro and Casey Lawson are also in the mix, and sophomore Keegan Paul will add depth in the 800.

The Kats lost plenty of experience in the hurdles but return Wallace and Nash, a pair who Byrnes said started developing last season, as well as freshman newcomer Armstrong, who is showing early promise.

Leading the throwers are juniors Gavin Bitner and Nathan Pine. Bitner looks like the top shot putter, while Pine leads the discus throwers.

Nieto and Shelly, along with sophomores Drake Blackburn and Paul Lancaster, all return to pole vault, while Nash and Wallace return in the high jump and senior Terrance Armstrong and sophomore DeShawn Winston are returning long jumpers.

“If the kids will work hard this spring and continue to be coachable, this spring could be another championship season,” Byrnes said.

The following are looks at the other Howard County teams.

---

EASTERN

A 2002 Eastern grad, Kyle Hannah, steps in for his first season as head coach after previously assisting former coach Paul Nicholson at the varsity level while also coaching at the Comet middle school level.

“I just want to step in and get the stability back and get this program back on top where it used to be,” Hannah said of his goals out of the gate. “Eastern has always been a special place to me. This school helped me become the man I am today.”

In terms of numbers, Hannah says 34 are out for the squad, with half of those coming from a big freshman class.

“The last couple of years I think the numbers have been down a little bit,” Hannah said. “This is a bigger freshman class, with a lot of talent in the freshman and sophomore class. My goal was to get to 40 and we’re close to that. We have 17 freshmen, eight sophomores, six juniors and three seniors.”

The Comets’ three seniors are Ben Cole, Lucas VanMatre and exchange student Gustaf Sidén. Sidén is a mid-distance runner, while VanMatre is someone Hannah says “we can put anywhere, an excellent athlete who will probably run the 4x400 relay and the 100, 200 and 400.” And Cole will likely fit into the 4x100 relay team and possibly the low hurdles as well as his expertise, the pole vault.

“He’s got a shot to do something in pole vault,” Hannah said. “He’s pretty excited for his senior season and has really stepped it up in pole vault.”

Dontae Nolder spearheads the junior class. Nolder advanced to last year’s Warsaw Regional after taking third in the 100 dash at the Kokomo Sectional.

Nolder, who also has the ability to put up big numbers in both the long and high jump, will be a staple of the 100 and 200 as well as anchoring the 4x100 relay.

Another junior, Aren Turner, will focus on the pole vault while he is also transitioning to sprints.

“We’re probably strongest in our sprints,” Hannah said. “We’ve got a decent group of distance runners too. Our juniors in the distance runs are really taking charge. I trust them a lot.”

Caleb Price and Josh Reprogle are the juniors Hannah is looking to in the distance runs, while sophomores Seth Snyder and Jack Johnson will be leaned on in the distance runs as well.

Another sophomore, Dakota Spencer, will be a sprinter and long jumper who is in the mix for relay action as well.

Junior Tyler Hurston and freshman Zain Graber will primarily handle shot put duties, while two more freshmen, Asher Walden and Nathan Lam, will be throwers as well.

“We’ve got a very deep freshman class,” Hannah said. “I’m really liking that guys are starting to buy into the mentality that this will get them ready for other sports. When we were strong four or five years ago, we were strong in other sports as well.”

Hannah’s already got a good start on first year goals.

“The first thing was to build our numbers up from the year before, which we’ve done,” Hannah said. “I think our other goals right now are to focus on the [Hoosier Heartland] Conference and then getting as many guys out of the sectional as possible. From there, the third thing is getting one guy, whoever that may be, to the state finals.”

Eastern opens the season at Taylor in a three-way meet with Tipton on April 4.

---

NORTHWESTERN

Numbers are up for the Tigers, with several newcomers joining the fray.

“We’re glad that our numbers are back up, we’re in the low 40s range right now, up from last year, but probably the largest percentage of first-year track guys compared to other years,” longtime Tigers coach Dave Stevens said. “They are working hard at trying to learn track and all in all I’m very pleased with their performance on a day-to-day practice basis.”

Northwestern suffered a big graduation loss with Owen Munson, who took fourth in the 400 dash at state last season, but will field 15 seniors.

“I’ve got a good group of seniors. Many have been with me four years of cross country and now four years of track,” Stevens said.

Senior Joe Mast returns as a main cog of the sprint squad. He’ll run the 200 and 400 as well as the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. He also returns as the No. 1 high-jumper after advancing to regionals with a third-place jump at last year’s Kokomo sectional.

Other seniors in the sprint crew include Christian O’Donnell, who will be the lead high and low hurdler as well as spending time in the 400 and 4x400, and newcomer Charlie Devaul, who will run the 100 and 200 and has a strong chance in the 4x100 as well. Devaul is also capable of handling jumps.

Junior Grant Ford will be the lead 100 runner, possibly run the 200 and be a solid member of the 4x100. Classmate Joe Johns will run the 400 as well as the 4x100, 4x400 and possibly the 200. Johns, who has “spent the last two years showing lots of steady improvement,” according to Stevens, is also a long jumper.

Seniors Spencer Hutchins and Brayden Chou will handle 400 and 800 middle distance runs.

Stevens likes what he is seeing from freshmen Ethan Kinney, Elijah Collins and Austin O’Neal in the sprints and jumps. Kinney and O’Neal are showing promise in both the long and high jumps, while Elijah Collins, whose twin brother Ethan Collins will contribute in middle distance 400 and 800 events, will be a sprinter.

Senior Jeremy Jakes is set to handle 1,600 and 4x800.