Big questions for Track and Field for 2018...

Track and Field has begun.....

Yes...we are up and going for our Indoor Track and Field season...really the first of its kind in our school history. On November 30th at Colorado School of Mines we had five enterprising student-athletes take part in our first club Indoor competition of the year. 

 

We are super excited to see this level of interest and excitement for our sport. To have the effort to improve that we have seen already for Track and Field has been really impressive and has not gone unnoticed. Coach Gysin has been working extremely hard to bring about a new culture of Track and Field in our school.  So far so good as we have seen some great effort already by the student -athletes who have been coming to practice.

With Cross Country 2017 in the rearview mirror and Track and Field 2018 now ahead of us, we can start to look at what are the big questions to consider going forward.

Dimy Dobrev

What impact will Indoor season have on Outdoor Season?

Training will always give you a chance to improve. Getting to compete a little and work on technique and mental focus should also have an impact. Outside of distance events, all other events sprinting, jumping, throwing should see huge gains from being a part of the indoor season. The schedule and information for Indoor meets can be found by clicking on the link here:

INDOOR MEETS AND INFO 

Along with these meets, Coach Gysin has instituted some general testing throughout the winter to gauge progress.





How big of an impact will our Freshman girls make?

We have exciting and impactful young ladies in our midst. The Chloe's...Piegat and Meehan are bringing a ton of experience and competitive fire to our team in the sprints. Savannah Jones is an athletic young lady, currently playing basketball for our Lady Eagles, what potential does she hold for us? What other freshman from other sports will come out in the spring and help us build something special this year? By many accounts and rumors we have a lot of impactful freshman girls considering and or planning to be a part of our team in the spring.

How will Hayes, Mossbrucker, Wilkerson and Iarusso build on their previous year performances?

Certainly Indoor Track will be a big part of this, but these four girls along with some others I am about to mention are the core of our returning ladies with on paper potential to score at the League meet. They are an really really great group and with some hard work matched with their talent, they will be huge part of our team success this year.

Maya Nefs and Sydney Hoffman....???

These two are multi sport ladies who we shared in the spring with Hockey (Maya) and Lacrosse (Sydney) in 2017. They are very talented and if we can get them just a bit more somehow in 2018 it will be really fun to see what they can accomplish this year. Maya made the state meet last season in the 400m and will have opportunity to re write our record book should she be healthy and fit (see below). Sydney has a lot of potential to help Maya and company break some relay records and score well for us at league.

What if we get our basketball ladies throwing the discus? and  some others throwing the shot?

Really good athletes from basketball have been known to show some ability in the discus, I simply think it would be an interesting experiment to have Alexa, Skylar and Savanah use the athleticism they have to see if they can have an impact in the throws. Sydney Hoffman is another athletic young lady that might be able to come in and get another event for us by throwing the shot or disc. Throwing is about speed and athleticism and we need to get more of our kids trying it to see if it becomes another event for them to do in meets that will help us score a bit more points.


Can a thrower breakthrough?


We have not seen much of Jack Pool over the last few months, but knowing he spent a little time working on his craft with coach Amy this summer, he is a big part of this question being answered. Jack has potential to get to a number 3 all time Dakota Ridge performance in the Discus this year. He threw 123-1 last year and only needs a 15 foot PR to get into that #3 spot in Dakota Ridge history. Very do able for Jack. Kyle Cannon is a sophomore now and carries a TON of potential in the Discus as well. His growth and improvement might be the difference for us at the League meet. What if Kyle and Jack can get us points in the Discus this year at league? That could prove huge to us. Equally as intriguing is our other sophomores Izaak McWilliams, Ethan Gough and Joe Carlson. All of these guys had strong freshman years and each carries their own degree of talent and desire. While I have heard rumors of a couple of these guys not coming out for Track and Field, certainly we will hopefully see them. They are really really great kids and we would love to have them out throwing for us.... Speaking of getting out for the team this spring...

On the boys side...Where will we get some student-athletes?

 Emmanuel Mwinbong gave use a spark in 2016

In an incredibly competitive spring sports environment where will we find some guys who will score points for us at the League meet and or have a chance to make the State meet? With Rugby, Lacrosse, baseball, club soccer and spring football... its become a divided and fractured spring season year in year out. Over the last few years...we have the biggest impact for our team from the multi-sport athlete who is taking part in a couple different sports in the spring. Cale Ferrin (4th in State High Jump 2016) and Nick Cohn, (school record holder in 100m and 4th in State 100m 2015) both football players have had recent big time success in Track and Field. In addition we have had some very nice success with Soccer players. Dimy Dobrev is our current soccer to Track and Field success story and we have had others...Chris Taylor and Emmanuel Mwinbong recent graduates come to mind. Regardless of what others will say about our program, I can only make this appeal...We will honor your work in other sports as long as we can get commitment to help us when it matters most at league and state should any student-athlete qualify. Track Field offers a unique experience where low impact but steady training and competing can be a huge benefit to your athleticism. If you are reading this and interested in what we have to offer come talk to us at pre-season practice this winter.

How many Boys will break 5 minutes in the 1600m and 11 minutes in the 3200m? 

We have the best boys distance TEAM in school history this year. Last year we had 10 guys break 5 in the 1600m... and 9 break 11 in 3200m It is conceivable we get 12-13 for both events this year if we get a good winter of training.

How many Girls will break 6 minutes in 1600m and 13 minutes in 3200m?

It will be fun for our girls team to chase these marks...last year we had 4 break 13 minutes in 3200m and had 4 break 6 in the 1600m...but we have a lot of returners who ranged from 6:00-6:15 in the 1600m and you add some freshman distance ladies in the mix and we will shatter last years numbers in this these events for sure.

What School Records will fall this year? Here are some possibilities... 

 Boys 300m Hurdles---Dimy Dobrev will most certainly have a wonderful chance to best the 300m Hurdle mark this year. Currently standing at 40.7 by Steve Oman. Dimy ran 42.29 for #2 on All time Dakota Ridge list last year and is already hard at work getting fit during indoor season. An outside shot to break 40 seconds and the school record in the 300H might belong to Eli Harding. Training hard already and possessing some talent, if this guy gets aggressive and goes for it, I could see him pulling this off. 

Girls Pole Vault...The record is "soft" at 8'1 because we simply have not had many young ladies try to do Pole Vault. Should we get an enterprising and committed student-athlete to do Pole Vault it won't take but a few weeks of practice before this one could be broken.

Girls High Jump...5-2 is the current record  co owned by Olivia Landers and Aliesha Shafer, but don't forget about Alexa Buchli having a shot at this in 2018. Alexa is a very good student-athlete. Quietly last year she went 4-10 for us and that was good enough to get on the All-time list. I believe in her and I think if we can get her training with some plyos and some technique work right after basketball is over she is good enough to have a chance at this.

 Girls 400m---Our current assumption is Maya Nefs will return for a senior year of Track for us. She plays a great game of Ice Hockey and that takes a little of her time but she is an incredible talent and should have a great chance if healthy, to set a new 400m school record. Set by Cayli Hume at 58.39 in 2016, Maya was tantalizing close with a 58.49 last year. Along with Maya, there is every bit of possibility that we have a freshman who will bring some talented fight to this record. It's been awhile since we have had a  100m-200m-400m freshman talent that will have a chance to make some Dakota Ridge history. I feel like we are due for this type of sprint girl.

Girls 200m---See above... Sarah Johns is the current record holder at 26.47 and again Maya was reasonably close last year with a 27.11. She didn't run many 200m last year, but should she get a few more opportunities she may very well get this one as well.

Girls 100m---Current record holder from 1998...yes...before you were born 1998 is Heather Niccoli at 12.5. Maya once again is the one to watch. Should she get a little more opportunity here I think she might have an outside shot late in the season. She ran 12.82 last year.

Girls Relays...4x200m and Sprint Med....With Maya healthy and competing in a few events late in the year I could see us putting together a team with a chance to break a current relay record. There is A LOT that will be determined over the next six months with this but I think its possible we start to see this coming together as a possibility by mid March. Once we see what our freshman class and or any first time Track and Field kids can do for us we will know for sure if this will be possible.

Girls 1600m...Michelle Renner will chase one of the most difficult records to break on our books. Alexa Rogers owns an epic 5:02.05 1600m record. Michelle will attempt to break this and be the first girl in our history under 5 minutes for a mile. Last year Michelle got down to 5:08.58 setting her up for a chance to do something incredibly special in our program history.

Believe it or not...Boys 1600m and Boys 3200m....Evan Appel 4:15.81 for 1600m and Evan Appel 9:07.82....This one is a gut feeling and on paper looks to be a little bit of a longer shot here. I totally acknowledge difficulty here as Evan's 3200m alone is in the Top 5 in COLORADO history...  However...Both Austin Vancil and Connor Ohlson will have an opportunity here should they have a great winter training cycle. Their fitness is far improved over the last few months. We didn't "run the rails" with them in the fall...meaning we have done zero Track work and really didn't do as much speed as you might imagine for a couple of 15:17 5k guys. They very well may have a lot left in terms of ceiling for their careers...If not his year...they will certainly look at this in 2019...but for now... Training together and racing together will help the dynamic duo as they see if they can best one of Colorado's All-time Boy Distance running Student-Athletes.


We have a whole lot to train for over the next few months and we will certainly be adding questions and formulating answers as we go. Track and Field season should be a very fun and engaging season. We are looking forward to it and by any measure we feel like you are as well...see you at practice if you can join us!!!