Plains back on track
The Plains track team started practice last week and will look to improve on a great year last year especially at the state level.
The Plains track team started practice last week and will look to improve on a great year last year especially at the state level.
With a small team, about 25 athletes, for a Class-B school, Coach Don Stamm says they simply will not have the depth to score high team-wise at many of the different meets. However at the state level two or three outstanding athletes can bring you home a trophy and that is what the coach will be focusing on.
Last year behind the strength of Trent and Mitch Thompson and a first place finish by Dillon Fryxell in the high jump, the Plains boys placed fifth at state and Coach Stamm has high hopes for more. Trent will be returning and be stronger than ever and the team will be trying Fryxell at all the speed events, both relays and the hurdles hoping to get more points out of the very athletic senior.
They will also have a good complement of other athletes this year who after getting state experience could bring in some points this year. Taylor Firestone went to state in the triple jump and the team thinks he can do well at both the triple and the long jump. Also Carter Montgomery will be a force in the long-distance running events along with sophomore Robert Earhart who may surprise people.
On the girls side several underclassmen could jump onto the high school level with some noise much like Franky Winebrenner did last year when she made it to state in the discus as a freshmen. Along with Winebrenner, senior Heather Earhart made it to state in the javelin, Nikki Kunzer can make some noise in the triple jump and the discus and Kelsey Beagley can compete in the sprints, the long and triple jump and the sprinting events.
At this point of the year the team has been working hard on conditioning before their first meet this Saturday at Frenchtown. Last year Coach Stamm says the team started out a little bit weak in conditioning and is making sure it doesn't happen this year.
"I think we'll be ready conditioning-wise," says Coach Stamm.