Most coaches shy away from the term, but this could very well be a “growing” season for the Lake Orion High School boys and girls track teams.
Boys coach Stan Ford said he graduated some talented seniors from last year, and his goal for this season is to teach his young runners what track is all about.
“We have more people out than we’ve ever had,” he said. “I had 96 on my list. I’m sure we’ll lose some down the line, but that’s the way it goes.”
Coming back for the Dragons for the boys team this year are senior captains Tony Heck (long jump and relays), Derek LoPresti (sprints) and Kris Wellman (discus). They are all going into their fourth year on the track team.
Ford said this year he saw a big influx of football players coming out for the team.
“That’s a credit to our assistant coaches,” he said. The boys and girls track teams are assisted this year by hurdles coach Mike Hatch, shot put coach Ryan Irish, long jump and pole vaulting coach John Blackstock; with the boys also assisted by coach Jason Larsen and the girls by coach Sarah George.
“We’ve put together a coaching staff we feel will benefit our kids,” said Ford. “(The boys) have mostly freshman and sophomores…so we will have a lot of teaching to do. We have a lot of young talent, but that might be a weakness.”
Other returners for the team, which has 10 seniors this year, are sophomore sprinter Justin Smith, junior hurdler Erik Wallace, sophomore hurdler Ryan Allison, and sophomore sprinter, long jumper and high jumper Mike Fingado.
The Dragons also return junior sprinter Adam Martin, junior distance runner Keith Magic, and sophomore distance runner Billy Peterson.
“They all competed last year and are looking good this year,” said Ford. “We had a nice freshmen turnout with some talented people. We also have a lot of juniors. They will develop and continue to develop to the end of the season.”
Last year’s boys team finished 6-0 in OAA I.
“We graduated pretty heavy last year,” Ford said. “I give (our assistant coaches) a lot of the credit. With a large group comes more responsibilities…I’m in charge of the team, but they come and take care of a lot of other stuff.”
The girls team is also young this season, said girls coach Sharon Kline.
The team returns hurdler Rachel Cummins, who may sprint this year. Also back are Jenny Sutter, a distance runner; Ashley Wharton, distance runner; Kat Kramer, a sprinter; Heather Neary, and Jan Rose.
“I started out with like 10 sprinters and I have almost 20 now,” said Kline. “We have over 60 kids. The first day we had 40. They just keep coming out.”
Kline said the large turnout has added a lot of new faces to this year’s team, but that it’s too early to make predictions on how the team will do.
“I think starting fresh (will be good)…Do I have another Ashley Patton on the team? No.
“I think in some ways they’ll be stronger, because they’ll be more of a team.”
The girls team joined OAA I last year, and struggled to end up “middle of the road,” according to Kline.
“It will take a few years to build that up again,” she said. “One of our weak points is we are a young team. Our strong races will probably be mid-distance.
“My goal is to place at least where we did last year, and have the girls feel they’ve given everything they can in a meet.”
Kline said she is not setting unrealistic goals.
“I just want them to improve their times and develop their skills,” she said.