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North girls loaded with depth, talent
"What is nice is we are versatile," said North coach Julian Blake. "We don't have to run girls in three events. That is going to be huge, because I don't have to overrun the kids more than I have to and I can keep them ready for big races." Blake's girls team is so deep that 17 out of the 22 runners he is bringing to the Marine Corps Holiday Classic on Dec. 27 at the New York City Armory are girls. According to Blake, it is the first time North has ever gone to New York City for an indoor track meet. Blake returns a ton of great talent who should excel this winter. Included are senior captains Sarah Mikulski, Meredith Kirby and Michele Bauman, and junior captain Lauren Triantafillou. Kirby is one of the top triple jumpers in the section and can also long jump. She can also run from the 55-meter dash up to the 600 and compete in the 4x400 relay. Bauman triple jumps and runs the 400. Kirby, Bauman, Schueler and junior Kim Berus will probably run the 4x400 relay. Mikulski took fifth at last year's New York State Championships in the 55-meter hurdles. She will also see time running the 300- and 600-meters and the 4x200- and 4x400-meter relays. Mikulski is one of several hurdlers for North who Blake thinks should perform well. Others top hurdlers on the team include junior Amy Loud, Triantafillou, and sophomores Mackenzie Miller and Shelbey Gray. Miller is new to the team. Other returning athletes include seniors Emily Curry, Kim Schueler and Dawn Hu; juniors Kim Berus, Amanda Sheriff and Sarah and Sana Khan; sophomore Molly Mitchell; and freshman Ashley Fillmore. Curry triple jumped a school record 34-0 at last year's sectionals to place second and qualify her for the state meet. Curry can also throw the shotput and long jump and run the 55 dash, 4x200 relay and 300. Berus' best event is the 1000 but she can also run the 1500, 4x400 relay, 600 and the 1500. Schueler races in the same events. "Kim has the strength and speed of a sprinter but the cardiovascular endurance of a distance girl," said Blake. "The same goes for Kim Schueler. She trains with the sprinters and the distance girls. The best way to describe both is that they're real versatile. They can run up as high as a mile or come down and race as fast as the 4x400 and do awesome." Hu is a 1500-meter racewalker. Sheriff and Sarah and Sana Khan are returning pole vaulters. Khan is looking to pole vault nine feet. Mitchell and Fillmore will run the 4x800 relay with newcomer, sophomore Hannah Bachwitz. Bachwitz can also run the 600. Newcomers to the team who should score points and add depth include sophomores Raven Baxter, Jessica Little, Natalie Worley and Megan Winkle, and eighth-grader Rachel Dorogi. Blake said Baxter and Winkle could be two of the top long jumpers in the section. Both long jump about 15 feet. Baxter qualified in the event for ECICs in outdoor track last spring. She can also long jump and run the 55 hurdles and 4x200 relay. Little can run the 55 dash up to the 4x400 relay. Worley and Dorogi run the mile and 2-mile. Blake thinks Winkle could be of the better long jumpers in the section. Also on the team is junior Lauren Triantafillou, who is still recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament she suffered from soccer. If healthy, she's a solid 600 and 4x400 relay runner. Blake said he would like to send five girls to the state meet. "That's my goal," said Blake. "The girls are talented enough to do that." North opened its season with a good showing at the A/B division meet held on Dec. 7 at Buffalo State College. North went 1-2-4 in the triple jump - Kirby, 32-9; Curry, 31-0; Bauman, 30-8.5. Curry was fourth in the high jump with a 4-6. Loud qualified for sectionals in the 55 hurdles with a 9.87 FAT. Dorogi took third in the 3000 in 12:02.6 and sixth in the 1500 in 5:48.5. Berus set a school record and qualified for sectionals in the 1000, breaking her own time of 3:19 with a 3:17.1. She took second. Hu finished ninth in the racewalk in 10:34.1. Baxter leaped 14-5 in the long jump, which was good enough for seventh place. Berus won the 1000 in a B/D division meet last Friday at Lancaster High School in a time of 3:24.5. Boys There are a lot of new faces on the Spartan boys team but they will be led by three veterans - seniors Steve Oehler and Sean Felton (four years each) and junior Mike Thielman (three years). Oehler runs the sprint events and hurdles, Felton long and triple jumps and runs the 4x200 relay and 55 dash, and Thielman runs the 1600 and 3200, and the 1000 on occasion. Thielman was a state qualifier in cross country. Felton is coming off a hairline fracture in his left kneecap from outdoor track. Also returning is freshman Collin Preston, juniors Evan Hughes and Joe Seitz, and sophomores Rob Golightly and Ryan Perry. Preston should be a contender in the triple jump. Blake thinks Preston could definitely be a 40-foot triple jumper. Preston can also long jump and run the 55 dash and the 4x200 relay. Hughes can long jump, and run the 55 dash, 4x200 and 4x400 relays, and the 300. Seitz, Golightly and Perry, on the team since they were freshmen, give the team depth with Thielman in the 1600 and 3200. Juniors Jacob Strom and William Jones and sophomore Tom Calandra debut in the pole vault as will sophomore Jesse Wang in the hurdles.
At the A/B division meet held on Dec. 7 at Buffalo State College, Thielman took second and qualified for sectionals in the 3200 with a time of 10:36. Felton won the triple jump with a sectional qualifying leap of 40-11¼ (also section best) and took fifth in the long jump in 19-feet. |
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