Looking forward to freshmen

It doesn’t take a bona fide trend-spotter to pick this one out.

Go down the line and talk to the Spokane Valley high school girls track and field coaches and you hear the same thing.

“I have a great group of incoming freshmen,” they say.

Cynics will start looking for the common script from which area coaches read. Track and field aficionados, meanwhile, will look for a program to make notes for the coming four Greater Spokane League seasons.

“It’s going to be exciting to see what these kids can do over the next four years,” first-year University coach Abby Van Valin said. “They’re talent level is extraordinary.”

Incoming freshman have historically had more of an immediate impact in girls’ sports than boys’. And despite a thriving middle school track program throughout the Valley, there are still surprises with the incoming ninth-grade class.

“You see girls coming in who were not part of middle school track, and they are still impressive athletes,” East Valley coach Shane Toy said. “They have so much enthusiasm that it affects the whole program, and it’s a lot of fun to watch them discover what they can do and how good they can be.”

Perhaps it’s a spirit of sharing that allows the trend to spread across the board. To borrow the economic cliché, this is a rising tide that lifts all programs.

“Isn’t it odd how it goes that way?” Central Valley coach Dennis McGuire said. “We’ve seen that in the past. We’re on an upswing.

“Personally, I’m real hopeful. It’s going to take us a while to get things sorted out. We’re going to need two or three meets to see how these girls compete before we really know what we have and where they’re going to be.”

The meet season began last weekend with the Banana Belt Relays in Clarkston. The Greater Spokane League meet season begins in earnest next week.

Central Valley Bears

The Bears got a good look at their freshman class at a junior varsity meet Wednesday and will look at some more this weekend, when the team travels across the mountains for a meet in Snohomish.

With almost 100 girls out for track, McGuire said he will need several meets to see just what he has.

“We’re not going to be overwhelming in any one area, but we have most of the holes plugged, anyway,” he said. “(The freshmen) can blossom at any time – it’s fun to have a group of athletes out. They look like athletes. It might be two or three meets before we find out who’s who and what they do, but they look pretty good.”

The distance races look strong – especially coming off a good cross country season. Distance standout Anna Layman currently is battling a series of nagging injuries, but McGuire is confident enough in her return that he’s thinking about entering the senior standout in the long jump.

“We certainly don’t want the pounding of that event to hurt her chances to run,” he said, “but she’s good.”

State meet high jump veteran Hailey Ficklin returns for her junior season and has worked hard during the winter to prepare. Sophomore triple jumper Mallory Flesher is back. Junior hurdler Lisa Haley looks strong, and senior sprinter Adrienne Duval and sophomore Chelsea Moore both look strong in the 400 meters.

Basketball player Tracy Goehri, a senior, and winter teammates Ashley Carpenter and Brittany Catron all look strong in the javelin and the rest of the throwing events appear deep as well as strong.

“We have a huge turnout in the throwing events,” McGuire said. “They’re such good athletes – it may take until the middle of the season before we really know for sure, but I think we’re okay.”

East Valley Knights

Perhaps the first thing Toy is pleased about is the number of entrants the region can send to state.

“Last year we only qualified the top two finishers at the regional meet to go on to state,” he said. “I had seven girls finish third – and I mean a close third – and that was just heart breaking. A bunch of those girls would have done well at state – even at the Class 4A state meet.”

The Knights have 26 freshmen out for track, and Toy was pleased with the way they performed in Clarkston, helping East Valley win in its first meet.

“We’re just starting to find out where they fit as far as events are concerned,” he said. “I got a pretty good idea at the Banana Belt Relays with some. I’m going to send the rest to the junior varsity meet at Central Valley. That should help clear up the picture.

“I used to train race horses at the track, and it’s a lot like training 2-year-olds. You never know how they’re going to be until you see them on the track.”

East Valley was hardly short of talent coming in, losing just three scoring seniors off last year’s squad. Two freshmen have impressed early. Sprinter Mallory Mott has broken in on the sprint relay teams while long jumper Kendall Abbey has leaped 15 feet, 7½ inches.

“So far we haven’t been able to get a real good read on some events,” Toy said. “With all the inclement weather we’ve had, it’s been hard for the throwers, especially with the discus and the shot put, because the rings have been so wet. Same with our jumpers on the runways.

“But at the meet down at Clarkston, our field people really came through, so I feel good about what we have.”

Junior Eleaya Schuerch is a state meet veteran, long jumping 16-4½ at Pasco.

Senior Jo E. Mayer will lead the team in the distances.

The Knights sent both a 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams to state a year ago, and freshmen may make both relays stronger.

“We’ve already reconfigured those relays and the 4x400,” Toy said.

University Titans

So far, the biggest challenge facing Van Valin is learning the names of all 73 athletes she has out for her track team.

“This is my first year with them so I’m still trying to put names with faces,” the U-Hi math teacher said.

And there are a lot of new faces.

“This incoming freshman class has really made our team pretty solid,” Van Valin said. “Especially in the sprints and with our relays. It may take us a little while to work out those first-meet jitters, but I think we’re going to be all right.”

Freshman Maygen Evenson has impressed in the sprints and sprint relays. Freshman Madeline Fuchs has established herself in the hurdles, jumps and relays.

The Titans should be strong in the distance events, judging by the success the cross country team enjoyed in the fall. Juniors Karen and Katie Owens both return.

Sophomore Dana McClendon returns after qualifying for state in the shot put. Also back is senior Janna Erickson, who competes in both the shot put and discus.

West Valley Eagles

Coach Rick Kuhl has his top point-getter back in senior distance runner and state meet veteran Larsen Agee.

“Our distance kids are putting up some good times already,” he said. “Larsen has run some really good times already this spring and trained really hard over the winter. We’ll bounce her around anywhere from the 800 to the 3200.

“And we have a freshman who has put up some good times already, too, and that’s Krystal Hughes.”

Senior Josselyn Meagley is the team’s top sprinter. Lindsay Hood, who took a year off from track to play softball a year ago, returns to add depth in the sprints and relays – events where she earned state berths her freshman and sophomore seasons.

Freshman Brittiny Almy already turned heads in the sprints.

“She won her heats at Clarkston, and we expect her to be one of the leaders in the area,” Kuhl said. “And she does a nice job long jumping for us.

“Her mom was a state champion at Rogers and competed in track at Washington State, so she has a great role model.”

Cross country veteran Kindra White, a junior, will give the team strength in the middle distances.

Sophomore Ashley Kenney, a regional qualifier a year ago in both the shot put and discus, already topped her discus mark from last year with a throw of 111-8 at Clarkston.

“That was a good first-of-the-season mark,” Kuhl said. “You always like to see kids come in and start out where they left off the year before.”

West Valley enters the season without long-time assistant coach Howard Dolphin working with throwers. Kuhl brought back Shannon Groh to help with the shot put. Groh is the school’s first state girls discus champion, winning the event in 2001.

Sophomore Melissa Mauro came in with a great deal of promise as a freshman before going down with a knee injury during basketball.

“We’re hoping we can get her back on track,” Kuhl said. “She’s a very good high jumper and a very good hurdler.”

Freshman Alyssa Wold has impressed in both the high jump and hurdles – and looked good throwing the javelin as well.