Greyhounds have lots of girls, but boys numbers down this spring
Compared to other years, the spring track and field season for Loyal athletes will be a little different. A smaller group of guys, kids with less track experience, and a schedule that resembles a bad winter weather year will make this year unique. But despite the setbacks, coach Jim Genteman knows his athletes have a drive to excel and expects them to do well in this odd season.
Ten boys and 18 girls make up this year’s track and field team. Comparing their numbers to prior years, Genteman said the boys team is the one that really suffered losses, while the girls still have enough numbers to fill positions.
“For the most part, we know what they are capable of,” he said. “We have 18 girls, could have had more, but there are quite a few kids not going out. For boys, there is a drop, there weren’t a lot of boys going out in middle school. We’re just going through a phase where kids aren’t going out.”
Because there were no spring sports last year, there will be a lot of athletes on this year’s team who are finally getting their track debut. Some of the kids, Genteman said, continued to participate in other sports and activities to keep themselves in shape, but without seeing them on the track, it is hard to say how some of them may have changed.
“It’s almost like having three classes of freshmen,” he said. “We have the juniors who we haven’t seen for two years and the sophomores who we didn’t get to see as freshmen and then the regular freshmen. Kids change. During these two years, someone went from being a freshman to a junior, their makeup is different.”
The athletes’ own drive to make this season a suc- cessful one will have a big impact on how the team will do later on. Genteman said the group has been working very hard since March to get everyone up to speed and in shape for their first meets, and that the kids have been doing a lot on their own to get ready. “The WIAA allowed 15 contact days, which is more than normal, before the season,” said Genteman. “So we started way back in the first week of March, two days a week and encouraging them to do more on the other days. The ones that really wanted to succeed still ended up working out during the time they were off, either through school or on their own. They were still committed to being good athletes.”
Because of their numbers and their returning seniors and juniors, Genteman said he expects the girls team to do really well by the end of the season, likely placing within the top three at conference. For the boys, he said there will be much more of a struggle, but they should also finish near the top.
“With the girls, numbers are a big draw for them,” he said. “We have runners, throwers, other years we don’t have that, so look at that as a plus. For the guys, the numbers are down, with the newbies, there’s some question. It will take them a bit to get used to the sport.”
Beyond conference, Genteman said he knows a few kids on his roster have a chance to qualify for state. On the girls side, senior Savannah Schley is expected to return while the boys also have some older runners who also have a chance to make it.
“For the girls, Schley will be Schley,” said Genteman. “She will be towards the top in every race. I hope that she will be able to return to state again and move up from where she was. For the boys, Sully (Hanson) is a decent sprinter, Connor (Genteman), Seth (Genteman) and Jayden (Ruggles) are solid middle and long distance runners. After that, it’s hard to say.”
The girls team has three seniors in Schley, Margaret Reis and Brianna Hederer. They will be joined by juniors Devani Hinkelmann, Miranda Trade, Abrial Kubista and Haven Peroshek.
There are eight sophomores on this year’s team: Alyssa Zvolena, Hannah Smith, Sarah Miller, Leah Scherer, Halle Aumann, Shalisha Buchanan, Aubre Robida and Maci Bogdonovich. Riley Waldhauser, Shelia Tellock and Emily Rand are the freshmen.
For the boys, the seniors are Seth Genteman, Jayden Ruggles and David Nikolai. Kaden Olson is the team’s only junior and Sully Hanson and Bo Bogdonovich are the team’s sophomores. The team also has four freshmen: Connor Genteman, Sam Lathrop, Aden Smrcka and Riley Schneider.
Loyal participated in its first meet in Auburndale on April 29. The team will next compete on May 4 in Gilman and on May 6 in Stratford.
The Loyal boys track and field team consists of (front from left) Seth Genteman, David Nikolai, Sully Hanson, Connor Genteman, (back), Sam Lathrop, Kaden Olson, Jaden Ruggles, Aden Smrcka, and Riley Schneider. Bo Bogdonovich is not pictured.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Members of the Loyal girls track and field team are (front from left) Maci Bogdonovich, Hannah Smith, Haven Peroshek, Leah Scherer, Aubre Robida, Brianna Hederer, Riley Waldhauser, Sarah Miller, (back) Savannah Schley, Shalisha Buchanan, Alyssa Zvolena, Devani Hinkelmann, Miranda Trade, Margaret Reis, Abrial Kubista, Sheiia Tellock, and Ella Rand. Halle Aumann is not pictured.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
