Falcons ready for track and field
Both teams building for the future
For the first time in over twelve months members of the Abbotsford track and field program are preparing for a season.
There’s a sense of excitement in the air as Abbotford’s runners, throwers, jumpers and sprinters get ready to compete after waiting for more than a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m really looking forward to getting in and being able to do something this season because we did get cut short last year,” senior captain Mya Ruesch said. “It’s just cool to see that we do have this many people coming out for track even though this season is going to last a little bit longer than it usually does.”
The season is going to have a much later start and end time in 2021, with the WIAA slipping in the alternate fall sports season from March to May. The first official day of track practice is April 19, and the first meet won’t happen until April 27, with state scheduled for late June.
“The season is a little weird to start with, and not really having much of a preseason last year really means most of us haven’t done much with track for two years,” Abbotsford head coach Jake Knapmiller said.
Knapmiller is back this year, along with plenty of experienced coaches and assistants. Lance Bloch is the throws coach, Andy Brehm will coach pole vault and will assist with distance. Ally Meserole will coach long and triple jump, and lead the middle school team.
Timoly Brodhagen will coach at the middle school level, and former state participants Kallie Faltiesek and Joe Aguilera will help coach high school.
With such a huge gap between winter and spring season, the track teams are taking advantage of the 15 contact days allowed by the WIAA this year. Knapmiller is using those days to get his student-athletes acclimated to running, throwing and jumping again after more than a year away from the sport.
“We plan on keeping kids healthy and working on building a base before we get to competition form,” Knapmiller said. “Every day we get a little better and pick one thing to improve on. We picked a field event to put focus on each night and feel that is working very well.”
The downside of losing out on a full year is that not only did athletes lose a chance to get stronger or faster, and find which events suit their talents, but the numbers for track are also down due to the late start and late finish.
The boys team in particular is down numbers, with the team currently sitting at less than a dozen athletes during these early contact days.
“We lost a few but I really like the group we have,” Knapmiller said. “Brandon Hawkey is going to throw and probably be on a relay if we put one together. He has come a long ways. Ty Falteisek will be our lone, experienced sprinter, but he has recruited some football teammates. I’m excited some of our fall athletes chose to get better for the season this spring!”
Falteisek, as one of the few runners with experience at track meets, is looking to take on more of a leadership role this year. He has big goals for himself, but above all, he wants to grow the program.
“I’m hoping I can make it to state in at least two events this year, considering I didn’t even get to have a season last year,” Ty says. “But I just want to make sure that all the young guys have a good experience. I want to make sure that they actually feel like we are a team and that we are family.”
The girls will have almost 20 athletes on the team this year, including Ruesch and junior Olivia Hammel. Both took home all-conference honors two years ago, and they will be two of the more experienced athletes. Having experience is nice for the sport, but when it comes to track, natural aptitude combined with hard work can take an athlete very far.
“I think our girls team could be solid,” Knapmiller says. “Our girls will be experienced . . . The nice part is track is a fast sport for a learning curve and they will be fine catching up.”
There’s other changes taking place this season besides early contact days, a late start and a late finish. The Falcons will compete against familiar teams during the regular season, but this year they’ll have an entirely new conference meet.
This season sees the Marawood - North and the Marawood - South conferences merge together for one, larger meet. While that will make it harder for the Abbotsford Falcons to earn conference titles, Knapmiller believes that by facing stronger competition his athletes will be better prepared for the postseason.
“It will be more competitive but we wanted it to be worth something to teams and kids to earn an all conference instead of just winning it by default.”
Mya Ruesch echoed her coach’s sentiment. After being robbed of a year of competition, the talented runner is eager to compete, no matter who that may be against. And with so many other teams losing talented athletes to graduation or simply the late start, Mya knows she has a great chance to once again earn all-conference honors. “I don’t look at who we go up against because the conference has lost a lot of good runners. I’m not sure who is coming back, so I’ll see different competition,” Ruesch explains.
Ruesch says that because of COVID-19 she also doesn’t feel as much pressure to go out and take conference titles. For her, this year is all about laying a foundation for the program’s future success.
“We can’t go out there thinking ‘OK, I got to beat this person.’ This year it’s all about going out there and doing what we can to the best of our abilities and push ourselves because this an individual sport more than a team sport.”
The boys team knows this year the program is in a state of rebuilding. With the lack of a season last year, several former track athletes have opted to pursue baseball instead, or simply no sport at all.
“Just having a late start I feel it cost us 8-10 seniors, and probably ten other kids who might have tried it,” Knapmiller says. “The season off is an equalizer because every other team also did the same in the state.”
The boys won’t likely haul home the hardware as they did in previous seasons. That’s why Falteisek believes its important to focus on getting better.
“I hope that the team understands that they just need to keep working on everything and focus on improving,” Ty replies when discussing team goals. “We have a young team this year. I tell them to just enjoy the sport and try not to put too much pressure on themselves.”
The season remains something of a mystery, Knapmiller says, since he has so few returners back, and so many new athletes coming in. These contact days will be critical in gauging what events the boys and girls team will be strong in, and what events will need more work.
“We don’t know how the young boys will do yet. For the girls we have some young ones that are going to solidify a nice team,” Knapmiller answers honestly. “Our throwers will be solid. Our jumps should be competitive. We should be able to find a mid-distance group.”
It will be a challenging season, but at least this year’s student-athletes know they’ll have a season.
That’s reason enough to celebrate, and even as the kids groan and complain about their drills, they approach them with enthusiasm.
“We are just excited to have them practicing and improving themselves athletically each day,” Knapmiller says. “They are awesome kids to be around. It’ll be fun to see what we can put on the track!”
2021 ABBY GIRLS TEAM -The 2021 Abbotsford girls track and field team is, in the back row, L to R, Mya Ruesch, Olivia Hammel, Madison Bloch, Calley Ruesch and Sommer Brodhagen. In the middle row, L to R, is Jade Severson, Sydney Falteisek, Briseida Escalara, Maricruz Ochoa and Tamika Heck. In the front row, L to R, is Alexis Graun, Samantha Mireles, Dana Bloch, Isabella Aguilera and Joselyn Chacon. Not pictured is Iris Cruz and Hallie Halopka.STAFF PHOTOS/ROSS PATTERMANN
2021 ABBY BOYS TEAM -The 2021 Abbotsford track and field boys team this year is, in back row L to R, Jake Hirsch, Jack Schindler, Brandon Hawkey, Ty Falteisek and Ryan Lampi. In the front row, L to R, is Conrad Flink, Evan Schunk, Warren Flink and Jack Esselman. The boys and girls are coached by Lance Bloch (throws), Andy Brehm (pole vault, distance), Ally Meserole (long and triple jump; middle school), Timoly Brodhagen (middle school). Recent Abbotsford High graduates, and former state qualifiers, Joe Aguilera and Kallie Falteisek, will be assistant coaches this season.STAFF PHOTOS/ROSS PATTERMANN
SMALL TEAM, BIG HOPES -At left, Ryan Lampi leaps into the air during the triple jump at a meet in Colby two years ago. At left, Ty Falteisek sprints during the indoor Marshfield Invitational in 2019. There will be no indoor meets this season, and the season will not start until late April. TP FILE PHOTOS
