Boys Track and Field Preview
2008 Season
Team
Overview-
The
Eagles enter the 2008 season with high hopes and expectations. The boys track and field team won a division
title last season, and took home 1st place at the Grant Invitational
and placed in the top half of the conference and sectional meets. The Eagles return many key members of their
track team, including a pair of state qualifiers in Jon DeGrave and Marcell
Kirkmanbey who both qualified for the state meet last May. The Eagles numbers
are expected to rise yet again with preliminary numbers putting the team at 100
plus athletes, with the depth that has been created at Lakes; the program is
moving towards leaving a successful legacy on the school. The boys will be competing against some of
the best teams in the state of Illinois; the Eagles are scheduled to return to
the prestigious Palatine Relays, the Pete Reiff Invitational at Hoffman
Estates, and will be competing against top competition at the Bartlett
Invitational for the first time. The
Eagles will also be competing in 4 indoor meets this season and are currently
trying to add one more to their schedule.
It should be an exciting season as each area of the team has a wealth of
talent returning for the 2008 season.
Throwers
Preview-
The
throwers lost some key individuals to graduation last season; both Frank Soto
and Nick Illich were able to score major points in every meet last season. Soto’s impressive school record in the discus
of 149’7” will be in serious jeopardy as Junior Eric Stone looks to improve
upon his sectional performance of 137’ this season. Stone will be joined by Alex Hawkins who will
lead the Eagles in the shot put this season, Alex has trained with a great
focus the entire off season and won’t be satisfied until he hold the school
record in the shot put, also held by Frank Soto at 45’8”. The Eagles will also welcome Bill Brinser a
sophomore with great potential who earned a spot on the varsity football team
last fall. The freshman throwers will
have great role models and work ethics to mimic as they join the track team
this season. Big points will be needed
by the throwers in order for the team to have success this season.
Jumpers
Preview -
For
the past 2 season the most constant group on the track and field team has been
the jumpers and hurdlers, and this will continue during the 2008 track season,
this is do in large part to the effort of jumps coach Chris Snyder. The Eagles return all of their jumpers this
season led by Andrew Stein who has scored more points than any other eagle over
the past two seasons. Stein along with
DeGrave will be looked upon to score major points in the triple jump. In the long jump Eddie Xiao along with school
record holder Kevin Guirand will help the eagles score major points. The eagles biggest surprise of last season
was the high jumpers, a group of basketball players lead by Dan Kalb, Chris
Boehm and Marcell Kirkmanbey. On more
than one occasion the eagles were able to sweep the high jump event and turn
the tide of many dual meets.
Hurdlers
Preview-
The
hurdlers are the strength of the Lakes team, with both state qualifiers
returning in the 2008 season expectations for Kirkmanbey and DeGrave are very
high. DeGrave along with Stein and
junior David Tomis will handle the difficult 300 intermediate hurdles DeGrave’s
school record of 40.7 seconds will be in serious jeopardy throughout the entire
season. Kirkmanbey will enter his
sophomore season as the only freshman qualifying for the state meet in the 110
high hurdles, Kirkmanbey trained for countless hours and competed as far away
as California this past summer and is determined to make an even bigger splash
and the state meet in 2008.
Sprinters
Preview-
The
eagles will look to the sprint group, led by 2nd year coach Scott
Hodina, to lead them through the difficult and grueling schedule that lies in
front of them. Gone are standouts and
captains Lorenzo Gomez and Keenan Jones but there the list ends. The eagles return an entire stock pile of
sprinters, led by senior captain Marcus Williams, Greg Prendergast, Kyle
Gallagher, Mike Garver, Brent Gruber, Kevin Guirand and Andre Gidney. The eagle’s junior class will compliment the
seniors, Josh Gaido, Andres Calle, Chris Boehm and Billy Brown Jr. will all
look to make a lasting impact on the eagles program. Freshman James Zell has looked very
impressive in the weightlifting after school and will hopefully make an
immediate impact for the Eagles this spring.
Distance Preview-
The Lake Eagles Track
and Field distance runners will be almost the same as last year with out the contributions
of Bill Quade whom graduated. Returning
for their senior years and given the opportunity to make some good efforts
are: Ethan Hahn, BJ Fuller, Billy
McGrath, Tony Bean, Josh Beckman, Hans Johansen, and Kevin Sieracke. The rest of the returning distance from last
year are: Junior Mike Miller, sophomores: Joe Doran, Nick Lillig, Sam Verga,
Grant Franson, and Adnan Qureshi. The
new distance runners as of now are Sophomore Kyle Coia, Freshmen Blake Franson
and Danny McGrath. There may be other
track athletes joining the distance group as the season progress. I expect the seniors to step it up and lead
us to have our best season in the distance aspect of our track and field
team. This will be my 3 year as an
assistant track coach but 16th year coaching track and field altogether.
-Distance
Coach- Andrew Schroeder-