The numbers on a lot of spring sports teams around the county and state are down this spring because of COVID-19 last spring when the entire season was wiped out because of that virus.
Seymour boys track coach Randy Fife said he has 42 athletes on his roster, while girls coach Spencer Sunbury is working with 36, and both coaches said those numbers are down from past years.
“We still have some good individuals,” Fife said. “Where we’re going to struggle with is our depth in big meets when we try to score two places. In getting points in each event we should be fairly solid that way.”
Fife coached the Owls’ cross country team to the title at the Brown County Sectional last fall, and he expects the distance events to be strong.
“Our top three are probably Jude Bane, Michael Proffer and Brandon Kleber. They are coming off a good cross season, all sub 17-minute guys,” he said. “Michael is nursing a little bit of an Achilles injury. He’ll be a little slow coming out of the blocks. Jude and Brandon are in pretty good shape. We’ll have a quality score in each event, but just not that depth.”
In the hurdles, the Owls have Josh Pennington returning. He was in the state finals two years ago, so Fife is expecting big things out of him this season.
“We’ve got a decent sprint crew, mainly made up of seniors. Pennington is one of our faster kids. Chandler Drummond, Eli Abner and Reid Kruse, who has not ran track for us before,” Fife said.
Fife said he expects the Owls to be solid in the relays, especially in the 4×1.
“I think we can put four runners together that will be very solid,” Fife said. “I think depth will hurt us on the 4×4 and 4×8.”
He said the high jump and long jump “are up in the air.
“In the high jump we’re looking for a young kid to get started there,” Fife said. “Pennington was a near 20-foot jumper last year. Abner and Kruse are going to jump as well. In the pole vault we’ve got Drummond coming back, who will give us some good points there.”
David Juarez and Ethan Ortman return in the throws.
“We’ve got a real good group of freshmen throwers. I’m not sure they’ll come around but I’m impressed with our freshmen throwers,” Fife said.
Preston Applegate threw the weights at Fremont from seventh grade through his sophomore year before coming to Seymour.
“There is so much more technique involved in discus than in shot,” he said. “You feel like you’re spinning a lot faster. You just have to find the perfect height and the wind will take it. Discus is my favorite. I feel more fluent in it, more natural. I hope to hit the high 140s.”
Much like Fife, Sunbury also looks for his distance runners to perform well.
“I think we’re definitely going to be solid in the distance races,” he said. “We’ve got quite a selection there.”
He named Hayley Harpe, Vivienne Siefker, Brooke Trinkle, Katie Deppen, Lillie Sunbury and Samantha Jacobi as the top racers.
“We’ve got quite a core of distance girls to choose from,” he said. “I’ve got a group that will be running the 4×8, the 800 and possibly the 400, and another group that will run the mile, and a group that will be doing the 3200. I’m looking forward to having strong 4×4 and 4×8 relays.”
Sunbury expects Kaleigh Maschino and Jamya Miller to lead the sprinters.
“We’re kind of young in the throwing area,” he said. “We’ve got a freshman, Hannah Dart, who coach (Chris) Rose is really impressed with her skill level. Celeste (Huddleston) is a senior down there and kind of leads the girls.”
Seymour will open today at Columbus East.
“It’s finding a spot for everybody, and seeing how comfortable they are,” Fife said.