Picking up speed: Mount Si track reloads with numbers, depth

Published 1:14 pm Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Don’t call it a rebuilding year. It’s more of a restocking session for the 2011 Mount Si High School track team, which saw a big turnout this month.

While team graduated a big slate of seniors last season, several veterans with state experience remain, such as Zach Storm, Sophie Rockow, Lexi Swanson and Kolton Auxier.

“We’re expecting a lot out of their leadership this year,” said head coach Gregg Meyers. “Expectations are high.”

In throwing events, Auxier, at shotput, and Storm and Leslie Stevens, at javelin, are expected to lead by example.

Leslie Stevens, at javelin and triple jump, missed state by one place. Stevens’ brother Brad is expected to perform in javelin.

Doc Derwin is the most well-rounded thrower and probably has the best chance of dominating discus.

“We have a bunch of young kids we don’t know anything about yet,” said throws coach Chris Jackson. “They’re totally an open book.”

“We’ve got some bloomers that are going to be blooming big,” predicted javelin coach Dave Ovall.

At pole vault, Swanson holds the school’s freshman and sophomore girls vaulting records, while sophomore returner Jimbo Davis owns the freshman vaulting record.

School records are posted in the Mount Si gymnasium, and athletes could be seen last week searching for their own names and dreaming big.

Among sprinters, senior Caleb Huerta has his sights on greatness. He’s excited by the team’s promising turnout.

“We have a lot of younger kids this year, a lot more freshmen,” said Heurta. “We’ll be good this year.”

On a personal level, Huerta hopes to break the 11-second mark in the 100-yard dash.

“I’ll have to work really hard to get there,” he said. The school record is 10.9 seconds. One of Huerta’s previous teammates, Shelby Williams, tied it last year. “I want to be up there with him.”

Other sprinters include exchange-student junior Mason Bragg, Shane Blankenburg and sophomore Tyler Button, who holds the freshman record for the 100-meters.

Among girls, junior Sophie Rockow is expected to lead a strong group of freshman runners. Rockow, a junior, went to state over the last two years as part of a relay team. Sophomore Christina Volken set the freshman record last year in the 800 meter race, while Ashley Jackson went to districts in 300 hurdles as a freshman.

Girls coach Dave Clifford is looking for strong performances from a young team.

“It’s going to fun to see what they can do,” he said.

On the distance side, junior Kendall Maddux will have a fight on her hands to fend off sophomore Christina Volken and freshmen Bailey Scott and Abbey Bottemiller.

Junior Madeleine Bezanson hit a personal record in time trials last week, and is expected to improve during the season.

For the boys, a five-way battle is expected for the top spot, with Ryan Olson, Richard Carmichael, Tom Kirby, Tim Corrie and Dominic Canady all likely prospects.

Canady, a sophomore, is particularly promising. He’s been running a lot, trained through the winter and is coming in strong, distance coach Sean Sundwall said.

The Valley may not realize how many track and field athletes go on to successful college careers.

Alex Rudd is running at Southern Oregon University, Georgia Reynolds and Molly Meyers red-shirted at the University of Washington and the University of Idaho, respectively. Past grads Brandon Roddewig and Kyle Stevens are competing at Central Washington and Washington State.

Coaching staff also have some deep pedigrees. Meyers has coached for 11 years, two as head; Clifford is in his 38th year as a Mount Si coach.

Mount Si missed the state title by six points last season to claim sixth.