Tracksters young, but ready to race fast for gold

Many new faces make up this year’s team.

It may not be exciting, but there’s plenty to be excited about for the Bainbridge track team as they look toward making another run back to Star Track.

“The numbers are great,” head coach Andy Grimm said. “We have numbers in the mid 90s which is higher than it’s ever been.

“There’s a lot of freshman in the group.”

Last season, nine Spartans made it to state to try and place.

Emily Farrar took sixth in the 1600 meter run while the boys’ 4x400 relay of Austin Hallett, Patrick Wauters, Greg Nance and Bevan Taylor took third.

Though Farrar returns, only Hallett comes back from the relay team.

Also returning are state qualifiers in seniors Lauren Fleming, Theresa Johansen and Cheyne Clark.

Fleming returns to the high jump and will take part in sprints and relays.

Farrar looks for a return to state in the 1600 and will also run the 3200.

Hallett is still part of the 1600 relay and will take part in the 400 and the 800.

Johansen takes hold of the discus again while Clark will take part in the hurdles and try to rebreak the school record of 14 feet, six inches for the pole vault.

“It’s always nice to have people that know what it takes to get to that point,” Grimm said. “There’s no guarantees they’ll get back but I think it would be a disappointing season for them if they didn’t get out of districts.”

Also returning for the boys are senior Ian Shiach along with juniors James Herman, Kyle Szarzynski and Alex Grega.

For the girls, seniors Elizabeth Brackett and Molly O’Keefe return while junior Maddie Sheldon and sophomores Sylvia Stellmacher and Anne Taylor come back.

Some newcomers for the boys include juniors and next year’s captains for football in Anthony Carter (who missed last year with an injury), Steffan Dacquisto, Kiyle Playter and Zane Sackett.

The first timers for the girls include junior Anna Kaminiski and freshmen Kelly Crane, Courtney O’Dell and Emilee Agosta.

Grimm said he got a good look at who will be standouts for him this season at the Kitsap County Classic last Saturday.

“It was a good start,” he said. “It was a long day for some of the kids, but we didn’t try to overdo it with some of the people in doing multiple events.

“Being the first meet, it’s just trying to get some kids some experience.”

For the boys, Hallett won the 400 with a time of 51.48.

Ryan Vogel came in second in the 800 with a time of 2:06.76.

The boys’ 4x100 relay was third with a time of 46.71 while the 4x400 relay of Carter, Hallett, Stephen Vassiliadis and Ian Shiach came in second to South Kitsap with a time of 3:33.20.

“He’s been a real surprise,” Grimm said of Vassiliadis, a member of the cross country team. “They ran a pretty good time, but they’ll go faster than that.”

Herman and Sackett took fourth and fifth with throws of 40 feet, five inches and 39 feet, seven inches respectively.

For the girls, Sheldon was third in the 100 with a time of 13.35 seconds while Taylor was fourth in the 1600 with a time of 5:51.90.

The 4x100 meter relay team of Brackett, Sheldon, Fleming and Crane took first with a time of 52.44.

Fleming, Sheldon, Crane and Stellmacher also took first in the 4x200 with a time of 1:50.20 while the 4x400 relay team of Fleming, Crane, Stellmacher and Brackett won with a time of 4:11.80.

“All three of those relays – we’ll have to make decisions later in the season, but with those eight girls, we can definitely get to districts and if we’re doing things right we can get to state,” Grimm said.

Though they’ll face some tough competition in the Metro League with O’Dea, Holy Names and Bishop Blanchet, Grimm feels there’s enough talented hard workers to go as far as they want.

“All these kids will be in the top 16 in Metro,” he said.

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