CAMBRIDGE CITY, Ind. – The Lincoln track squads start the season at Tri-Eastern Conference foe Union County along with Winchester on Tuesday, April 5.
Boys Head Coach Garrett Singer has two seniors on his roster.
“We are pretty young,” Singer said. “Not only do we only have two seniors, I believe only 11 of the 28 kids above ran or threw for our high school program last year.”
“There are several kids new to track & field altogether or have not participated since middle school,” Singer continued. “They are working hard and really pushing one another here early in the season. I expect us to come out every practice and meet and give it everything we have and compete to our fullest. There are going to be some bumps in the road with this many younger and inexperienced kids, but I feel the talent level is there and they will only get better as the season progresses.”
Ben Bertsch and Austin Harris are the Lincoln seniors. The juniors are Hunter Ferris, Bryant Hilbert, Harrison Seybold, Logan Bryant, Brent Myers, Chase Southerland, Nate Gulde and Wyatt Payne.
The sophomore class features James Pugh, Austin Wampler, Jimmy Huntsman, Andrew Keasling, Chase Hokey, Logan Harmeyer, Carter Mettler, Bryce Smith, Jaron Gibbs, Roscoe Holder, Devin Mustin and Noah Hancock. Branden McKinney, Jeremiah Holder, Britten West, Hunter Brown, Cody Hill and Austen Grap are freshmen.
“With so many freshman and newcomers in general to our program, it is very exciting,” Singer said. “They have helped increase our numbers by over 50% from last year.”
“Each one of them is going to help us fill a hole somewhere and it really helps create competition at practice,” Singer continued. “When you have 10-12 kids they know their spots are pretty safe, but when that jumps to around 30 it is not so certain. They must work that much harder to receive those spots in their events. We are very excited about all our additions to the program and the potential they possess. I am very excited to have the opportunity to be a head coach and can’t wait to get the meet season started.”
By contrast, the Lincoln girls have just six on the squad.
“I do expect to have some of the girls on my roster compete at a high level in the conference and in sectionals,” Girls Head Coach Zak Zurwell said. “If the girls are focused in their preparation, we should have several events where we compete for conference/sectional championships as individual athletes.”
“Ryanne Davis should make some noise in high jump in particular,” Zurwell added. “She is looking to improve in long jump and compete with some of the top girls in the conference. “We have three good throwers returning this year. We look for all of them to improve on last year and hit the 30 foot mark in shot put, while Heidi Gabbard should be throwing over 100 feet in the discus by conference time.”
Davis is a sophomore. In addition to Gabbard, who is a junior, the other throwers for the Golden Eagles are junior Sammy Burrows and senior Alexis Meltzer. Junior Harley Blevins and freshman Allie Owens are distance runners.