AFTER AN IMPRESSIVE SPRING IN 2010, COACH CHUCK KYLE'S 2011 TRACK AND FIELD TEAM COULD BE ONE OF THE PROGRAM'S "MOST COMPLETE.”
A SOLID CONTINGENT RETURNS FROM LAST YEAR'S LAKEWOOD DISTRICT AND AMHERST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM.
THE AREA HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS SCENE LOSES ONE OF ITS GREATEST FANS (SEE AFTER TRACK AND FIELD PREVIEW).
By Eddie Dwyer
Copyright, March-April 2011
Not even a cold could dampen Coach Chuck Kyle's promising outlook as he prepares for his 38th season as the track and field mentor at Saint Ignatius High School.
Coach Kyle's cold, by the way, was probably the result of the many outdoor practices in the snow, biting winds and freezing temperatures that go hand-in-hand with Northeast Ohio's track and field season.
In fact, it looks as though Mother Nature already won the first round of the “spring,” as Saturday's Elite Meet at Brunswick, which Coach Kyle '69 and his Wildcats were looking forward to, has already been canceled.
But hey, spring will eventually settle in. And that's just a fact, not eternal hope.
“We're going to have a nice complete team – sprints, distance, hurdling, field events – we're pretty solid all the way around,” Coach Kyle said. “So I think in major meets, we're going to be right up there. Because we're a type of team that's going to go there and have a legitimate chance to score in every event. And that's hard to do.
“Every team is going to have their favorite event, but then usually they have a couple of zeros (in the scoring),” Coach Kyle continued. “We could walk out of big meets with 25 teams, 16 or 18 teams, and be right up there in every event. So I think when you say a complete track team, we'll be one of the better ones in the state.
“The state doesn't really have a dual-meet championship (in track and field). If you said very good teams going against each other, well, we could go against anybody in a dual-meet format and be right there. Now, are we going to have some state champions, the individuals? That's probably where the next month and a half we have to work.”
Depth was definitely the Wildcats' calling card last season.
In dominating the Lakewood Division I District Meet to the tune of a 101-point victory over the nearest challenger, Saint Ignatius got first-place efforts from its 4x800-meter relay team and 4x400 team, a first place in the 110-meter hurdles by current senior Fred Davis, a 1-2 finish in the discus by Blake Thomas (now a junior) and Ryan Gibbons (now a senior), and a first-place toss in the shot put by then sophomore Zak Lozar.
Qualifying from Lakewood to the Amherst Regional, the 'Cats, behind a first-place performance by their 4x100 team and second-place finishes by the 4x400 and 4x800 teams, edged a talented Medina program, 62-59, in the battle for the regional championship. Saint Ignatius' 4x100 and 4x800 teams would go on to finish sixth and seventh, respectively, at the annual state meet in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium at The Ohio State University.
“If everything stays where we're at and everyone's healthy, we'll put a number of kids at the regional meet,” Coach Kyle said. “Now, that's the meat grinder, that's (the regional) a very intense situation. You have to finish in the top four (in your event). If you finish fifth, you're a very good track kid, but you're not going to state. It's just a tough situation, like wrestling and so on.
“In the next six weeks, that's really something we have to work on. Because there is a number of kids that could get to that point.”
As far as the Wildcats' distance runners, Coach Kyle is turning to cross country standouts John Sweeney, a senior who has already come up with an indoors time of 9:35 in the 3200 meter run, Drew Galang, a junior who will be a miler and a 4x800 relay competitor, senior Nick Bartram, who will be an 800-meter runner and junior Mitch Baum, whom Coach Kyle said has been doing a great job early on.
Coach Kyle pointed out that in last week's indoor state meet at the University of Akron, Saint Ignatius' 4x800-meter relay team finished second and ran the fifth-fastest time the 'Cats have ever had in that meet. Among the names to remember in the relays is Lamar Kemp, a junior with endless potential who has already run in two state meets.
Davis, the team's Most Valuable Hurdler last year, finished fourth at last week's indoor state meet in the 60-meter high hurdles. The 'Cats' appear to have some sold depth in the hurdling department, headed by senior Tyree Seals and sophomore Patrick Jeffries.
In the sprints, Coach Kyle is looking for senior Bobby Grebenc, a Brown University recruit in football, to get back in “track shape” after recovering from a shoulder injury. Grebenc, fellow senior Anthony Mascia and sophomore Tim McVey were members of last season's 4x100-meter relay team that finished sixth in Ohio.
McVey, who could be a mainstay on both sides of the ball in football this coming season, ran a very good time at the indoor state meet in the 60-meter dash. He challenged such great sprinters as Glenville's All-American Shane Wynn.
“Whether he focuses on the 100 or 200, we'll see,” said Coach Kyle of McVey, the track team's Most Valuable Freshman last spring. “He has run some very good 200 times, so as we start outdoors we'll look very carefully at him there.”
Junior Tim Shenk, an outstanding kicker for Coach Kyle's varsity football team, is also a sprinter and senior Nick D'Amico, the 'Cats' Most Improved performer in 2010, will continue to make his mark in the open 400 and on the relay teams.
In the field events, Mascia and junior Adam North will show the way in the long jump as both young men have had efforts of 21 feet. North is also a more-than-capable high jumper as is junior Reggie Gross, who just recently completed his varsity basketball season.
Junior Keith Carmichael, the Most Valuable Diver on the 'Cats' swimming team, will lead a young group in the pole vault and, as we mentioned above, Thomas, Lozar and Gibbons key a strong and experienced contingent in the discus and shot put. Thomas is a major-college recruit as a tight end in football.
Coach Kyle said Glenville will again bring exceptional speed to the track, but a team he looks for to be among the elite all season is Solon. The Comets might not have the exceptional depth they possessed last season, but they have individuals, said Coach Kyle, who can hit home runs.
Among some of the more attractive meets on Saint Ignatius' schedule are the talent-laden Hilliard Davidson Invitational on April 2, the Medina Relays on April 9, the tradition-rich Eastlake North Ranger Relays on April 23, the Thomas Worthington Invitational on April 30 and of course, the Euclid Relays on May 6.
The district meet at Lakewood Stadium is scheduled for May 18-20, the Amherst regional is slated for May 25-27 and the annual state meet at Ohio State's Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium will take place on June 3 & 4.