Angola
Co-Coaches: Mark Cockroft
and Troy Smith
The Hornets were Northeast Corner Conference, East Noble Sectional, and Marion Regional champions, and the goal will remain the same despite losing all three of their state qualifiers from last year in Izaiah Steury, Tim Macomber and Garrett Sauter.
Joining the team will be Cameron Steury, Zach Buell, Lincoln Schreiber and Trey Soulliere, who will be competing aside returners and regional qualifiers in Landon Herbert, Alex Meyer, Brandon Villafuerte, Gabe Cruz, Sam Yarnelle, Griffin Michael and Aiden Shannon.
“We obviously had a great year last year with Coach (Brad) Peterson,” said Smith, who is in his first season as a head coach. “We bring back an experienced and competitive group of guys that has some talented newcomers. Hopefully we can continue developing a consistent level of success. We are focusing on becoming a more well-balanced team that can score in all events.”
Central Noble
Coach: Clint Phares
Central Noble plans to take a step forward this season with several returners on the varsity squad this year.
Ashton Smith and Cameron Elias will lead the Cougars in the sprints and in some field events.
Jonah Hopf and Jaxon Kitchen will compete in the pole vault and Riley Bremer and Isaac Clay will lead the throwers.
Other scorers for Central Noble this season will be Ethan Skinner, Josh Thompson, Hunter Wait, Keith Knafel and Ashton Dunlap.
Churubusco
Coach: Zach Dock
The Eagles return two state qualifiers who will attempt to lead them to more team success in 2022.
Junior Riley Buroff qualified for state in two events, the high jump and 400-meter dash. He made the podium in the 400 with a ninth-place finish at the time of 49.69 seconds.
Senior Hunter Bianski made it to Indianapolis in the shot put. He fell just short of making the podium by coming in 10th place.
Senior Nick Nondorf was a regional qualifier in the 110 hurdles.
The newcomers for the Eagles are Blaze Williams and Elija Smith.
DeKalb
Coach: Chris McGrew
The second-year coach McGrew has several returning athletes to use as building blocks.
Junior Nate Fillenwarth was a regional qualifier in the 400 and high jump. Senior Carter VanGessel will be part of a strong distance crew. Classmates Josiah VanderHorst, Isaiah Hamblin and Vincent Worden also lettered last season and seniors Gabe Tobierre and Logan Wilson are also ready to pitch in.
Others who lettered a year ago are juniors Alex Zimmerman and Landon Knowles, and sophomores Jaren McIntire, Matthias Hefty, Liam Gentis, Will Engelberth and Wyatt Birch.
DeKalb is strong in numbers with 41 athletes participating.
The Barons will not have a home meet due to the building project at the school, which will include a new track along with a synthetic surface for the football field.
DeKalb’s boys and girls teams will practice at Hamilton.
East Noble
Coach: Cliff Hannon
The Knights look to be very competitive as one of the top teams in the area once again.
They are coming off a Northeast 8 Conference title and bring back several athletes who contributed to that championship.
Lucas Freeze will lead East Noble in the sprints and long jump. Nolan Rhoades has high hopes in the hurdle races and in the jumps. Ashton Fuller also expects to contribute in the hurdles and many other events.
Kayden Fuller helped the Knights’ 4×800 squad qualify for the state finals last season and will be a major contributor in the 400 and 800. Drew Sillaway hopes to be an impact runner in the distance events.
Chris Hood was a regional qualifier in the discus last season, and Aidan Sprague qualified for regionals in the pole vault.
Eastside
Coach: Trisha Hill
Eastside has just three seniors — Marcus Diaz, Matt Jacobs and Sam Neumann — but they provide a solid foundation for returning coach Hill. “Their commitment to the sport and team has been a huge part of building this program over the past three years,” she said.
Diaz will compete in sprint events while Jacobs and Neumann will compete in the throws.
Other Blazers expected to make contributions this season are Dane Sebert in throwing events, Binyam Biddle in sprints and Kyle Yoder in long jump and high jump.
Fremont
Coach: Tanner Wall
The Eagles return four of their six regional qualifiers from last season. Logan Brace (300-meter hurdles), Anthony Hart (200 and 4×100 relay), Damon Teachout (4×100 relay) and Brenden Collins (4×100 relay) will be joined by returning letterwinners Aydan McEntarfer, Gage Forrest, Brogan Blue and Braiden Gaskill.
“We’re expecting a lot of good things out of this team this year,” Wall said. “Last year we finished sixth in the NECC championship meet and fifth at the sectional, which was the highest we have finished since I have been coach and many years before that. So we are looking to build off of some of the success we had last year and keep this team heading in an upward direction.”
Newcomers include Buck Behrman, who will compete in sprints and jumping events, and foreign exchange student Jonas Etienne, who is expected to do help in the mid-distance and relays.
Garrett
Coach: Kyler Perez
Garrett will count on returning athletes Jack O’Connor, Jaxson Gould, Zack Warfield, Braydon Kennedy, Chandler Minnich, Tanner McMain and Nathan Presswood, according to Perez.
Newcomers include Brayden Baker, Nate Wells, Adam Burns and Holden Bowser.
“I think we have a very solid group of student-athletes returning this year,” Perez said. “We are looking to our upperclassmen to lead the team and our underclassmen to meet the challenge of competition head-on.
“I am looking forward to another year of growth for the track and field program at GHS.”
Hamilton
Coach: Garry May
May is happy with the Marines’ improved numbers, and will look for a good season with a mix of experienced athletes and newcomers.
Senior leadership will come from throwers Chase Hill, Dylan McLimans and Dawson Miller. Connor Stoy (sprints) is another key returner.
The top newcomers include jumpers Jagger Hurraw and Harry Richter.
“Our program is growing and has the most numbers we have had in several years,” May said. “The goal is to move the bar a little higher from where it was left in the 2021 season.”
Lakeland
Coach: Keith Thompson
The Lakers want to take a step in the right direction this season and have the numbers to do so. They have 47 athletes competing this season, including several newcomers and freshmen who should provide depth.
Lakeland returns seven of its nine top scorers, including Dominic Lawrence, Owen Troyer, Zeke Wachtman, Khamron Malaivanh, Gonzolo Rubio, Caden Hostetler and Josh Guldin.
Lawrence was a regional qualifier in the 300 hurdles last season. Malaivanh, Troyer and Rubio will lead a deep group of sprinters.
Wachtman qualified for regionals in the 800, and Troyer was the sectional champion in the long jump.
Quinnlin Raber, Leo Munoz and John Wright are the top shot putters, and Guldin, Munoz, Cam Riegling, Denis Danile and Raber will compete for discus spots.
Lakewood Park
Coach: Daron White
The Panthers have holes to fill after graduating nine seniors.
White will be depending on a group of returning athletes, which includes Conner Hodges (sprints), Braeson Kruse, Anthony Mansojer and Jackson VandeVelde (distance), and Titus Shively (hurdles).
Newcomers looking to fill some of the gaps include Aidan Wissing (throws), Jackson Kruse (distance) and Trennan Lilly (middle distance).
Prairie Heights
Coach: Kim Kellett
The Panthers lose a regional qualifier in Zach Wiseman, but return another in Sam Zolman (pole vault and relays).
Other returners looking to score a lot of points for Heights are Isaac Burns (sprints and relays), Cody Melson (throws), Nick Dyer (hurdles and relays), Hank Glasgo (distance) and Messiah Solis (high jump and relays).
“We are a more well-rounded and balanced team than last year which should make us more competitive in dual meets,” Kellett said. “Our goals will be to compete to the best of our ability, win some dual meets and finish higher in big meets and invitationals.”
Newcomers for the Panthers include Chase Bachelor (high jump), Jaden Daniels (sprints and relays), Trent Daniels (sprints and relays), Tavvin Kyle (hurdles, sprints and relays) and Walker McCrea (sprints and relays).
West Noble
Coach: Monte Mawhorter
The Chargers have a few of their top guys returning for the 2022 season and a few have aspirations of making it far in the postseason.
Jalen Gonzalez, a Juniata College (Pa.) commit, was the sectional champ in the 100 and 200. He qualified for state in the 200.
Jesus Marin will compete in the 400.
Grant Flora returns to compete in distance events. He was a regional qualifier in the 3,200. Lucas Baker will lead West Noble in the throws.
Key newcomers for the Chargers are Seth Pruitt, Evan Schuller, Logan Shaw, Nate Silva, Nolan Parks, Wesley Hilbish, Drew Yates and Bradyn Barth.
Westview
Coach: Matt Jones
The Warriors feature a lot of youth during the 2021 season and will be relying on that youth that earned quite a bit of experience.
Lyndon Miller and Anthony Sanchez return as the top-point getters in the distance races.
The hurdles will be led by Jacob Peruski, and Aiden Koehler returns as the team’s top pole vaulter.
Other returning letterwinners are Andrew Johnson, Adrian Miller, Christian Norward, Chase Miller, Nick Bontrager, Jackson Minix, Aiden Wisler, Mohamed Abdurakhmonov and Spencer Conatsor.
