ALBANY — The Comets bring back a plethora of talent to the track this spring.
On the girls side, nearly everyone returns from a third-place conference team — with the exception of sectional qualifying thrower Jada Flannery, who graduated in 2021. On the boys side, everyone returns.
Back for the girls includes every piece to the 1,600- and 3,200-meter sectional qualifying relay squads (Payton Wachholz, Kaiya Zurfluh, McKenna Broughton and Linsey Mueller), plus Ava Ahnen, who was a state qualifier in the 1,600, and Rachel Wildt, who finished sixth at conference in the 3,200 last season as a freshman.
“Last season we finished third at Conference, which is the best we could have done. It’s too early to tell if we are capable of challenging the top two teams, however I do believe we can score more points than last year,” said head coach Tony Brewer. “Ava Ahnen was our only state qualifier last season, so our goal will be to have more than one event represented at the State meet this season. Hopefully we can put ourselves in good position at sectionals by improving each week, and be competing at a high level at the end of May.”
Brewer said that in a general sense, his team has girls that have seen a lot of success, so they know what it takes to succeed. His long-distance runners were all a part of the dominating cross country team this past fall, though only one runner — Broughton — qualified for the state meet in October.
“We are going to have some very motivated girls who want to end their season or careers at the State meet, so I believe that will be a strength for this team,” Brewer said. “In terms of events, mid distance events and relays should be a strength of this year’s team. It’s too early to tell on some of the other events with the rookies.”
Elizabeth Halverson, Abby Hollis, Ellie Modaff and Lillyanna Morales all join the varsity squad.
“Numbers have been a challenge for our team in most years, which means we will be lacking depth in a lot of areas. We will do the best we can with trying to cover events, but trying to fill relays and all events will be an issue. Losing 16 points from Jada at conference in throws will be hard to replace, but hopefully we can have some rookies come in and score some points for us,” Brewer said.
For the boys, returning letterwinners include Jesse Schwartz, Brian Cid, Ethan Koss and Gage Roth. Drew Sertle, Caleb Smith, Owen Roth and Raj Flannery are newcomers.
Schwartz, Cid, Koss and Gage Roth teamed up to reach sectionals in the 3,200 relay, while Roth also made it in the triple jump, and Koss in the 110-high hurdles.
“Last season we only had five boys out for track and field, but we had no seniors. So are biggest goal would be to improve from last season especially when it comes to the conference meet. With everybody back and some newcomers that will score some points, I believe we should score a lot more points at meets this season,” Brewer said. “The goal will be to focus on improving each week, and hopefully we will be successful in multiple events in May and maybe June.”
Mid-distance and relays should be a strength, along with jumps. Freshman Caleb Smith should be able to hold his own in the throws, too, according to Brewer, due to Smith’s “tremendous” eighth-grade season in 2021.
“Besides events, the guys returning are very hard working, so I believe that will carry over to the newcomers, which should result in success during the season,” Brewer said. “We currently are still under ten athletes out for the team, so depth in most areas will be a challenge. Filling sprint relays right now will be a challenge as well with our low numbers. Besides our mid-distance events, we really will not have more than one athlete in most other events, which is challenging for the athletes who have to practice by themselves some of the time.”
