LYONS HIGH CROSS COUNTRY OFF AND RUNNING
by Larry Dumler
August 31, 2010
LYONS HIGH OFF AND We started this season with only 4 boys and 4 girls. I was really disappointed in the numbers after last year’s state run. I really thought/hoped for 15 or 18 boys and 8 to 10 girls. Now we are up to 20-5 girls, 13 boys and 2 Middle Schoolers. With only Cody and Mat returning from the top 7 and Tyler the lone boy returning letterman, we will be very, very young. For the girls, we have Kylee and Danielle returning with running experience on the varsity level. Kaitlynn ran on the regional team last season for about the only varsity experience she had.
The way these kids are working, by the end of the season we could surprise some teams.
Leading the way for the Lions will be Mat Sparkman, Cody Rodriquez and Tyler Konda. New comers to the team are freshman, Marshall Schottler, Jared Cardonne; Sophomores, Roy Lopez, Luis Saenz, Mario Franco; Juniors Kevin Thomansson, Mario Villanueva, Youngchang Park. Returning from last season will be Andrew Christmann, Jose Perez. Ones to watch will be Cardonne, Thomansson, Franco, and Villanueva. I look for great things from this bunch of young men.
Returning leading the way will be Kylee Martinez, and Danielle Wendler. Kylee qualified for state on the track last spring and she is looking really strong after some summer mileage. Kaitlynn Malone will also return as a letterman from last year. She only ran two varsity races last season so we look for good things from her. Rounding out the girls will be Kenya Ortiz and Josefina Banuelos. Those two are working great in practice and should show very well later on in the season.
We have two Middle School runners this year. Evan Shanelec returns as the lone 8th grade runner and Tyler Christmann is the lone 7th grader. These guys are working hard to improve each and every practice.
We begin our season with the Hoisington meet this Saturday. They have added two middle school races. They will begin running at 9 and will be followed by the high school races. We then go to Skyline, Stafford, Larned, Lyons, Sterling, League, Regional and hopefully state. Anyone parent or patron wishing to help with our meet we can sure use you. We bring in some of the top teams in not only the area but the state as well. Both boys’ and girls’ team races will be showing some great competition.
We ran time trials last Thursday and had some great times. I could tell we were in not very good competition shape. The team competed with each other and did an outstanding job.
