BY NICK ALBANO
This spring, 90 Kaneland athletes will participate in track and field, a school record. That should be the first record that will be broken in a season that has promise to be one of the best in Kaneland history. The team returns state qualifiers seniors Kory Harner, Brandon Cottier, Dylan Pennington, and Conor Johnson and juniors Dylan Nauert, Brandon Bishop. Nathaniel Kucera, Luis Acosta, Kyle Carter, and Nate Dyer.
“I have been been coaching seven years as a head coach, 21 years overall and 15 at Kaneland and this is the deepest team I have ever had,” head coach Eric Baron said.
In those seven years Kaneland track has won four sectional titles and in 2010 was second in the state as a team. The goals are set high for this year’s team. “Our goal is for the Varsity and freshman/sophomore teams to be in contention, if not win, every meet we compete in. Another goal is to have placers in all 18 events in every single meet. We definitely are looking forward to defending our Kane County Championship against the big schools, going for our fifth sectional title in a row, and putting ourselves in a position to be on the team podium on Saturday at the State meet,” assistant coach Andrew Drendel said.
The indoor track season has already begun and with it the Knights have made some big strides, winning the Sycamore and Dundee Crown Invites and coming in second at the Batavia Invite to reigning 3A champions Lake Park. In past years, Kaneland track has been known for its running events but this year Kaneland’s field events look just as strong. Seniors Tanner Andrews and Marshall Farthing have their sights set high in the jumping competitions. In high jump, Andrews leapt 6’4” at Dundee, moving him into 6th place among Kaneland’s top 50 high jumpers. Farthing is already on that list at number 10 with a leap of 6’3” last year at the Peterson Prep. In shot put, Nate Dyer and fellow junior Shane Jorgenson will look to improve upon their impressive sophomore years. Last year Nate qualified for state competition in shot put and discus. But the biggest point gainers on the team this season will be the relay events. Last year the four by 100, four by 200 and four by 800 relays all set school records and placed at state. With only the loss of Sean Carter and Clayton Brundige to graduation, the relays will look to make a run this year.
“We want to get all of the relays down to state and have them up for All-State contention which we think is very possible,” junior Kyle Carter said.
While a lot can happen in a season, the biggest competition for achieving that goal will come from two old foes in Cahokia and Glenbard South. Cahokia won the state title last year and Glenbard South took second.
“I believe our team can win a trophy if we can stay healthy and have a good meet at the state championship,” said Coach Baron.
The bar is placed high for these Knights, setting up for a possible historic spring.