It only takes one. One good day. One good throw. One good start. One good jump. That one moment decides whether an athlete advances to regionals or if he is finished, but no matter the result everyone is cheering for him. Parents in the bleachers stood up to applaud runners and throwers from different schools and coaches were congratulating all athletes as well. East Noble Boy’s Track hosted sectionals on Thursday May 18th. With 14 teams flooding the track and field, East Noble boys finished 5th overall with many PR’s. The atmosphere was family-friendly and the air full of energy. Not one athlete showed a sign of nervousness as they stepped up to the mark.
With half the meets cancelled the boys track team had to bring the extra heat to sectionals. Coach Kempf described his feelings about this spring. “The season was a constant effort to define commitment to excellence as a program. The season itself was an instance challenge with about half our meets being cancelled. As coaches, this makes it difficult to gauge talent and improvement in a competition setting. In the end, with all the chips on the table at sectionals, we went out and we competed. We didn’t back down and our times showed it, which as a coach makes me incredibly proud.”
With some tough competition from surrounding schools, East Noble had many PR’s. This included: Frank Herrera, Joe Vandiver, Tyler Klinger, Dustin Mapes in long jump, Jacob Brown in discus and shot, Tom Woehnker in discus and shot, and the 4×4 team of Brandon Mable, Jake Torrie, Dustin Mapes, and Zan Foltyniak.
Some of the stand outs, noted by Coach Kempf, were Frank Herrera in the 4×800 relay, Brandon Mable “the iron man of the evening” with 6 races, Jacob Brown and Tom Woehnker in shot and discus, and Joe Vandiver in the 3200.
Regionals will be hosted by Wayne High School Thursday, May 23. East Noble athletes attending will be Brandon Mable, Kyle Mundon, Jake Torrie, Eric Butler (4×100 relay), Zan Foltyniak (400), and Jacob Brown and Tom Woehnker (discus). At the moment the stats show that Jacob Brown is seeded to make it to state, but all of the athletes have a chance. Come out and support our fellow Knights as they fight on at a shot for state.