Young Trojans set for 2010 track season

The bad news: Fairfield has lost five of its top seven point scorers from last season.

The good news: The two returnees are at the top of the list and come in the form of 2009 state meet place winners Libbey Schubert and Katie Hammes.

With those two seniors leading the way, the Trojans will count on a big freshman class that takes up more than half of the roster. While the 22 freshmen may make the Trojan lineup a little green, head coach Ron Hunerdosse noted it?s not because of a lack of talent.

?The challenge is just taking the time to develop experience,? he said. ?I think there is ability, but they have get used to high school competition ? going from eighth grade to varsity track is a big step.?

The girls with plenty of varsity experience will be expected to lead the young Fairfield squad beginning with Schubert, who came in seventh in the Class 3A 200-meter dash last May. The senior sprinter will run anything and everything between the 100 and 400 for Fairfield, and also figures to be a big part of the Trojan relays.

Fellow seniors Annie Buch and hurdler Kiersten Vaughan will also bring a veteran attitude to the spring relays while Lindsey Borgomainerio and Tiffani Brush will shore up the middle-distance events.

?Even though we?re young, there?s still a good group of senior that make a pretty good nucleus,? Hunerdosse said.

Senior Sara Elmore, Beth Juarez and Brianna Richmond also join the team as first-year runners while Hammes hopes to pick up where she left off a season ago. The thrower had a breakout year in 2009 placing eighth in both the shot put and discus at the state meet.

?Katie really burst onto the scene last year. After we saw her in the indoor season, we knew we had something,? said Hunerdosse. ?She just progressed from there until placing in the state meet, and we?re going to be leaning on her real heavily this year.?

Junior Edna Jones will also bring talent and experience to the Fairfield sprint events while sophomores Taylor Silvers and Haley Williams should see an increased workload.

From there, the deep pool of freshmen may dictate the Trojans? success, but a talented group of runners have already had the chance to show what they can do in the cross-country season. Beginning with Jessica Lamb ? coming off a highly successful middle school track career and qualifying for the state cross-country meet ? the talent isn?t something Hunerdosse is worried about. Holly Kerr, Hannah Sobaski, Sage Richmond and Ashley Shields were all key cogs in the Fairfield cross-country lineup that took second-place at the conference meeet.

?I think we?re going to see a team that may start a little slowly,? Hunerdosse said. ?With sprinters you can tell pretty early what you have right out of the gate ? those kids are known quantities. The longer events are going to take some time to gain some confidence, and it always comes down to how hard they work.?

Along with Schubert and Jones, freshman Sydney Howard showed became one of those known sprinter quantities by reaching the finals of the 60-meter dash at the season opening indoor meet last week in Iowa City.

More freshman that figure to compete for varsity spots include Sidney Baumann, Miranda Metcalf, Brittany Kurtz and Kristen Terrell in throwing events and Tori Keltner, Erin Thompson and Cierra Belinski in the high jump. Haley Williams and sophomore Taylor Silvers are set to take on some of the load in the hurdle events that have been cleared out by graduation.

But what Fairfield also has on its side is a tradition of success that received an extra boost after cruising to the Southeast Conference title last year and sending 22 events to the state meet in the past two years.

?We know we can beat the best in our conference. It helps when you have tradition, and I think there?s something to be said for having kids that know how to perform at a high level,? Hunerdosse said. ?I like the fact that these kids know that hard work can get them something.?

The Trojans will run at the Central Indoor Thursday and the State Indoor at UNI on March 23 before beginning the outdoor season April 1 at the Mount Pleasant Relays.