Track Stories & Where Are They Now!

Over 30 years of coaching have allowed me to accumulate many stories.  The stories all have one thing in common, young women & men!  Young men & women, all trying to do the same thing, become the best track & field athlete possible!!  Along the way, they have ti deal with being a teenager!!!  Yes, a teenager in a world that never seems to be ready for teenagers!

To be a successful high school coach one must take these young & talented men & women to a new level - the level of a champion!!!

First, there are different levels of champions!  The most obvious is the state champion!  This champion is rare, and coaching this athlete is also challenging!  At Hempfield, we have had several state champions!

Boys
Kyle Long - 2012 - Discus
Kyle Long - 2011 - Discus
Kyle Long - 2011 - Shot
David Patzer - 2009 - Pole Vault
Leroy McQueen - 1999 - Long Jump
Kevin Schadt - 1991 - 1600 meters
Bob Rivard - 1965 - Javelin

Girls
Marilyn Senz - 1980 - Javelin
Marilyn Senz - 1978 - Javelin
Carol Miller - 1976 - Javelin
Sue Strait, Joanne Harriger, Patty Wickenheiser, & Mrilyn Opp - 1974 - 880 Yard Relay

That is 11 PIAA State Champions!  Notice 3 by Kyle Long & 2 by Marilyn Senz!

On the next blog entry I will tackle the one state champion I personally coached!

What Is Next On the Hempfield Track Blog!

OK.  Track season is over for the high school team & 2013 was another memorable year!!  What will this blog do this summer?  MORE TRACK & FIELD!!!

Here is a list of topics for the summer:

1 - Hempfield Hall of Fame
I will discuss current Hempfield Hall of Fame members that participated in track & field!  Here is the list of athletes that are in the Hall of Fame that participated in track & field!

Year Inducted - Name
2005 - Adam Burket
2005 - Tom Herr
2005 - Robert Rivard
2005 - Kevin Schadt
2005 - Marilyn Senz
2006 - Traci Shaub (Fisher)
2006 - Richard Horst
2006 - Carol Miller
2006 - Pam Neiss (Stuper)
2007 - Meryl Schmidt (Shoemaker)
2008 - Kirk Liddel
2008 - Doug Nauman
2009 - Troy Milhouse
2010 - Amy Stairs (Grube)
2010 - Jodi Heistand (Habecker)
2011 - Jeff Bradley
2011 - Jeff Fritz
2012 - Warren Taylor
2013 - Jerry Frey

2 - Current High School & College Athletes
What are they doing this summer?  What are their college plans?  And summer meets?

3 - Track & Field News
What is happening in the world of Track & Field?  Summer Events?

4 - Miscellaneous!
Anything Track & Field!!!

New Girls Track Brochure

The girls track & field team did not let the boys have all the fun!  ANOTHER GREAT YEAR!!

The girls success in the Lancaster-Lebanon League has been amazing!  This season was not different!  The only down side was losing Sarah Helgeson right before the league meet!

Here are some of the highlights:

Undefeated in Duel Meets - 6-0
Section 1 Champions
Black Knight Invitational - 2nd
Shippensburg Invitational - 3rd
Lancaster-Lebanon League Meet - 2nd (WITHOUT HELGESON!)

Individuals
Lancaster-Lebanon Champs
Dani Bland - 100 meters - 12.49
Dani Poletti - Pole Vault - 11'6" (2nd year in a row!)
4 x 800 Relay - 9:44.64 (Kelsey Nolan, Maris Kurcina, Bri Thomas, & Maria Yoder)

District Medals

4th - Dani Bland - 100 meters - 12.84
5th - Claire Davis - Triple Jump - 35'-9.75"
5th - Dani Poletti - Pole Vault - 11'0"
5th - 4 x 100 Relay - 49.57 (Abbet Friedman, Claire Davis, Sarak Klag, & Dani Bland)
6th - 4 x 800 Relay - 9:30.98 (Kelsey Nolan, Maris Kurcina, Bri Thomas, & Maria Yoder)

PIAA State Medal
7th - Dani Poletti - Pole Vault - 11'6"


Here are more details from the Track Brochure:

Great Season Ladies

"Tradition Doesn't Graduate!"

New Boys Track Brochure

Checkout the latest 2013 Track Brochure!!!

This was another great season!!

Another Successful Season for the Black Knights!

Many teams would love to have the season that Hempfield Track & Field had this year!  From the cold days in December to the cold days in May!  Now wait that should not be!  But is was a cold & windy spring and that is part of track & field in good old Pennsylvania!!

Let's start with the boys team.  Section 1 Champions, Lancaster-Lebanon League Champions, district medals, and a state medal!  Nice season!  The only negative were some of the nagging injuries at the end of the year.  Tory Long could not fly at the district meat.  He had one of the best sophomore seasons of any in Hempfield's long history!  League Champ in the 200 meters and a 2nd & 3rd in the 100 & 400 meters respectively!  A dual meet season of big points!  And the team was deep in sprinters! Dustin Koenig, although fighting injuries had a great senior season!  And a 5th in the 100 meters & 2nd in the 400 relay at leagues!  Great depth led by Preston Swett and Zach Zeamer had great season, scored big points and helped at leagues!!

In the hurdles, Devon Santos had an incredible season!  Big points all year in dual meets & relays, and at leagues 2nd in both the 110 & 300 Hurdles!  And he moved up the all time Hemplfield list of great hurdlers!  Andrew Pogue had one of the best hurdle seasons for a freshman, maybe the best ever!!  qualified for leagues 7th in the 300 hurdles, again as a freshman!

In the distance events, Andrew Birk scored big points and was the leader in the 800 meters & 1600 meters!  Scored big points in the league meet, finishing 2nd in the 1600 meters.  Connor Lehr led the way in the 3200 meters and a young group of Kline, Meldrum, Yurchak, & Wagaman make the future look bright!

In the jumps, Adam KArl & Darius Stucky led the way in the high jump, Issiah Bennett in the long & triple & Dustin Peck in the pole vault provided strength in many meets!  The key to a successful team is to be strong in all events and the jumpers made sure their team could depend on them!

The throws had another unbelievable year!  With the loss of Kyle Long to graduation, the league may have thought the Black Knights would falter in the throws!  No way, Tanner Unger, JD Aument, Matt Bobetsky, & Anthony Delgiorno made many teams pay the price!!  The Dicus, Shot Put, and Javelin were well covered!  Tanner Unger had one of the best years of an Hempfield throwers!  Culminating in a second place in the Discus at states!!!!!  And a District Champ as well!!!  JD Aument was battling with Tanner all year in the Shot & Discus!  Medaled at leagues in shot & discus and was League Champ in the shot with a 52 foot throw!!!

A great year for the young men at Hempfield - "The Tradition Continues!"  Next, a look at the Hempfield young ladies!!

Analyzing The PIAA State Track & Field Meet

As a retired math teacher and an original computer integrator, numbers have always intrigued me!  One thing I do every year is analyze results of the PIAA Track & Field Meet.  First I looked at the PIAA Districts and compare the results from different sections of the state.  As a review, here is the breakdown of PIAA Districts for all sports - there are 12 districts.

As you can see there are twelve districts.  The most populous are:

District 1 - surrounding Philadelphia

District 3 - surrounding Harrisburg

District 7 - surrounding Pittsburgh

District 11 - the Allentown & Scranton area

District 12 - the city of Philadelphia

There are two classes for track & field AAA(larger school) & AA(smaller school).  Today I am analyzing the AAA schools!  I used the 8 places scoring that the PIAA uses - 1st-10 points, 2nd-8, 3rd-6, 4th-5, 5th-4, 6th-3, 7th-2, & 8th 1 point.  Here is the scoring for AAA Districts for Boys & Girls.

District          Boys Points        Girls Points

1                        267.5                 278.5

2                          26                      26

3                        122                    128.5

4                          20.5                   22

5                           0                        8

6                          10.5                    4

7                        119                    169

8                            0                       0

9                            0                       0

10                         28                     25

11                         62.5                  19

12                         46                     20

A few comments:

1 - District 8 is the city of Pittsburgh.  The have been declining the past 20 years, but this year they had NO points.  I need research what is up in Pittsburgh.

2 - District 9 has NO AAA schools.

3 - District 1 is still dominating.  They do have more athletes, but the track & field tradition is BIG TIME in this area!

4 - The battle for second is usually District 3 & District 7.  And this year was no different.  The girls AAA was a clear District 7 win for second.  

So, the numbers came out to show the usual results.   The power is still focused around Philadelphia.

Tanner Unger Second at States!!

Second at States!  The Hempfield Discus is alive and well!!  Tanner Unger has continued to make the Hempfield throwers proud!!!  Check out the Tanner Unger Interview at States!

Well said Tanner!  A throw of 168' 2"!!  Check out the results below:

Checkout the State PIAA Record!  Hempfield's Kyle Long - 202' 10"!!  Kyle was back to help Tanner this week!  And Coach Herr should be proud!  He has created an environment that is producing awesome throwers!!

All time Hempfield List below!

Some great names there!  Hall of Famers - Adam Burket and Warren Taylor!!  And now Tanner will be:

#3 All Time!!!!!! - Tanner Unger!!  168'2"

.......... and back next year!!!!!