Elmira High School’s track and field team officially kicked-off last week, with practices starting on Monday. An intra-squad meet will start off the competitive season Wednesday and Thursday.
Elmira has three returning track and field athletes that competed at state last year, seniors Austyn Woolcott and Iris Frome and junior Kainoa Harwood.
Head coach Patrick Wondra talked about his expectations for the more than 70 athletes who came out for track and field this year.
“With such a big team we should have a lot of PRs,” Wondra told Falcon News with excitement. “Both our boys teams and girls teams should be competitive throughout the season and have a shot at winning the league championships at the district meet in May!”
Wondra also mentioned his seniors, who are Mari Espinoza, Iris Frome, Lillian Ossowski, Jo Smith, Macaira Smith, David Bay, Quinton Buckland, Jude Spencer, Josh Sweet, Morgan Wondra and Austyn Woolcott — all whom he has high expectations for.
“It’s their leadership even more than their performances that will have an enduring impact on the current and future athletes of this program,” Wondra said. “It’s their legacy.
“This is the same expectation that I’ll have for next year’s seniors, and then the seniors after that.”
Throwing coach Emmy Erwin said she has high expectations for a lot of her athletes.
“For most of the boys we are thinking of going top 3 in shot put and discus, which will take lots of hard work but I think they are more than capable,” Erwin said.
“For girls, Ossowski is inches away from breaking 100 feet in javelin,” she continued, “which would put her on the path for the state meet.”
Erwin shared some or her goals for the entire throwing group as well.
“We had a lot of depth last year which was nice, so my hope is that from here continuing forward we can stick with that which means two or three kids on the podium at districts each year,” she said.
Sprinting Coach Bo Highburger, a former state runner and thrower for Elmira, talks about who he has high expectations for.
“Hard question because we have a lot of talent in our sprint group,” Highburger said. “One name that comes to mind is Sophomore Ava Greene who set the all-time record for the 100 meter for freshmen last year, missing the state meet by .1 seconds.
“In general, our boys 4×100. We won a few years ago at state and got third last year in state. [There are] lots of expectations and they have a lot of competition.”
Highburger also had praise for Frome.
“A really well rounded athlete. Excellent 400 and 800 meter runner,” he said. “She made it to the state meet last year, so I have some high expectations.”
The sprinting coach continued and mentioned some returning athletes and new runners.
“Junior Owen Booth. Old but new. [He] took a year off, [but I’m] excited to see how he does,” Highburger said. “Our whole freshmen class has a lot of talent, in particular with some of the girls.”
“Freshmen Petra Archer, [I’m] really excited to see how she does, being the daughter of an Oregon Duck track star. [She] has the genetics.”
Distance coach Emilee Brink described her expectations for her athletes.
“I have quite a few that are returning for their senior season, but my only expectations are those that they set for themselves,” Brink explained.
“I don’t like to set crazy goals,” she said, “but I would like my runners to achieve whatever goals they set for themselves.”
With new talent and strong competitors, the EHS track and field team is poised for a successful season.
