SPRING OUTLOOK: Park Hill Boys Track

Coach Mark Gourley is entering his 33^rd and final year as a teacher and track coach and he still says each season, each team is different.

“It’s different every year. You never really know what you have coming into a season, sometimes you might not even know until the end of the season,” Gourley said. “There’s always someone that comes from out of nowhere and you didn’t expect them to do as good. Then there’s always someone who falls off, from injuries or a number of reasons.”

For 2012 though, Gourley knows he has a few key pieces to build around from last year’s team, which seemed to fall just short of several first place placements down the stretch. The Trojans, as a team, finished second three consecutive weeks in a row starting with conference, and then districts, and finally sectionals before finishing towards the bottom of the field at the state meet. They plan on avoiding that stigma this year by picking up where they left off in several events.

The state qualifying 4x200 relay returns two in Jon Saucedo and Anthony Arens while the 4x800 relay team brings back three in Riley Fahrenholz, Cain Winebrenner, and Joey Walton. Walton, who had a standout cross country season, is someone the Trojans hope can see success in several different positions.

“We’re really excited about him after his cross country season. He can run on a lot of things,” Gourley said. “Cain (Winebrenner) is the same way; he has a lot of determination.”

In sprints, Dondrell Hardiman and Devon Belew will be strong competitors in the 300 hurdles and 400 yard dash. John Harris and Levonte Hickman bring added spring as well. Artis Norfleet will be a solid performer in the triple and long jumps. Overall, the Trojans have a fairly balanced team with reasons to be optimistic in 2012. In terms of getting the chance for a top finish at conference, it now comes down to adding depth.

“We’re well rounded, but not terribly deep at some spots. We can always work the relays out as long as we’re strong in other events. They’re always a surprise,” Gourley said. “In conference it’s about having three entries, being deeper always helps.”

Park Hill sees Lee’s Summit West as their likeliest competitor for the conference title. They will jump start the season against Park Hill South March 27^th in a dual track meet at Park Hill.