Park Hill track teams striving for balance

There’s one thing Park Hill track coaches Mark Gourley and Tari Garner know about their respective teams so far in this early season and it’s that they’ll be fairly balanced in the amount of talent displayed on the track this spring. With just under 200 athletes participating between the two programs, there are plenty of events for them to choose from leaving their coaches with a handful of reasons to be optimistic about the upcoming season.

“We’re balanced, we’ve got good kids at each event,” Garner said of her team. “We’re also going to be young, so it’s going to be a developmental year as well.”

“We’re also looking at some balance as well,” Gourley added. “You have to just get out there and do it, we don’t know what we have until the KU Relays a lot of the time. That’s a good measuring stick to where people are in shape and the weather starts to turn around.”

Last year, the boys brought home a conference title led by some strong relay team performances, particularly the 4x800. Cain Winebrenner returns from that 12th place state relay team, but will also be defending his conference title in the one-mile run. Also returning will be Burt Taylor, Quinton Noble, Dondrell Hardiman, Levante Hickman, and John Saucito.

Senior Trace Norfleet, who missed last season due to injury after winning the state long jump title the season before, is back and looking to add points in several events. Nick Smith who set the school record for the shot put last season returns after a top five finish at state.Sectional qualifier Luke Bossert returns in the pole vault.

“(Trace) looks good and we’re hoping the form comes back from his sophomore year.” Gourley said. “Nick will be strong again this year and we hope Luke picks up where he left off.”

On the girl’s side, there isn’t as good of an idea of what to expect because of the young make up of the team. While the Trojans return athletes like Stephanie Atkinson in the pole vault who just missed qualifying for state last year, Bailey Cashen in the high jump, and the sectional qualifying 4x800 relay team, the rest of the event field is up for grabs and Garner sees that as a positive.

“There’s not one person who is going to be a top-three person in four events, so we’re going to have to work on bringing more people along to the next level,” Garner said. “It will make us work really hard in every event and will make us more balanced as a team because we won’t be able to necessarily count on any particular event.”

Potential surprises and breakout seasons might take place in the high and triple jump along with the 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams that will feature some young sprinters.

Neither coach denied the unpredictable natural of how their seasons would play out, but both embraced the wide range of possibilities it presented.

“It’s going to be an interesting year because of the dynamics of having a lot of open sports up for grabs,” Garner said.

“But that’s the fun part though, seeing who will emerge,” Gourley added.