Friday, March 31, 2000
N.KY. BOYS TRACK PREVIEW
CovCath has regional title potential
BY RAY SCHAEFER
Enquirer contributor
Covington Catholic track coach Jim Johnson doesn't talk of rebuilding. Johnson prefers the word “reloading,” and the majority of Northern Kentucky coaches agree. They made CovCath the top team in the Enquirer's boys preseason poll.
“This year's team is going to be a very good team,” Johnson said, “(Though) we lack a little experience overall.”
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COACHES POLL
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1. Covington Cath. (10) ....... 100
2. Highlands (1) ....... 89
3. Boone County ....... 54
4. Scott ....... 51
5. Ryle ....... 49
6. Newport Cent. Cath. ....... 46
7. Holmes ....... 43
8. Bellevue ....... 40
9. Campbell County ....... 34
10. Bishop Brossart ....... 25
Others: St. Henry 16; Dixie Heights 12; Lloyd 9; Simon Kenton 8; Conner 6; Newport, Holy Cross 4; Dayton 3.
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That has hardly mattered lately. CovCath has won the last six regional meets in classes AA (1994-95) and AAA ('96-99), and this year 109 boys are on the varsity and JV teams.
CovCath may be strongest in the sprints and hurdles led by seniors David Von Hoene and Nick Beck.
“(Von Hoene's) gotten stronger,” Johnson said. “... (Beck) had a tendency to stutter going over hurdles. He ran a 15.9 last year (in the 110-meter); he'll be low-15s this year.”
Senior Nick Hanson finished sixth in the state AAA 300 hurdles last year. Senior Dennis Wolff will likely run the 800 and the 1,600 and 3,200 relays.
In field events, look for senior David Leong in the discus, where he finished ninth in the state. Junior Mike Applegate and senior Gabe Sipple are the shot putters, and Applegate backs up Leong in the discus.
“Everybody who finished ahead of (Leong) is gone,” Johnson said. “He's been throwing 140, 150 feet. (Applegate) is in the high 40s in shot and 140s in discus. (Sipple's) throwing 50 feet.”
For the last two years, Highlands has been the second-best Class AA team in Kentucky to three-time defending champ Union County. Eleven Bluebirds return from last year's regional champs, but coach Dan Baker isn't sure how he will top that.
“The only way I can think of is to win state,” Baker said. “That's easier said than done. Distance and field look real strong. Sprinters are real young.”
Relay teams shouldn't be a problem. Senior Joe Salvato helped the Bluebirds win the state 1,600 and 3,200 relays; senior Matt Ewald was on the 1,600 team and senior Jay Heilman and sophomore Nathan Clinkenbeard were 3,200 members.
Senior Colin Muehlenkamp leads the distance runners; he finished sixth in the state at 1,600 and 3,200. Junior Brent Grover was fourth in discus and seventh in shot put.
Boone County will build around seniors Greg Threat and Jason Adkins and juniors Timmy King and Charles Clifford. Clifford was on the 400 relay team that finished fifth in the state in AAA.
Seniors Andy Seitz and David Luckhardt lead Scott. They were on the 3,200 relay team that finished sixth in AAA.
Newport Central Catholic's Williams brothers, senior Ben and sophomore Mike, should lead the team. Ben was a member of the 400 relay team that placed sixth in the state Class A meet last year, and Mike was on the 3,200 relay that placed seventh.
Holmes senior Jerry Weaver has his team's best shot to qualify for state. He took fifth in the AAA 100 last year.
Bellevue fields its smallest teams in years. Still, six Tigers — seniors Russell Madden, Matt Pickeral and Sonny Rechtin and juniors Matt Mayer, Brandon Cain and Nathan Berkley — qualified for Class A state last year, and Pickeral was fifth in shot put.
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