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Track Insider: Girls bonding already

VANDALIA – For Gena Nance, the track season has already created memories even though the Lady Vandals have participated in just one indoor meet.

With a team of “genuine athletes” who care about each other’s performances, Nance said that how the team came together in the first few weeks of practice is a lasting memory.

“The bonding that is happening already is freshmen through seniors,” Nance said. “It’s just a great group of girls, and I could not ask for a better group of kind-hearted girls who are warm to meeting other people.”

She said there’s not a selfish athlete in the bunch, and that the closeness of the team will lead to success once outdoor meets start.

The positivity of the group in practice has helped bring out the best in the leaders and the younger athletes, Nance said.

“It’s such an honor to work with a great group of girls,” she said, “and I don’t say that lightly.”

On the road again

Despite a new track facility being opened at Vandalia Community High School last spring, there are no home meets for the girls on this season’s schedule.

“There’s nothing I can do to change it,” Nance said. “It’s obviously a bummer, but we have to work with what we have.

“And we still have a wonderful facility to train on.”

Pleasant surprise

Senior Heidi Goldsmith came out for the track team for the first time this spring.

Nance wasn’t sure what kind of athlete she was getting in Goldsmith, but in advance of the Charleston Indoor Invitational on March 9, Nance got a nice surprise.

“Heidi has never run a day of track and beat everybody in a 400-meter run-off, so there could be a lot of unexpected things that could be happening,” Nance said.

Mind the gap

Boys track can be a tricky sport as a freshman.

In many events a 14-15-year-old freshman may be competing in the same race as an 18-year-old senior man.

That age gap is something that boys track coach Jane Bell has reminded her young sprinters about this spring.

“Our sprinters are mostly young,” she said. “You just have to realize, particularly in boys track, that there is a big physical difference between someone who is 14 or 15 and someone who is 18.

“You create your own goals, and you don’t always have to worry about how you are competing against senior men,” Bell said. “You have to focus on contributing points, even if it’s just three, four or five.”

Of the boys roster, all but three athletes are freshmen or sophomores, so there will be some learning.

And possibly a lot of points at the freshmen/sophomore conference meet on May 4.

Only one

Wade Cowger is the lone senior athlete on the boys team, and through the first practices and meet, he has done everything Bell would expect a senior leader to do.

“I am so appreciative of Wade’s leadership,” Bell said. “He’s done a really nice job of bringing the young guys along by word and by example.”

It’s the second season in a row with just one senior, after Quenten Austin led the way last spring.

Fair trade

On the schedule, the Pana Open was dropped in favor of the Robinson Invitational.

And while Robinson is a significantly farther trip, the ramifications of participating in that meet are far greater than those earned in the Pana Open.

Each year, the Vandals are sent east to their sectional, and very few of the opposing teams are seen during the regular season.

By traveling to Robinson during the season, Vandalia athletes will get a chance to put some intimidation into other sectional athletes.

“It’s important to run against them to say, ‘This is a guy like me, and I don’t need to be afraid of putting him on a pedestal,’” Bell said. “If someone is way better, they can say, ‘I don’t need to worry about that, I have to run the state time.’”

The Robinson Invite is on April 19.

Sophomore Robby Lott, seen last season, is one of several underclassmen on the boys track team this spring.

Ally Sasse is one of the returning Lady Vandals for the season, and coach Gena Nance said all of her athletes have bonded, even though there hasn’t been an outdoor meet yet.

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