With a new head coach and only eight seniors (two girls and six boys), the young Oxford Track Teams are looking ahead with determination to a season of growth and hard work.
‘We’re a young team,? said new Head Coach Andrew McDonald, who has worked as Oxford High School’s athletic trainer for the past four years. ‘We’ve added a lot of freshmen, especially on the girls team.?
The 2004 boys and girls track teams are almost mirror images of each other: The boys are strong with their distance runners and young in their sprinters; while the girls are strong in their sprinters and young in their distance runners. McDonald said both teams are still working on growth in the field events.
Leading the Wildcat runners this year are team captains Donnie Richmond and Jim Henry for the boys and Theresa Miner and Jenelle Parker for the girls. Assisting with the different events are Assistant Coaches Mike Sudrovech (sprints and long jump), George Schraut (throws) and Ray Sutherland (high jump).
‘My goals for both teams this year is to send as many as we can to states and keep improving,? said McDonald. ‘I was looking over the stats from last season and saw that the teams grew, but then hit a plateau. I was to see them improve consistently the whole year.?
Individually the two teams will have some stiff competition: the boys team will need to defeat both Fenton and Linden to claim the Flint Metro League; while the girls will have to surpass Lapeer East and Linden. This past season, the girls tied for second in the FML, while the boys took fourth.
The Wildcat runners kicked off their season on March 23 at the Oakland County Tournament. Placing for Oxford were Vince Belitsos in third on shotput with 50 feet, 7? inches (an all-time personal best), and the 1200 distance medley relay team (comprised of German Guerrero, Donnie Richmond, Jacob Campbell and Pat Streit) in second with 11:04.
On March 27, the Oxford boys traveled to Eastern Michigan University for the Huron Relays – the largest indoor meet in the state with 72 competing teams.
The top winner for the day was Donnie Richmond with a first place finish in the two-mile run at 9:37, an all-time personal best record. Also setting a personal best was Adam Richmond in at 4:53 on the mile, shaving 10 seconds off his top time.
The medley relay (Tim Rowland, Ben Kester, Streit and Guerrero) again placed, taking ninth position (out of 55 teams) with 11:15. Belitsos also took another position with a fourth place shotput finish (out of 60 throwers) at 50 feet, 9 inches.
‘This was an amazing event,? said McDonald. ‘This really was a good learning experience for the boys.?
The Wildcat runners hit the track again this past Tuesday against Flint Kearsley and Flint Southwestern. The teams do not compete again until after spring break when they return home to host Holly on April 21.