Track season kicks into gear

CHAMPAIGN — The 2009 track season is officially underway at Unity at St. Joseph-Ogden High Schools everyone. The SJ-O boys' team opened its season last week at Clinton, and the SJ-O girls and Unity teams followed suit with races earlier this week. I think all four teams are in for an exciting year.

The Rockets' boys and girls teams have depth up and down their lineups and are stacked in relay races and sprints. Coaches Tim Gateley and Dave Bass have a bevy of talented student athletes to choose from for relays every meet, and both coaches appear poised to run as many kids in as many events as they can. Ideally, both coaches are hoping they'll discover which races their kids are best in so they know where to put them come sectionals.

The Rockets are also deep in field events -- especially jumping events -- and I expect Unity to score points in those categories all year. So much emphasis is put on running events during a track and field season that field events can sometimes be overlooked, so I think it's important to remember and recognize talented field event participants when they succeed and I'll try to do that this season.

Over in St. Joseph, the Spartans' teams are once again expectedly strong. Boys' coach Jon Jamison has been thrilled with his team's depth and versatility all season, and girls' coach Jerry Hewerdine has raved about how well his young girls have performed. The Spartan girls won a state title at the Illinois Prep Top Times meet last month, while the boys took second in a race of their own. Both teams hope to duplicate that success come May, but in all sports.

I think the Spartans' biggest strength, like Unity, is in their relay depth. SJ-O has six runners or more capable of performing at the varsity level in each race, and both coaches expect to use a lot of runners in relays this year. The Spartans' field events aren't quite as strong as their running events, but are still among the strongest and most consistent the school has seen in a long time. Jamison and Hewerdine both expect to score consistent points in field events this season.