The ‘Year of COVID’ has been a year like no other, and it has affected nearly every facet of our lives. High school sports are certainly no exception, as the spring season was completely cancelled last year and the summer ball teams faced an abbreviated schedule.
While the Eagles opted out of their season along with others statewide, schools that wanted to play at least got a chance to compete.
As I thought about it, I knew it would become a challenge to put the team preview stories together. I had no returning state qualifiers to talk about and no past times or distances for track, along with no returning scores for golf. I also had no returning letterwinner photos. So it was decided that, at least for this year, I will put what I have on the teams into one story. As the spring season student-athletes excitedly get back to work again, one can only wonder who will emerge as the leaders or maybe a surprise athlete that the coach couldn’t see coming. It will seem almost like starting over from scratch, but rest assured the athletes will be ready to give it everything they have!
Andy Ettinger enters his third year in charge of the Lady Eagle track & field. “Our strength is in our sprint events, as we have a lot of sprinters,” he said. “The girls are coachable and are being pushed so they are ready to compete. I also believe we can compete with some teams in our conference.” On the flip side, he feels their weakness is going to be in their numbers and especially in distance events.
“We have to be competitive,” said Ettinger as a key to the season. “We have girls that are ready to be put in whatever role the coaches feel will help the team.” he said. “We also are keeping our fingers crossed that we have a full season.” He is relying on seniors Lea Friedl and Claire Kienzle to set the tone for the year. “They will be the leaders on this team,” said the coach. “The roster is heavy with freshmen, as we have only two juniors and two sophomores.”
He feels the conference race should be interesting. “After not having a season, we are all looking to compete,” said Ettinger. “There are some great athletes in this conference, and so we can’t wait to see what happens.” With a mostly young squad, Ettinger is excited to see what these ladies can do this year. “They have all been working hard in practice, and they can’t wait for the first meet to get after it.”
The 8th edition of Eagle track & field under Ben Demuth’s guidance will have 35 total athletes out with their strength being from 200-400. “We don’t have the blazing 100 runners, but we have several quality guys that can fill our 200 to 400-meter spots and can run those distances pretty well,” said the coach. “We are led by Derricklee Harms, who finished in the top 10 at state as a sophomore, in the open 400 and junior Blake Morgan has been running step for step with him thus far in practice. I also think Nick Huntley, Noah Thul, Braydon Carr, Drake Canavan, Jake Jeske and Mack Morgan can make some noise in these distances as well.”
When it comes to potential weaknesses, he feels it’s probably the mid-distance guys. “We have had some guys out for illnesses early this season in those distances,” said the coach. “I am hoping that we can get a few guys healthy and see them step up. We also need some 800 to 1600 runners who can get after it, and I think by the end of the season we should be okay in this area.” He feels his throwers could be another area of concern. “While they are working hard and learning disc and shot, the year off has put us behind a bit as those are disciplines that not many guys have had a chance to work on with no 2020 season,” said Demuth.
He feels the biggest key to a successful Eagle season is for the team to continue to work hard as they have in practice and get into shape, and they also need to believe in themselves. “They need to believe that they can be successful in competition, and once we start believing in ourselves and continue working hard, good things are going to happen for them,” said the coach.
He feels there is a good mix of athletes on the team, and therefore he and his assistants are excited to see them all work together to improve. “Of course Derricklee is the one everyone will be watching, but he can only do so much for our team and as I’ve said earlier we have several of them who have really impressed me thus far,” said Demuth. “Harms has been the leader, and a lot of the guys try to emulate his efforts in practice as well and so that is another key for us as it does not matter the age if he asks you to run the workout with him the guys have not shied away and I think that is awesome to see in practice.” On the same token, Adam Herrington has done the same with the distance runners according to Demuth. “He’s had issues of his own with his knee surgery and recovery last fall, but he has put in the time and once we get outdoors I think he will be a point placer for us in several meets.”
In sizing up the conference, Demuth feels Forest City is clearly on top. “They are solid athlete-wise in just about every piece of a meet,” he said. “They will be the one everyone else is chasing. After that, I am not really sure. We have several teams that are well coached in this conference, and they will be able to put together some quality teams. We just have to go and do our part and see how things go for us.”
The Lady Eagle golf team may be small in number and short on experience, but according to fourth-year coach Rich Thacker they possess other attributes to make up for it as they prepare for the season.
“We only have seven girls out, but they all have great attitudes about the game,” said the coach. “Our weakness is that we have little to no experience up to this point.” Because of that, he feels an obvious key to the season is continuing to learn and increase their skills on a daily basis. He feels his seniors are bringing strong moral leadership and example setting to the table, which should hopefully serve to mold the team into a successful unit.
Returners include seniors Liz Hogrefe and Megan Anderson, with junior Olivia Andersen joining the team this year. Sophomore Elinor Jensen and freshmen Maddison Kaiser and Angilina Binkern round out the roster.
The Eagle boys golfers are under the direction again of Corey Rutherford, who has only Tyler Hansen’s 52.5 average returning for his fifth addition. Sophomores out include Trenton Sorensen, Cole Fourage, Cody Gearhart, David Varland and Drake Weland. Freshmen include Connor Christopher, Brody Allen and Even Thul.
