CENTERBURG — Even without a home track of their own, the Centerburg Trojans have plenty of what it takes to build a high-quality track team and become one of Knox County’s best road shows.
Centerburg coach Rob Wood, whose hands are full as coach of the high school boys and girls as well as the middle school, is fired up about a lean but talented group of girls and an emerging boys team at the varsity level.
“I’ve got a lot of boys that we coached in the eighth grade last year that are very good athletes,” said Wood. “They just need experience. It’s a big transition to high school, but they have done well.”
The Trojans ran at Licking Heights on Saturday and at Hamilton Township on Tuesday. They were only one of a trio of Division III teams at the Hamilton Township meet. Both the Centerburg boys and the girls defeated the other Division III teams and a pair of Division II teams as well.
Sprinter Kayla Bosworth, coming off a good indoor season, performed well at Hamilton Township. The freshman was seventh in the 100-meter dash (13.68 seconds), competing against all Division I schools. Sophomore Victoria Holt was right on her heels at 13.98 seconds. In the 400, Bosworth ran a 1:03.04 and Holt finished with a 1:07.
Jacob Teal was sixth in the boys 400-meter dash with a 56.58 seconds.
Girls 800-meter runner Ellie Holsopple wound up in third place with a time of 2:41 at Hamilton Township. Junior Cameron Walker, who was excellent in the 300-meter hurdles, ran a 52.21, Tuesday.
Senior Kyle Burke is strong in the boys 800, placing third on Tuesday (2:10). Andy Murmann, a foreign exchange student from Germany, ran a 2:19 on Tuesday, but also had a 2:12 split on Saturday in the boys 4x800.
“He has started out with a bang,” said Wood. “He’s really doing well.”
Sophomore Hunter Boggs was fourth in Tuesday’s 1,600-meter run with a 5:09.
“He wanted to get under five minutes,” said Wood. “He will by the end of the season. He was knocking on the door (Tuesday) night.
Sophomore Thomas Thatcher, a member of the wrestling team, showed no ill effects from his recent broken leg on Tuesday. Thatcher won the 3,200, posting a time of 11:02.96.
“He broke his leg wrestling,” said Wood. “He is healed up and is coming back with a vengeance. He wanted to get under 11:00 and he was right there.”
Colleen Chenevey had a 14:50 in the girls 3,200-meter run.
The boys 4x400 team ran well (3:49) at Hamilton township against predominantly Division I teams. The boys 4x100 team was fifth at 48.56. The girls 4x400 went to the state indoor meet.
“We didn’t have a lot of depth last year, “said Wood. “This year, I can pull people out and move people around. They’re also competitive in practice and that helps with the times. These guys know that they are not automatically going to start and that pushes them.”
Anna McCann heaved the shot put 30 feet, 9 inches, which was good for fifth at Hamilton Township. Her discus toss of 86-11 placed her sixth overall.
With numbers and potential everywhere, it’s little wonder that Wood is brimming with excitement.
“The competition was brutal (Tuesday),” said Wood. “We’re going to Cardington on Saturday and I think when we get some competition in our area we’re really going to take off. We’re going to know (today) when we face Fredericktown.”
