RHS track teams are ready to forget lost season and move on

Alan Dale Randolph Times

RANDOLPH — Ted Stubbs is in his 23rd season overseeing the track programs at Randolph.

He and Eric Brown, who enters his first campaign leading the boys, are expecting a strong showing this spring as they are assisted by former state champion Melissa Davis and Tom Shafer.

The boys best finish at state was a seventh-place result in 2009 with the girls taking 10th in 2006.

This year Stubbs says it will be a challenge to see who will stand out since the athletes are just now getting the season started.

“It is really hard to figure out who our top performers coming back will be,” Stubbs said. “Justin Haselhorst and Keely Pinkelman have the most experience but have not had track since they were sophomores.”

Haselhorst is a jumper and sprinter and Pinkelman, “can do just about anything — jump, sprint, middle distances,” Stubbs said.

She was on the 3,200 relay team in 2019 that placed ninth at state.

A number of top newcomers dot the lineup, but the coaches have not seen the freshmen and sophomores on the track since they were seventh and eighth graders.

“So, for me to pick out any newcomers would be really unfair,” he said. “There are lots of unknowns this year.”

Depth should not be a problem this year Stubbs said.

“We do have a lot of girls out – 18 – the most since I have been here-but we are in an extremely difficult conference. The Lewis and Clark and our district is loaded, so scoring points will be at a premium in most of our meets,” he said.

Seniors Alexander Heiman, Sam Korth, Cadein Villwok, Preston Wattier, Arianne Greiner, Natalie Munter, Keely Pinkelman, Justin Haselhorst and Baylie Shearer will team with juniors Tom Korth, Aeden Ottis, Gabe Wortman, Ariel Fye, Emma Munter, Grace Nordhues and Ryanne Winkelbauer in provding team leadership moving forward.

The season is set to start Tuesday (March 30) at the Hartington-Newcastle meet.

It’s nice to be back on the track, Pinkelman said.

“It’s completely different and we have a whole different team: Half of our team we haven’t seen since they were in junior high,” she said. “I haven’t done track since I was a sophomore and I feel like I was a baby then. Everything is a question about what this year will look like. It’s a relief just to be active around this time of year. It always feels good. I am pretty confident that this season will go through. Our school hasn’t seen many quarantines since the end of basketball.”

Pinkelman believes the team will be vigilant in making sure everything moves along.

“We’ll just go with the flow I guess,” she said. “There is a lot of potential there. There are some girls I haven’t seen participate since they were in junior high school and I am excited to see them out there.”

2021 Track & Field

March 30 at Hartington

April 6 at Battle Creek

April 13 at Hartington

April 20 at Laurel

April 27 at Creighton

April 29 at Norfolk(Classic)

May 1 at Hartington (L&C)

May 6 at Randolph

May 12 at Hartington Districts

May 19-20 State Track Meet

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