The Free Press

The script handed to Hillsboro High School track coach Dennis Boldt this spring might well be titled "A Tale of Two Teams."

While it would be an exaggeration to say he faces the best of times and the worst of times for his girls' and boys' teams, respectively, the two squads do find themselves following nearly opposite story lines after very successful seasons in 2004.

This season, Boldt returns every point scorer from a girls' squad that finished a mere six points away from a state championship. In fact, his returnees accounted for nearly 94 percent of last season's 9261/2 team points.

The boys' team, meanwhile, won the state title in dramatic fashion, but lost heavily through graduation. The 10 seniors now departed accounted for all but four of the 48 points scored at state and nearly 71 percent of the 1,360.83 points accumulated last season.

Suffice it to say expectations are high for the girls this season and somewhat moderated for the boys.

Trojan girls

"I think the expectations the girls have of themselves are high," Boldt said. "If we are healthy, we do have an excellent chance of winning a lot of track meets this year.

"But we also have to keep in mind the girls' team does not have the depth the previous boys' team had. Injuries that we sustained throughout the boys' season (last year) would really hinder us with the girls-particularly, we're focusing on five girls returning who were on our state runner-up team."

Remarkably, all five of those girls were freshmen last year. Heading the list are JuliAnne Chisholm and Hannah Marsh, who combined for all or part of four gold medals and 51 of the team's 56 points at state.

Chisholm won individual gold in the 300-meter hurdles and high jump and teamed with Jessica Heidel, Kelsie Penner and Marsh to win the 4x400-meter relay. She also placed third in the 100-meter hurdles.

What's more, Chisholm set a school record in the 1,600-meter run last year-and didn't even pursue that event in the post-season.

"JuliAnne will continue to focus on her hurdle races," Boldt said. "We probably will not run her in the middle distance. Of course, we return her in high jump, but we may also expand her into another jumping event or another running event."

Marsh is multi-talented, too. At state she won the long jump, placed third in the 100 meters and fourth in the 200 meters in addition to anchoring the 4x400 with a split time of 59.0 seconds.

Similar to Chisholm, she set a school record in the pole vault last season, but did not pursue that event in the post-season.

"This year we'll probably run her in the open 100 and 200 more often," Boldt said. "Of course, being long-jump champion, it's hard not to come right back and try to defend that.

"But pole vault is an option for her. We could find her in pole vault and long jump-they complement each other very well. And I think she has also talked about running the open 400."

But the Trojan girls will be more than a two-athlete team, Boldt said.

"We have some excellent returning girls. Jessica Heidel qualified for state in the triple jump and 4x400 relay. Kelsie Penner was in the 4x400 and will help us both in field events and running events.

"Tina Frick returns in our hurdle events. She scored a lot of points (1173/4) very quietly that helped us score in the league and even the regional, and then was our alternate on our state 4x400.

"Megan Peachey returns as another athlete who will help us in our relays and sprints."

Beyond his talented sophomore class, Boldt sees potential in this year's crop of freshmen, too.

"We have a good group of freshmen girls that come in and join our athletes this year," he said. "We have Samantha Heinrichs in middle distance and Anna Woelk has done real well in the high jump. Chelsea Bebermeyer will be a great addition to the throws.

"Then bring in Julia Loewen and Amanda Faber, who can run the 400 to middle distance. They really complement our team."

Boldt also listed junior transfer student Carrie Schroeder as a contributor in middle-distance races and sophomore Megan McCarty in the throwing events.

"We do have some additional kids who are going to be real point scorers, and we have some sophomores who did not score in the state track meet, such as Tina Frick and Megan Peachey. Those girls had an impact all season."

Not surprisingly, Boldt believes he has the talent to defend the Trojans' Mid-Central Activities Association title this season, but he did identify three challengers.

"Hesston, of course, returns a lot of girls and has a very strong team," he said. "Halstead has quite a few athletes returning. They're kind of quiet, but Lyons scored a lot of points and finished third last year. I can't honestly say who all they're returning, but I know they have a very good girls program."

Barring injury, the Trojans also should be a force to be reckoned with in the post-season. The bad news: state champion Garden Plain returns almost all of its team, too.

Trojan boys

Even though his boys' team took a major hit through graduation, Boldt is far from despairing about this season's squad.

"I think we have a good group from top to bottom," he said. "People think we lost everybody, but quite frankly we have a good base that returns. These kids are now upperclassmen and they will step up and do an excellent job. I really feel we're a top-three team in our league, which is a very competitive league."

Heading the list of returnees is Sammy Espada, the only senior on the team. Espada is a two-time state qualifier in the triple jump, finishing third and fourth. Last season he scored 107 points.

"We look for his leadership this year," Boldt said. "He's excited about the chance of returning to state again and leading this hard-working group of boys."

One of those boys is junior Tim Funk, who scored 96 points in 2004 by competing in the hurdles, high jump and relays. Classmate Clinton Schneider should generate points in the hurdles as well.

Boldt also welcomes back three-fourths of a 4x800 team that qualified for state: sophomores Nate Holmes and Sean Leihy and junior Josh Boese. Together, they combined for 801/4 points during the 2004 season.

Junior David Funk leads a trio of competitive pole vaulters for HHS. He scored 301/2 points last season and will be joined by Josh Jost and Josh Funk, who didn't see much varsity action because of seniors Caleb Marsh and Daniel Yoder, but cleared heights that would have put them in the points at several varsity meets.

Boldt has at least two freshmen who could make an impact.

"Cody McMillen comes in as our distance man and Jacob Yoder comes in as a multi-event athlete," Boldt said. "He's looking at hurdles, he's looking at sprints, he's looking at some jumps."

Sophomore Tyler Suderman returns after sitting out all of last season with a hip problem and could give the Trojans a boost at middle distance.

Twin brother Michael competed in track a year ago, but broke his leg in football this fall. A sprinter, he may compete in throwing events this season as he continues toward recovery.

"When you really look at the kids we have, we have real potential to score well this season," Boldt said.

"When you look at our group having one senior this year, that shows our future looks bright," he added. "We're basically freshmen, sophomores and juniors.

"Don't count us out yet."

The Trojans will open their season next Tuesday, April 5, at the Marion Invitational. Events begin at 4:30 p.m.