SULLY — Bryan DeJong takes the reins of the Lynnville-Sully golf program for 2015 high school season. Veteran Hawk track coaches Darin Arkema — eight years for the girls — and Mike Parkinson — four years for the boys — have squads of almost 30 athletes to work with this year.
Lynnville-Sully’s track teams open their season Tuesday as the girls are at Belle Plaine and the boys go to Pella Christian. The Hawk teams host the annual Lynnville-Sully Invitational on April 7.
Golf gets underway for Lynnville-Sully on April 6 at home with Montezuma and North Mahaska at the Diamond Trail Golf Course in Lynnville.
Golf
It’s just boys’ golf for 2015. DeJong said no girls came out this season.
“Maybe next year for the girls. We have three seniors and one junior returning for the boys and we have seven golfers,” DeJong said.
DeJong met with the golf team for the first time Monday after being officially hired March 16. He said he and his wife, Carna, are 1978 graduates of Lynnville-Sully and have been in the community all their lives. He said he enjoys all sports, especially golf now.
“I’m looking forward to working with all of our golfers and the four returning golfers will help lead this group,” DeJong said. “You never know where talent will come from.”
Back on the golf course for the Hawks are seniors Ben Trettin, Bayley Morvant and Baker Zegers and junior Caleb Jansen. Trettin had the best 9-hole average at 40.33 followed by Morvant at 48.33, Zegers at 50 and Jansen at 58.
As a team for the top four players, they had a 188.50 9-hole average. They finished fifth out of 11 in the South Iowa Cedar League conference tournament last year.
Others on the team are junior Kyle Van Dyke and freshmen Kolton Fisk and Holden Jansen.
Girls Track
Arkema said the squad of 28 athletes is the biggest team he has had in his eight years as Lynnville-Sully head coach. The Hawk girls return 16 from last year’s team which finished third at the South Iowa Cedar League conference meet and the Class 1A state qualifying meet. The Hawk girls qualified for the state meet in eight events.
“We graduated two very good seniors last year, but with the freshman class and other additions, this team is not short on ability,” Arkema said. “One of the primary strengths to our team this year will be our depth. With smaller teams comes the challenge of having enough people to fill every event or overusing athletes by trying to fill everything for each meet.”
Experience is another strong point for the Hawk girls. Arkema said all the girls back have had lots of opportunities to perform and compete. He pointed to another strength of his team — “these girls are competitors. They don’t like to lose and have done a pretty good job at winning in volleyball, basketball, softball, cross country and track. I love that mentality.”
Leading the Lynnville-Sully girls back on the track are seniors Madison Rasmusson and Cori Rice, junior Kasiah Ehresman and sophomore Elizabeth Van Manen. Rasmusson qualified in four events at the state, running the 800 meters and the 400 meters. Rasmusson, Ehresman and Rice were on the 4x800 and 4x400 relays while Rice, Ehresman and Van Manen ran on the distance medley relay.
The 4x800 relay team earned the eighth-place medal at state. Van Manen collected the sixth-place medal in the 1A discus event.
The first few weeks of practice was inside because of weather. Arkema said the team had good general conditioning workouts then last week the athletes got to practice on Lynnville-Sully’s new all-weather track.
Seniors Shelby Davis and newcomer Lysandra James are expected to give the Hawk girls depth in the throwing events. Arkema said one of the areas the Hawks are working on this season is consistency and ability to score points in field events. He said the throwing events produced some points.
“We have athletes this year with the capability of changing that. I have to work in finding the best events for each girl to have success,” Arkema said. “Putting together the right line-up when it comes time for the conference and state qualifying meets at the end of the year is something I look forward to, but I’m glad we have lots of meets prior to those to try things out.”
Other members of the team are seniors Kaley Exline and Tierney Needham; juniors Shelby Foster, Marissa Vos, Josephine Pederson and Amalie Bortne; sophomores Alexis Hardenbrook, Haley James, Kristine Jaennette, Brenna Lanser, Jelissa Rozendaal, Makenzy Rozendaal and Olivia Ritter; and freshmen Haley Breeden, McKinley Conover, Madison Johnson, Jataya Meyer, Rebecca Morningstar, Camryn Russell, Hailey Scandridge, Mariah Vos and Skyler Young.
Boys Track
A year ago, Lynnville-Sully’s boys had the makings of a strong, competitive track team. That panned out with a third-place finish in Class 1A at the state meet after a district championship and taking second in the SICL.
They had the state 100-meter champion and took third in the race. They went 2-4 in the 200 meters, won the 4x100 relay, took second in the 4x200 and had a medal winner in the 110-meter high hurdles.
That was then and this is now.
“We have few returning state athletes, but it is a new beginning for some and this season presents great opportunities for others on the team,” Parkinson said. “We have a strong mix between the four classes on our team.”
Lynnville-Sully’s boys have 26 on the roster. They have five returning athletes who should lead them on the track. Juniors Sage Ehresman, Noah Engle, Canyon Kuhlmann and Ross Van Wyk and sophomore Caden Dunsbergen.
Ehresman is the lone returner from the state champion 4x100 relay while Engle and Dunsbergen are back off the state qualifying shuttle hurdle relay. All three are expected to compete in the sprint events and relays along with Van Wyk.
Kuhlmann is the team’s top distance runner, who qualified for the state cross country meet last fall. He will have senior Jake Brand and sophomore Lucas Jones working with him in the distance races. Freshmen Cody Gibbs, Cayden Johnson, Kemper Lukehart, Elijah Collins and Drake Ehresman are distance runners also.
Sage Ehresman competed strong in the shot put and discus as did Engle a year ago. They will have seniors Blake Wehrle, Noah Zylstra and sophomore Trevor Squires back with them in the throwing events. Sophomore Isaac Collins and freshman Aaron Van De Krol are throwing event athletes.
Sophomores Ryan Hofer and Colten Arment are back to compete in the sprint hurdles. Others expected to compete in sprints and hurdle races are junior David Bastuck and freshmen Carson Dunsbergen, Corey McCoy, Sage Zylstra and Jesse Van Wyk. Senior Connor Fraker is out for the first time this season and will contribute.
“Our strengths as a team are in our numbers and in the throwing events, distance races and several sprinting events,” Parkinson said. “We will face the challenge of youth this season. The boys have been working very hard in practice. We have a strong group of upper classman leaders, who bring excellent attitudes to practices.”
Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com