Lynnville-Sully athletes ready for strong push on track and the links

SULLY — Optimism is high among Lynnville-Sully’s three spring sports’ head coaches — Justin Hagedorn, girls’ and boys’ golf; Mike Parkinson, boys’ track; and Darin Arkema, girls’ track — for the 2017 seasons.

All three also have high expectations for there veteran-led, youth-filled teams. The Hawk girls have three seniors on a track squad of 24. The Hawk boys have four seniors on their track team of 28. Lynnville-Sully’s golf teams have three senior girls and two senior boys.

After competing in the South Iowa Cedar League conference indoor meet Monday at Grinnell, the Lynnville-Sully track teams open the outdoor season this coming Tuesday. The Hawk boys are at BCLUW and the girls head to Belle Plaine.

Lynnville-Sully’s girls begin their 2017 golf season at home on March 30, hosting Pella at Diamond Trail Golf Course in Lynnville. The boys’ golf team tees off along with the girls in a SICL dual on April 3 at Montezuma.

Boys Track

The Hawk boys ended their 2016 season on a six-meet title winning streak, which included the SICL Conference championship and a Class 1A district meet title. They return eight athletes who qualified for Class 1A state track meet events.

“We are returning some good young talent and several athletes with state experience. We look for that experience to turn into leadership at practice and at meets,” Parkinson said. “Our guys understand our expectations, as we righted the ship last season midway through to win five straight meets. We hope that energy and mindset carries us into opening day.”

Parkinson, who is in his sixth year as head coach, said the Hawks had a strong SICL indoor meet, setting two new meet records in the 800 meters and the 4x400-meter relay race. Parkinson’s assistant coach is Jeff Corbett.

“Overall, we are pleased with what we did in the indoor meet, but we have a lot of work to do. We need everyone to really step up as our conference is once again as tough as ever. If we work harder, together, we can have a strong year,” Parkinson said.

Junior Corey McCoy won the SICL indoor 800-meter championship. He anchored the 4x400 to a title joined by junior Carson Dunsbergen and sophomores Gage Vander Leest and Tyson Vander Linden. In the 2016 SICL outdoor meet, McCoy was second in the 800 meters and third in the 400.

McCoy claimed a 1A state medal for seventh-place in the 800 meters in 2016 with a personal-best time of 2 minutes, 01.95 seconds. McCoy, Vander Linden and Carson Dunsbergen ran on the Hawks’ 11th-place finishing 4x800 relay team at last year’s state meet with a season’s best time of 8:34.16.

Lynnville-Sully’s returning seniors on the track are Caden Dunsbergen, Ryan Hofer, Colten Arment and Luke Jones. Caden Dunsbergen and Hofer and Vander Leest are back from the state-qualifying shuttle hurdle relay team.

Hofer qualified for the 1A state in the 110-meter high hurdles and Vander Linden competed at state in the 400 hurdles. Hofer and Vander Leest were second and fourth in the high hurdles in the SICL outdoor meet last year. Vander Linden and Carson Dunsbergen went third and sixth in the 400 hurdles at the 2016 SICL meet.

Arment provides depth in the sprints. Junior Sage Zylstra and sophomore Nate Stock were on the Hawks’ state-qualifying 4x100 relay team which placed eighth. Other sprinters are junior Kemper Lukehart and freshman Ethan Wyma.

Jones, junior Cody Gibbs and sophomore Ty Breeden are the leading returns in the distance races. They are joined in distance and mid-distance races by juniors Josh Dunsbergen, Brevin Hansen and Elijah Collins, sophomore Jason Craver and freshmen Kinnick McFarland and Zane Fraker.

Junior Drake Ehresman is back in the long jump and sophomore Rylan James is Lynnville-Sully’s top returning thrower in the shot put. Junior Jesse Van Wyk is expected to compete in the discus.

Sophomores Grant Wehrle and Evan Squires are younger throwers for the Hawks.

“We have a lot of points to make up for in some very important areas. We are excited to see who is going to step up and score points in the throws, jumps, and distance events as well as see who has improved in the off-season to a point where they can help us throughout the meet,” Parkinson said. “Our team is not about all-stars as we’ve proven over the years. We are about creating a team mentality that is strongest when we have all of our parts firing at all cylinders.”

Parkinson said the SICL looks to be as competitive as ever with a wealth of talent across the board. He said the strongest area in the conference is in the sprints — 100, 200 and 400 races. He said the Hawks plan to compete in each event and are excited about the new event added this year — the 800-meter sprint medley relay.

Girls Track

Seniors Brenna Lanser and Makenzy Rozendaal will lead the Lynnville-Sully girls on the track while fellow senior Jelissa Rozendaal is the leader in the throw events. The Hawk girls have 13 returning letter winners on their 2017 squad.

Lanser, Makenzy Rozendaal and juniors Jataya Meyer and Camryn Russell were on Lynnville-Sully’s two state-qualifying relays. Junior Mariah Vos is back in the hurdles after qualifying for the Class 1A state in the 400 hurdles a year ago.

“The top two things we emphasized about the SICL indoor meet were being competitive — just getting the uniform on and competing as best we can — and learning as we competed and watched the meet so we continue to make improvement in future meets,” Arkema said. “I was very pleased with our competitiveness in each event.”

Arkema is in his 10th season as girls’ head track coach. Assistant coach Jill Schuring is in her fourth season with the Hawks.

Lynnville-Sully’s 4x200 relay team of Makenzy Rozendaal, Russell, Lanser and Meyer claimed second in the SICL indoor meet. Russell, Lanser and Meyer ran in the event at the outdoor state last year, finishing 11th. Lanser, Russell and Makenzy Rozendaal were on the 4x100 relay team, which ended up 10th at state last year.

Arkema said having 24 girls on the team allows the Hawks to fill the events allowing flexibility with the lineup throughout the season to find the best mix of open events and relay groups. He said they have a nice mix of upperclassmen and younger athletes in a group of sprinters and six or seven girls who are capable of running hurdle races.

“Experience is a strength for us. The juniors and seniors were a part of conference and state qualifying meet championships two years ago and were conference runner-ups last season. They know what they are capable of and the hard work it takes to get there,” Arkema said.

Other returning juniors are Haley Breeden and Hailey Scandridge in distance and mid-distance races and Madison Johnson in sprints. Lynnville-Sully’s four sophomores are all returners in Kaylee Maasdam in hurdles and sprints, Makayla Rozendaal, Emily Van Gorp and Shaleah Van Wyk in distance and mid-distance.

Field events and the mid-distance and distance races are concerns going into the season, Arkema said. He said they have competitors in each field event, but look for consistency in performance to provide scoring in the events. Arkema said the distance races are not a concern over girls’ abilities, but of his usage of the girls in the best spots to be successful.

Lynnville-Sully has four more juniors in Lydia Akergren, Femke De Hoogt, Nele Hobohm and Christine Nikkel. Freshmen on the team are Kaleah Ehresman, Abby Gruver, Brittney Hansen, Mallory Loftus, Kennedy Roland, Janelle Rozendaal and Ashton Thompson.

Meyer finished sixth in the long jump at last year’s outdoor SICL meet and in Monday’s indoor meet. De Hoogt and Loftus are competing in the jumping events. Loftus took second in the SICL indoor high jump.

Joining Jelissa Rozendaal in the shot put and discus rings will be Akergren and Janelle Rozendaal.

“The girls want to win. They are a competitive bunch that hasn’t been successful just in track. What they’ve done in the other sports with conference titles, state appearances shows their athletic talents and work,” Arkema said.

Golf

Hagedorn is in his second season as golf coach for the Lynnville-Sully girls and boys. The Hawk girls finished seventh in the SICL last year and the boys were 10th.

“We are not the most experienced team. We got better throughout the season last year,” Hagedorn said. “We’re working on continuing to improve our individual games, which will help improve our team scores.”

Youth propels the Hawk golf teams again this season. The boys return four letter winners — one junior and three sophomores. The girls have six returners — three seniors and three sophomores.

Sophomore Tessa Van Maanen was the top golfer for the girls’ a year ago, earning SICL second-team honors. She finished 11th as a freshman in the Class 1A district tournament. Junior Holden Jansen is the top Hawk boy golfer back after finishing 19th in the boys’ 1A district tournament.

“We have a favorable schedule with five home meets,” Hagedorn said. Lynnville-Sully’s home course is Diamond Trail Golf Course in Lynnville.

Joining Tessa Van Maanen are seniors Kaylee Van Maanen, Mikayla Smith and Kristine Jaennette and sophomores Kayla Van Dyke and Maddeline Mintle. Freshman Destiny Torres rounds out the girls’ squad.

“Our girls’ team cut 125 strokes from our first meet to our last meet a year ago. The question is can we keep taking those big steps forward or will we plateau?” Hagedorn said.

Sophomores Dane Fuchs, Abram Collins and Cade Diello playing varsity last year for the Hawk boys. Seniors Isaac Collins and Trevor Squires are out for golf for the first time, but very enthusiastic, according to Hagedorn.

Also on the boys’ team are sophomores Eyon Moore and Dalton Loftus and freshman Logan Ingersoll.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com