The Saturday morning, August 17, 2013 practice was on the track in Hobart. The team was ready to run. For the most part, the boys and girls practice as one. They are a close knit group of kids. When talking with the kids I was struck by how many of them are not only great runners, but great students as well. They are successful in the classroom and on the course.
You are more than likely see some of them running around town. Give them a shout out and tell them what a great job they have been doing. They have earned their way to State for the past two years having run in Terre Haute in both 2011 and 2012. They are hoping to do it again this year making it three consecutive years when they advance out of the New Prairie Semi State in October.
Coach Artherhults and Black are looking forward to a great season, filled with success. This weekend in Elkhart the boys are trying to walk away with a victory for the third straight year at the ECA Hokum Karem. The girls are hoping to earn a 1st place trophy as well!
Coach Artherhults has changed the schedule up a bit, passing up the Gavit Invite, which the boys have won the past two years and is instead having them run at the Lake Central Invite on Labor Day weekend.
“Lake Central will have a lot of solid teams, and with the Holiday some runners may be missing, but we are looking forward to the competition,” Artherhults said.
Coach “A” is looking to his All Conference runners Brent Dunn, Alek Seeley and John Petroskey (all seniors) along with Junior Collin Allen to be the leaders of the team. Jacy Leon should be right up there. Dunn, Petroskey, Seeley and Allen all having run at State. Alek, John and Collin have been there twice.
Junior Thom Parrish stated, “There are quite a few guys in competition for the next spot, it could be me, Reno, Robison, Olsted or a couple other guys who will be going back and forth to round out the Varsity.”
The girls are planning on going to State with the boys this year. I spoke with seniors Mindy Hidden and Celena Guerrero along with Junior Marissa Porras who all talked about how running with the boys has made them better and they plan on going to State with the guys this year!
Asking them to pick one word to describe their team, Whidden said, “Fast.”
Guerrero said, “Energetic.”
And Porras added, “Diverse.”
Keeping healthy was also a theme this year. Staying strong and healthy to run the whole season is one of their goals.
On the boys’ side, Brandon Robison described his team as “amazing” Alex Tam added they were all “hard working” and Josh Novak added, “deep” One thing was apparent and that was that they were all looking forward to the season and pushing themselves to be their best. They improve each practice.
Petroskey, Dunn and Seeley also spoke of dedication. They run with the team and on their own and are encouraging some of the newer runners to be their best. They have a great coaching staff in Artherhults, Black and Swafford along Chad Brooks, a former State Qualifier from Hobart, who also comes back and helps out with the team when he can.
Both the boys and girls had one thing in common and that was the chemistry and camaraderie that they have together. They all encourage each other and have fun.
Brent Dunn’s word to describe the team was, “Fun!”
When they get up for early practices what they look forward to is getting to practice and hanging out with their teammates.
Artherhults had a whole list of runners to turn to this year, Krystal Villaruel, Sydney Hicks and Harley Sutton along with Reno Erving running cross country for the first time.
Coach “A” is looking forward to a, “Healthy and successful season with a lot of camaraderie. It should be a fun year.”
The Brickies season will start on the 24th at the ECA Hokum Karem in Elkhart where they have placed 1st the last two seasons. It is a fun race to start off with as the runners are all paired up into teams. They hope to start their collection of hardware for the year with a victory there. They have had quite the collection the past two seasons and the girls are in competition with the boys this year to bring home the victories.
After Elkhart their next meet will be at Lake Central, a new venue for them, over Labor Day weekend. They are going to shake things up this year instead of running at Gavit like they have in the past with great success. The teams are looking forward to the schedule change. It’s going to be fun to run somewhere new.
Their first home meet will be on September 10, 2013 competing against Lowell. They run at Maple Lake on Ainsworth Road in Hobart. This should be a great season to come out and watch the Brickie Men and Women on their quest to make it to State.