Ligonier Valley boys track team pursues title

Last season the Ligonier Valley High School boys track and field team was undefeated in the regular season, but unable to come out on top in the Heritage Conference Championship meet. In 2015, new head coach Alex Cairns hopes to improve on that near perfect season.

“We're not going to be satisfied with the same success as last year because it wasn't enough in our opinion,” Cairns said. “We want to take the majority of our team to districts and we want to take a half-dozen or so to states. To do that we are going to rely on our current crop of seniors and an increasingly athletic number of underclassmen that are coming up.”

Ligonier Valley seniors leading the team include Ethan Brown, Jerin Free, Chandler Hall, Zack Homyak, Chris Huber, Justin Hugo, Sean Johnston, Michael Keller, Sam Maust, Benjamin McVicker, J.T. Protest, Luke Sierocki, Ty Stewart and Alan Stouffer.

Juniors are Alex Blystone, Philip Cornell, Alex Ferlan, Nate Hockenberry, Joey Howard, Quade Jackman, Kyle Lundquist, Evan McNulty, Jason Miller, Drew Neiderhiser, Robert Rupert, Noah Saliency, Tanner Solich, Daniel Tucci, Tyler Turchek and J.D. Wallace.

Sophomores include Joshua Fitz, Nick Gongaware, Nathan Hugo, Tyler Hulbert, Sheldon Kiser, Brenden Linebarger, Alex Marsh, Nick Puvak, Kobe Short, Joey Tomosky and Blake Ulery.

Freshmen joining the team are Mack Ankney, Avery Arnone, Nathan Burns, Jackson Daugherty, Kevin Huber, Denver Huskey, Nathan Kibbe, Ethan Kibbe, Trant Mazzotta, Michael McVicker, Robert Patrick, Cole Peters, Jack Pushing, Wade Rashilla, Colton Rashilla, Dylan Rummel, Jacob Smithy, Alex Stouffer and Dimitri Woloshun.

Cairns said last year's freshman class was one of the strongest he has seen at Ligonier Valley and this year, the Rams have several freshmen who show even more promise. Among his first year athletes, Cairns has high hopes for Arnone and Daugherty. Also Patrick, who Cairns called a distance sensation and predicts he will do well running in the 1600 meter and two-mile runs.

On the veteran side, Cairns is expecting big years out of Chris Huber in the hurdles and 400m relay events. Zack Homyak, one of the fastest sprinters on the team according to Cairns, has moved to the 200m sprint. Alan Stouffer will solidify the Rams' field events, Cairns said, particularly in shot put and discus. Finally, Cairns expects Wallace to place at districts and perhaps move on to states in javelin.

Peter Turcik is a contributing writer for Trib Total Media.