Earlham Echo

March 26, 2024

Track

Earlham track and field is just one big happy family. Technically, there are four teams: high school boys and girls, and junior high boys and girls. But on most spring days after school, they’re all out on the track or on the roads at the same time. They’re not all doing the same thing, but they’re all working hard and with purpose—all while having a pretty good time. Many of the coaches work with all or some of the groups, while other coaches not even on the payroll volunteer their time a couple days a week.

The kids come in all shapes and sizes and personalities—but a collective positive attitude certainly helps. ‘Work’ isn’t a four-letter word among Cardinal athletes.

“We’re really fortunate that here in Earlham, the kids are not scared of work,” said boys’ varsity head coach Chris Caskey. “Our coaches instill a work ethic, and then we try to make them understand that this is going to help them in everything else.”

If all of this is sounding a little too pie in the sky, get ready for more.

“And the great thing is; they’re nice kids,” said girls’ varsity head coach Jon Petersen. “They’re easy to talk to.” 

Traits like ‘hard-working’ and ‘nice’ are great, but they don’t necessarily get you on the podium at Drake Stadium in late May. You have to have talent, too. As has been the case in Earlham for many years, there should be plenty of that in 2024.

The Cardinal coaches have been developing ‘800 runners’ for a while now—and it has led to a ton of success. The Cardinal boys have won four straight state titles in the 4x800m relay. But even the kids that don’t end up running 800m competitively benefit from the training, a combination of speed and stamina.

“You have to make it so it’s not so scary to run an 800,” said Coach Caskey. “To me, the 800 is the most grueling race in track. It’s not a sprint, but it is a sprint. There’s some strategy involved. And for whatever reason, we’ve gotten pretty good at it.”

Three runners are back from last season’s state championship 4×800 team—juniors Carson Maly, Dallas Canoyer, and Blake Tiemeyer. There are plenty of candidates for a spot (or spots) on that team this year, including junior Caleb Smith, who would have been in the state 4×800 lineup last season if he hadn’t injured his hip at the state qualifying meet. Only one other team in Iowa high school track history has one four 4×800 state titles in row, so if the Cardinals can do it again, they’ll achieve immortality.

Other good middle and distance runners are sophomore Donovan Braet, freshmen Dawson Braet, David Nichols, and Landon Sheffield, and juniors Blake Petersen and Jackson Berkley.

The ‘800 training’ has had an effect on the Cardinal girls, too. Most of the kids who were on the state cross country championship team in 2022 are still around, so the Cardinals will be strong in the middle- and long-distance races—and, of course, the 4x800m relay. Senior Olivia Spurling, sophomore Mackenzie Harger, and junior Hannah Frank will anchor this group. Sophomore Amanda Smith may have been the best athlete the Cardinals had last year. She was excelling at the high jump, 400m hurdles, and the 800m before suffering a Lisfranc injury that eventually required surgery. She’s still working her way back into form, so it remains to be seen what kind of work load she’ll take on as the season progresses. Senior Lily Conry and junior Taylor Rodgers provide middle distance depth, as do sophomore CeCe Stanley and freshman Lilah Aubert, who will run some 3000s this season.

The shorter races haven’t been a particular strength of either the boys’ or girls’ teams in recent years, but the sprint groups will be much improved this season.

Senior Lexi Voss and sophomores Avrie Fagan and Ava Harris are back from the 4x100m team that came out of nowhere and finished 9^th at state last year. Adding to the depth in 100m and 200m distances will be senior Rowen Fisk, sophomores Keeley Keller, Taylor Waltz, and Camryn Sly, and freshman Ava Smith and Shilyn Terrell.

Everyone returns from last year’s shuttle hurdle relay team. Sophomores Kenna Harskamp, Abby Presler, and Darby Moore, and junior Ava Jenkins had some growing pains last season, but showed promise. They’ll be much faster this spring. Those four runners should also contribute to non-hurdle relays.

“They (the SHR team) are all starting in a much better spot than they started last year,” said Coach Peterson.

Over half of the girls’ team consists of freshmen and sophomores, but many of those sophs competed a lot last season, so a high percentage of the kids already know what to expect once competition starts. ‘Track experience’ is about much more than how to pass a baton or using proper form going over a hurdle.

“A lot of it is dealing with things when an event doesn’t necessarily go well,” said Coach Peterson. “To grow as a track athlete, it’s almost as much the mental part as the physical part. You’re not always going to have your best race every meet. Sometimes that’s hard. Kids want a linear improvement and sometimes there are dips. You just want to have a slow improvement through time, and that’s hard to understand sometimes.”

The Cardinal boys will have a deeper sprint group this season. Junior Trevor Lane is the returning Earlham leader in the 100m and 200m. Senior Walker Hale is excellent in anything from 100m to 800m. Smith was a sprinter before he tried the 800m, and he can fly in the 100, 200, and 400.

Hale, senior Jeret Petersen, and sophomore Cason Amsden return from the shuttle hurdle team that improved steadily as last season wore on. They should qualify for state this season. Sophomore Josh Winey will have a chance at joining the SHR team, and he is also the returning team leader in the 400m hurdles.

Lane is a two-time state qualifier in the long jump and he’ll be a good bet to get back this year. Hale and Petersen have both cleared 6 feet in the high jump and have potential to go higher.

For the Cardinal girls, Keller leads a group of young long jumpers that should be better. Amanda Smith cleared 5’3” in the high jump last season before she was hurt. That would have been good enough for 4^th at state. Presler cleared 4’8” and will be improved.

Junior Kenady Ridout and senior Keira Fredericksen head up the Cardinal girls’ throwers. Conry and Fisk will throw some discus, and Terrell will compete in both the shot put and the discus.

Freshman Keegan Long will lead an inexperienced boys’ throwing group.

Golf

A whopping 36 kids (27 boys and 9 girls) are out for golf this season, ranging from first-time players to a state qualifier. That makes for an interesting mix for new Cardinal head coach Kaden Howard. Coaches in most sports at the varsity level generally fine-tune athletes’ skills and work on high-level concepts and strategy. Coach Howard will be able to do that, but for the less experienced kids, he’ll have to dial it back a little and start with the basics.

“You have to make it as simple as possible; start from the ground up,” he said. “What can we have them do that’s just going to start building those blocks and at least understanding how to be good at golf? I have to pull myself back and just say, ‘Okay, they’re not going to know what I’m talking about. They’re not going to know this vocabulary. Let’s stop and just focus on hitting the ball and then we can focus on where it’s going and what’s it doing.’”

While the roster is dotted with many kids that are just learning, there are also enough players to field good Cardinal teams this spring. The boys, especially, have high hopes and plenty of confidence.

“We met at the start of the season and set some goals,” said Coach Howard. “They were good goals as far as winning a district title. Based on our scores from qualifying and based on scores from last year, there is potential. They have some lofty goals, which I appreciate. They’re definitely attainable.”

Senior Ryan Stiles is a solid number 1. He went to the state tournament as a sophomore and led the team last season with a combined adjusted average (9-hole and 18-hole rounds) of just over 44. Who will emerge as numbers 2 through 6 remains to be seen, but there are plenty of good candidates. Based on a 9-hole qualifying round last Thursday at 5×80, those golfers include—in no particular order— senior Kallin Nicholson, juniors Davis Doud, Carter Hohertz, Aidan Kaster, sophomores Konnar Stiles and Brodie Hamilton, and freshmen Brady Reynolds and Jack McClure. Other seniors that could be a factor are Kayl Gulling, Payton Harger, Trenten Hansen, and Ty Forcht.

Coach Howard has plenty of time to sort out his lineup—and that process could be an ongoing process all season. A scrimmage against Coor Rapids-Bayard on Thursday will help in the decision-making process.

“We’ll do a lot of qualifying at the start of the season so I’ll get a good idea of who the top 6 are and who are a couple players that can rotate in to 5 or 6 if they’re close enough. It serves as a validation of who are my top 6 and who are my JV 6.”

For the Cardinal girls, Senior Charlie Mineart, juniors Presley Koberg and Audrey Dobbins, and sophomore Savannah Charlet are back from last year’s team. Charlet got hot at the end of the season and made it to the regional finals. Koberg led the team with a combined adjusted average of 59.39. Adding depth to the roster this year will be Piper Koberg, Gabby Little, Ava Goodrich, Myliha Terrell, and Olivia Nixt.

Coach Howard is a graduate of Independence (IA) High School and Buena Vista University. He started teaching at ECSD last fall and has helped coach football and basketball. This is his first head coaching assignment with the Cardinals. He will be assisted by Kevin Williamson.

Boys’ ­Soccer

If all goes according to plan, ‘young’ teams eventually become ‘experienced’ teams. That looks to be the case this season for the Winterset/Earlham Huskies. The team had just three seniors last year but will field nine seniors in 2024. While having a lot of seniors doesn’t necessarily guarantee success, this crop looks like they could help push the Huskies to more wins this season.

“We have a lot of potential in our senior class,” said head coach Ryan Hobart. “If everybody steps up and does what they need to do, I think we should be in good shape.”

Not only do they have a ton of seniors, but the Huskies will also return 10 players that started at least 13 games last year. ‘Senior leadership’ will be in abundance, but Coach Hobart also likes the experience and leadership qualities of some of his younger players.

“We do have a lot of upper classmen,” he said. “You don’t have to be a senior to be a leader. We have a few others that are pretty good leaders, even in our sophomore class.”

With that much experience returning, a coach might be tempted to push the envelope in early season practices, skip over the fundamentals, and move onto more advanced skills or strategy. Coach Hobart is not in that camp.

“A lot of these guys are multi-sport athletes, so it may have been quite some time ago that they touched a soccer ball,” he said. “So we try to get back with our basics; get our fundamentals fine-tuned at the beginning of the season, and then we can work into our technical stuff as they get comfortable and back into a routine.”

The break between winter and spring sports is a little longer than the time between other seasons. Plus, official spring break happens right during the first weeks of practice. That can be good and bad for soccer teams. Some kids respond well going from one sport to the next, sometimes without a break at all. Other kids need some time to decompress mentally and put their feet up.

“There are some kids that are made for it. They’re ready to go and jump from one into the other,” said Coach Hobart. “But also, with the seniors who played basketball—both Earlham and Winterset had good basketball teams and difficult losses. Both were expecting to go a little further than they did. That break away from that just to get their minds mentally focused, just switching gears, is not a bad thing. But, keeping those guys in shape—it doesn’t take many days before you lose your conditioning factor if you’re not doing something.”

Senior Kaeler Beebe, the Huskies’ leading scorer last season, returns in 2024. He had 9 goals and 7 assists. Beyond the ability to score, Beebe is intelligent and well-respected by his teammates.

“He understands the game really well,” said his coach. “He’s good at being transparent to his teammates in what he sees and how they can improve—simple stuff. There are some guys that are like, ‘We’re just out here to kick a ball.’ But he sees things that others can do to be more effective, and he’s really good at calling those things out and getting them to buy in to doing it the right way.”

Earlham’s Tanner Morrison scored 6 goals and had 6 assists last season. The senior is a fine athlete and an excellent teammate that will also compete on the Cardinal track team when he can.

“I expect Tanner to be a standout this year,” said Coach Hobart. “He’s one of those leaders that I’m relying on heavily—and hopefully goals will come to him this year.”

A starter since he was a freshman, senior Liam Sutton has been a stalwart on the back line for the Huskies. He’ll play for Simpson College next year.

“He’s been a center back for us and I assume that for the majority of this season that’s where he’s going to be,” said the coach. “He’s kind of our anchor player back there. He’s big and physical and knows how to defend. Hopefully, some of the season we’ll be able to play him up a little bit. He’ll play wherever benefits his team.”

Earlham’s Aidan and Owen Hulbert return for their senior seasons. They both started 13 games last season.

“They’re great kids,” said Coach Hobart. “They’re among some of the best I’ve ever coached as far as personality and work ethic and being team players. They’re going to be outside backs. We might actually move one of them in. We’ll see which one of them fits that role—or see if we can fill somebody else into the middle—giving them opportunities to be able to try and score and be a part of the attack from the defending position. I’m excited to have them again.”

Three Earlham freshmen—Alex Kosloske, Carter Frank, and Reed Williams—are also on the roster. Of that group, Kosloske is most likely to see the most varsity playing time.

“He’s got tremendous foot skill,” said the coach. “I see him providing some time at the varsity level this year, from what I’ve seen so far.”

The schedule is brutal, as usual, with most of the games coming within the always challenging Raccoon River Conference. The Huskies could schedule easier non-conference games to get a few more wins, but that’s not the way Coach Hobart wants it.

“It’s just kind of my philosophy,” he said. “Obviously we’re going to have to play our conference games, but to be able to play some tougher teams during the season is beneficial to us. That way when we get to post season, we will have seen some good competition and realize what that’s going to look like moving forward.”

Girls’ Soccer

After a 6-win campaign last year, the Huskies will be looking to improve with a roster heavy on upperclassmen and returning starters. Nine girls that started at least 7 games will be back in 2024.

“We have some pretty good girls that are upperclassmen,” said head coach Seth Woodcock. “A couple of them didn’t play last year or were hurt, so we’re getting them back into the swing of things. It’s kind of nice to have some experience.”

Practice officially started during spring break, like usual, so that’s always a challenge. Coach Woodcock focused on fundamentals that week, then had the team scrimmaging the next week. One important task the coach has this season is to find some more scoring. The Huskies were 5^th in the conference last year with 36 goals, and one girl had almost half of those. Scorers can emerge organically as the season progresses, but sometimes the coach has to identify them himself.

“You kind of pick them and say, ‘You are the one,’” said Coach Woodcock. “I have a couple that I’m looking at that have shown me in practice that they might excel.”

Senior Olivia Boyle scored 15 goals in 2023, which was tied for 5^th in the Raccoon River Conference.

“She’s just an all-around player and a pretty good leader,” said the coach. “She can work with kids and encourage them to do the things that we need to get done.”

Earlham’s Hannah Frank, a junior, is the next leading returning scorer. She netted 3 goals last season in 10 games. She split time with the Earlham track team last season and will do that again this year.

Camryn Sly, a sophomore from Earlham, started all 15 games last season for the Huskies on the back line. The coach is depending on her to be a solid contributor again in 2024.

“She’s a good player. I believe you’ll see her start all of our games this season,” said Coach Woodcock. “We’ve moved her into a little different position, but she’s shown that she wants to play and can play well.”

Valerie Meyer, a sophomore from Earlham, should split time as the varsity goalkeeper this season. Earlham senior Presley Davison started 3 games in 2023 and should get more playing time this year.

Like with the boys’ team, the Husky girls rarely get an ‘easy night’ with their schedule. “Good competition makes you play better,” said Coach Woodcock. “If you’re playing tougher teams throughout the season, you seem to play tougher or better at the end of the season.”