“Projected Top 2012 Iowa HS T&F Teams” Interview –
with Rich Kloster, head girls track coach, Dallas Center-Grimes HS, 3A Division.
1. Keys to your success as a team in 2012? We need to find ways to score points in the field events as we lost some talented seniors who scored a lot of team points. We also need to develop depth in the sprints.
2. Team goals for 2012? We repeated as conference and regional champions last season (first 2 times in school history for each). Three-peating in both is probably the obvious goal as a team. But more than that I would say improving on a daily basis and each girl challenging herself to get better is our #1 goal.
3. Strongest event areas? Distance events will be our strength. With Madison Waymire leading the way, we have a very talented and deep group of distance runners who have had success in XC and hope to transfer that over to this track season. We also return a young group of hurdlers who got much better as last season went along.
4. Top returning athletes (and their class & event(s))?
- Madison Waymire-10th grade. 400-800-1500-3000. Class 3A state champ in the 800 last season. XC state champ this past fall. Runner up in 1500 + 3000 last season as well as anchoring 2nd place DMR.
- Alex Voelker-12th grade. 200-400. Dedicated athlete who has qualified for numerous relay events since her freshman year. Ran 400 leg on 2nd place DMR last season at state meet.
- Kennedy Jennings-11th grade. 200-400. Talented runner who was hurt halfway through freshman year. Qualified for 4 events at state meet last season including the 2nd place DMR.
- Miranda Fullerton-12th grade. 200-400-400 Hurdles. State qualifier in 400 lows as well as numerous relay events since her freshman year. Also ran on 2nd place DMR last season.
- Kaitlin Wenell-10th grade. 100-200-100 Hurdles-High Jump. Qualified in both 100 Hurdles and Shuttle Hurdle Relay as 9th grader. Also part of sprint relays.
- Bailey Norland-10th grade. 100-200-Hurdles. Member of 3 relay teams that qualified for state meet as a freshman last season.
5. Top newcomers (and their class & event(s))? Not sure about our newcomers yet...hoping to get some contributions from some talented distance runners who have been working extremely hard the past year.
6. Other top teams in your division?
- Region -- Carroll and ADM should have talented groups in our conference with younger athletes leading the way. We also compete at Harlan where they have a great track tradition over the past decade.
- State-- Dubuque Wahlert and Davenport Assumption should be clear favorites in Class 3A. Solon is also extremely talented and deep, as those 3 teams finished 1-2-3 last year and had many underclassmen perform well.