Some old faces and new talent promise a good year for PHS girls track

Courtesy of The Pilot News.

PLYMOUTH — Track season has already gotten underway around the state with the beginning of the “indoor season” — several meets at college venues around Indiana. It’s a chance for most teams to just start to get their feet wet.
“We use the indoor season to see where we are at,” said Plymouth girls head coach Rick Stiles. “We’ve been in full practices since February and we went out almost every day. This past weekend Alana Allen broke the program record in the 60 meters and finished second running against five of the top sprinters in the state.
Being able to get outdoors to practice for what is an outdoor sport is logically ideal, but not always possible as the weather rarely cooperates.
“It’s been a mix,” said Stiles. “A couple of days last week it was in the 70s and we had an opportunity to get some really awesome workouts and then two days later we were all bundled up again. But we have been blessed to get out and get some work in.”
Stiles has plenty back to be excited about. One is the sprinter Allen, who saw last season come to an end with an injury and history repeated itself for her this winter.
“She ended her basketball season this year with a concussion but she is fully recovered,” said Stiles. “We got out on one of those 70-degree days and one of the times she posted I was like, oh my gosh, these are times that she was at mid-season or late season (a year ago). It showed in the meet last week. She cut at least .2 off of her personal best last year. I think she’s only going to get better.
“Arielle Fermin is another girl we are looking forward to seeing what she can bring. She does sprints for us, pole vault, and long jump. Yuli Contreras is another. Our record-breaking 4×100 team is fully intact, our 4×200 team has three of four back from last year. Add Kathryn Morrison and those are our keys for the short sprints. For the long sprints Lauren Gurtner is back. She had a really good year last year.”
If some of those names sound familiar to Plymouth fans they should. Many of Stiles’ runners are multi-sport athletes at Plymouth.
“I’m on three of the staffs (track, basketball, and soccer) for girls sports and we (the girls coaches) got together and talked about all the amazing kids we had and how we as coaches can keep the positive mindsets,” said Stiles. “We want to see them go out there and compete and represent the ‘Big Red P’ and a lot of them have already done so. It was great to see Sophie Wray, one of our distance runners, go down and medal at the cross-country meet in the fall. Jersey Hunter is going to represent in the gymnastics state at Ball State. We have lots of great athletes. I think we broke four records last year in the relays and Alana broke it in the 200. We have a lot of record watches this year.”
The schedule doesn’t really offer a break as the girls open with a meet against Rochester, followed by a dual with Triton and LaVille.
“They all have some good pieces and they are coached up really well,” said Stiles. “They are scrappy and they are hungry and then we go straight into the gauntlet of the NLC.”
Even with the traditional strength of the conference in track and field, Stiles feels good about his team’s chances to compete with the best.
“If we have some depth in our sprinters and hurdlers we are going to be very, very competitive. We probably have five or six hurdlers this year. In the past we’ve had maybe two,” said Stiles. “The field events — if we have the growth and the two-person depth we need to compete in sectional and conference we are going to be very tough. In the distance, we have Sophie Wray leading the charge and a lot of the cross-country girls are out this year. We are pretty deep in the distance. We have the pieces. We have a lot of young talent and we are excited about what the season is going to bring.”

Plymouth HS girls track
Mar. 28 vs Rochester High School 5 p.m.
April 5 vs Triton, LaVille 5 p.m.
April 10 @ Warsaw 5:30 p.m.
April 12 @ Legend Relay 6 p.m (FW North Side)
April 16 Northridge, @ Concord 5:30 p.m.
April 20 @ Penn Invite at 9:45 a.m.
April 23 vs Wawasee, Mishawaka 5:30 p.m.
April 26 @ Princess Relays 6 p.m. (Elkhart HS)
April 30 Northwood, @ Goshen 5:30 p.m.
May 7 @ NLC 5 p.m. (Warsaw HS)
May 11 NLC JV 10 a.m.
May 14 @ Sectional 5 p.m. (Bremen HS)