(Justine Smith and Dillon Sweetman helped propel Hilliard Davidson to a season opening team victory last Saturday at Pickerington North)
Watch Live: Hot Summer Bash
In anticipation for Saturday's Hot Summer Bash at Hilliard Davidson, we called out to the coaches of the attending teams and requested that they provide some information regarding their goals for the meet and for the season as a whole.
The girls teams summaries can be reviewed below and the breakdowns for the boys teams can be found on the following page.
Girls Team Previews
Coach Nate King / Hilliard Davidson
The Davidson varsity ladies are a wonderful mixture of veterans and newcomers. Many up-and-coming runners have elevated their training to the varsity level in recent months and as a result they are quite interchangeable with varsity positions at the moment. Returning varsity seniors Lindsay Stull and Justine Smith have provided excellent veteran perspective and leadership for our newer varsity-level athletes. Calla Edmonds and Sofia Bishoff (seniors) have undergone tremendous improvements over the past year and are in the varsity mix for the first time. Alyssa Mason (junior) and Keagan Gehring (sophomore) bring high-level racing experience and talent, and newcomers to the HDGXC varsity scene like sophomores Caitlyn Jones, Dillon Sweetman, Allison Michael, as well as freshman Sophie Lane, all add to the strength of the varsity team. We are excited and hungry for the 2020 season.
Coach Allison Ewing / Upper Arlington
We are so excited to be able to begin racing. The girls have been working their tails off since the beginning of June when we got the green light to condition again. On average I had about 30 girls showing up to optional summer running June - August 1st. I officially have 55 athletes on my roster now and though I can only race 30 at Hot Summer Bash, each and every girl on the roster is excited to show up to practice and push each other to get better. We have a goal as a team to make it to the regional meet and even on to the state meet on November 7th. In the end, we want to create a team environment and culture that is competitive and where each individual feels needed and is excelling to their fullest potential.
Our varsity has a few key returnees, Elizabeth Lembach (12), Sofia Sivilotti (12), Meg Kiehl (11) and Lydia Schoedinger (12). As well as some new faces, Adelaide Petras (9), Khera North (9), Abbie Sells (11). There is no set in stone pecking order right now and there is a A LOT of talent on this team so I am excited to see what everyone does at HSB!
Coach Joe Shoots / St. Ursula Academy
Coach Darrell Dewese / Olentangy Liberty
We have 79 athletes on the roster this fall which is fantastic participation given the circumstances. The challenge now is getting them all into meets.
Training is going well. We haven't been able to get to some of our favorite training spots / parks because of our numbers and the limitations on gatherings, but the athletes put in a lot of miles this summer
We have 3 seniors returning to our varsity squad. Audrey Piero, Ellie Okonak, and Haley Kruest.
We return 3 juniors as well from our state qualifying team last year. They are Sarah Gilbert, Allison Westfall, and Rachel Ziel
We have seen a significant improvement already from our veterans and we have 3 freshman that joined the top 20 ranks at our first time trial
Our first meet is 8/29 at Pickerington North - that will give us our a true measure of where we are.
Our goals remain the same every year:
Every athlete improves consistently through the season
Win our league meet
Win our district meet
Qualify for the state championship
Meet Coverage -