Under new leadership, the 2018 Mingus Union High School track and field team returns a squad of experienced veterans mixed with younger runners, jumpers and throwers still finding their niche.
First year head coach Molly Westcott’s aim is to get experience for the younger Marauders in a variety of events to find out where they are strongest. As for the veterans, it is to find themselves in top form the first weekend of May at the state meet.
“Just try developing with the kids that we have, the young kids so in a few years we have a solid, good number of kids that have been out here for a few years,” Westcott said. “And then there’s obviously the juniors and seniors that have been out here for a couple years. Our goal for them is to get them on the podium at state and I think we’ll have success with them.”
Returning are five Marauders who qualified for the 2017 Arizona Interscholastic Association Division III state meet: Seniors Hannah DeVore, Katelyn Prouty and Johnathan Jung along with juniors Meg Babcock and Kendrew Streck.
Babcock, who was state runner-up in the 800-meter run last year, returns from an injury-limited cross-country season in the fall. DeVore took fifth in the 100-meter hurdles and qualified for the 300-meter hurdles.
Prouty was ninth in the triple jump while Jung qualified in the high jump, and Streck competed in the shot put [ninth] and discus [12th].
On the girls side, there is a strong core of hurdlers and sprinters, Westcott said, while Babcock is the backbone of the middle distance runs. There are 15 throwers this year, too. Despite shown interest, there are again no pole vaulters because there is no pole vault coach.
“We’re kind of spread out as far as the girls and kind of boys though too. We have little hidden talents kind of everywhere for both of them,” Westcott said.
All in all though, Westcott, who coaches the sprinters, wants to develop them, especially the novice ones, for the future.
“We have a lot of younger kids, so we’re just kind of developing this year. We have a lot of kids that are kind of just jumping around and seeing what their speciality is going to be — what’s that one or maybe two things,” said Westcott, who added she will be on the volleyball staff this fall. “When they’re that young it’s hard to place them somewhere, so we’re trying to figure that out and I think if we develop them now in their specialized events then in the next couple years they’ll be really successful.”
Returning on the coaching staff are Lisa Peterson [jumps] and Jennifer DeVore [hurdles], while Dan Engler joins this year to work with the middle- and long-distance runners and Lauren Thagard trains the throwers.
Westcott was an assistant coach last year, and is fulfilling a goal of becoming a head coach since former head coach Yancey DeVore became Mingus’ athletic director.
“Ultimately I decided to because just the atmosphere of track is something that I’ve always enjoyed and just getting to share that with all of the kids instead of just a specialized event was something I wanted to do,” Westcott said. “It’s a role I’ve always wanted to be in and it kind of came pretty soon but with the help of Yancey I’ve fallen in pretty well.
“I just feel like I have a spirit about track, and I’ve ran recently so I just kind of have that drive and that spirit to be out here and do it …. I’m a lot about culture, too, and bringing a team culture. Yancey did a great job of developing that. It’s a lot different than when I ran track here so I’m just all about it being a big team sport and building a positive culture.”
The team’s first meet is March 3 at the Chandler Preparatory Invitational, held at Mesa Community College. Come May 4 and 5, it is at that same track where the Marauders will hope to be once again competing against the state’s best.
