HIGH SCHOOL TRACK AND FIELD: EDISON SET TO OPEN SEASON IN TRI-MEET AT SVE (2023-03-28)

Southern Tier Sports Report
The Edison boys and girls track and field teams kick off their season today as they hit the road for a twi-meet.

The Spartans will join Waverly at Spencer Van-Etten for the meet.

EDISON TRACK AND FIELD
BOYS
Coaches Name: Head Coach Shane Devlin, Assistant Coach Shawn Nugent
Record Last Year: 2-3
Returning Athletes: Cody Lucero, Dillon Benjamin, Wyatte Taylor, Evan Bush, Brycen Guinnip, Robert Martino, Ethan Smith, Martin Benjamin, Ashton Spier, Darius Kelley, Kaleb Podoliak
Comments on Returning Athletes: We have a solid group of returning athletes from last season. Their leadership and work ethic will be the foundation of our team this season. We are very excited with the progress they made last spring and hoping to carry that with us into this season. Cody Lucero and Wyatte Taylor will help lead the team in the sprinting events while Evan Bush will be a huge asset in long and triple jump. Ethan Smith, Dillon Benjamin, and Kaleb Podoliak will be our strong returning mid-distance and distance runners. They will be able to come together to have strong relay teams across the board. It should be a great season for TAE!
Newcomers: Kamden Coffin, Mattie Bryant, Garrison Balash, Zimear Young, Talon LaPlante, Caden Cuffie, Brendan Smith, Carter Smith, Shawn Kelly, Carson Balash, Zack Sternfels, Jameson Duggan, Chase Tebin, Elliot Riffle, Levi Utter, Austin Donahue, Dylan Naylor
Thoughts on Newcomers: We have a very large amount of freshmen and sophomores that are joining our team this season. This is exciting to see such a large interest in the TAE track program. These young men will support our veteran athletes across all of our events and can bring in crucial points in dual meets. In the sprints, we will look towards Brendan Smith, Elliot Riffle, and the Balash boys to make a positive impact. Zimear Young has been picking up hurdling form quickly and seems to be our hurdling guy this season. Zack Sternfels and Jameson Duggan are going to be up and coming distance runners for our program after coming off of a strong cross-country season. Talon LaPlante and Kamden Coffin are looking to be strong throwers this year. Chase Tebin and Levi Utter are going to help us with their versatility in both sprinting and field events.
Thoughts on the team this year: Our boys team is coming into the season with the biggest numbers I have seen our program have since I have coached at TAE. We have 29 athletes that are going to contribute to every event we can put people in. I am excited to see how our large group of senior boys takes on the leadership role this season to help lead our program. With their dedication to our program and the excitement and large numbers from the underclassmen, we look to have a very strong season! I think it will be a good blend of experience and young athletes. We ar ehoping to have a very strong season with a lot of success and personal bests!
Thoughts on the league this year: Our league is always competitve and has great athletes from each school. I think that competition will continue into this year and we will be pushed. We are hopefully to contend for a divisional title for our area and league title this year after finishing 4th at IACs last year. With the size and talent of this group, it is definitely a possibility!

GIRLS
Coach: Jed Twichell
Assistants: Lenny Smith, Shawn Nugent
Record last year: 3rd Place IAC Small Schools
Returning athletes: Josie Burleigh - Senior, Maura Heraghty - Senior, Riley Thresher - Junior, Sophia Mirando - Junior, Gia Pabis - Junior, Mayla Falank - Sophomore, Reagan Peris - Sophomore, Adah Copp - Sophomore, Ally Balash - Sophomore, Makayla Graham - Sophomore, Audryana Klein - Sophomore
Comments on returning athletes: Many of our returners are looking to improve on some pretty impressive 2022 performances. Josie Burleigh was the 2022 IAC Pentathlon Champion and is hoping to repeat that accomplishment as a senior. Maura Heraghty was the IAC Small School 3000m and 2000m Steeplechase Champion and is also hoping to repeat these accomplishments. The girls also were the IAC Small School 4x800 relay champions, a team that included Burleigh, Heraghty, and Sophomore Reagan Peris. Gia Pabis gained valuable experience competing at the State Qualifier meet for the 100m as a Sophomore in 2022.
Newcomers: Haylie Rosenthal - Sophomore, Elizabeth Timofeeff - Sophomore, Brandalyn Bleecker - Freshman, Madelyn Morrison - Freshman, Laura Nisbet - Freshman, Isabella Lamb - Freshman, Hannah Lasko - Freshman, Abigail Johnson - Freshman
Thoughts on newcomers: We are excited to have a large group of incoming Freshman and new Sophomores to the team this year and look forward to seeing how they do.
Thoughts on the team this year: We are hoping to improve on our overall performance from last year and to improve on our 3rd place league finish (IAC small schools).