Maple Leafs' track team face new hurdles
Things are changing for the Geneseo track team this season.
The Maple Leafs’ biggest strength during their run to a second-place finish at the IHSA Class 2A State Finals was the field events.
Coming into this season Geneseo doesn’t have the same athletes to fill those roles.
Arthur Atwell became fourth boys’ state track champion in Geneseo history.
Will Daniels combined two top three finishes into a school record 15 points at the state meet.
“Those are some very large shoes to fill,” Geneseo Coach Don Fredericks said. “We just participated in the NIB 12 indoor invitational and scored only two points in the field events, but we are still a work in progress.”
Fredericks thinks multiple athletes will be able to grow into contributors in the field events.
However, Geneseo has a wealth of athletes returning to the track with eight athletes who have All-State honors or state experience.
After the prelims, Geneseo’s Reed Vanderheyden had the top time in the 300 hurdles (38.42) at state last season.
In the finals, Vanderheyden ran a school record time of 37.86 to finish runner-up and earn All-State honors.
Entering his junior year, Vanderheyden has been an All-State member in the 300 hurdles the past two seasons.
Geneseo had the only tandem to earn All-State honors in hurdles in Class 2A.
Andrew Pischke raced to ninth in the 300 hurdles (39.74), and he added a fifth-place finish in the 110 hurdles to earn All-State.
While both athletes are back this season, Andrew Pischke suffered a hip injury before the start of football season that might change things.
GHS’ Andrew Pischke has already begun contributing to the team, but his ability to run hurdles remains in question.
Stepping into a bigger role in the hurdles has been sophomore Colton Pischke.
At the NIB 12 indoor invite, Colton Pischke came in third with a time of 8.65.
Another change to this season will be Geneseo making a move to one of the toughest sectionals in the state.
Geneseo will be lumped in with Kanland whose team is ranked top five in the state, and Freeport a top ten team in the latest Class 2A poll on ILXCTF.com.
With Freeport added, Vanderheyden will get to go head-to-head with Deion McShane the defending 300 hurdles champion.
Geneseo has never had so much All-State experience returning.
GHS’ Nick Swartzendruber, Andrew Benhart, Nathan Soria, Cayson Frerichs all return from a runner-up finish in the 4x800-meter relay at state last season.
GHS’ Swartzendruber, Lucas Hofer, Soria and Vanderheyden return off a fourth-place finish in the 4x400 relay.
Hofer is still working his way back from a knee injury suffered before the start of football season.
Sam Thomas has state experience coming off a 12th-place finish in the shot put last year.
With only the top two finishers in each event automatically qualifying for the state meet, Fredericks said the Maple Leafs want to go into sectionals with the mentality that they will have to meet or better the IHSA State qualifying standard to reach state.
The Maple Leafs’ goal is to peak going into the John McCormick Invitational hosted in Geneseo on Friday, May 5 and continue to build into the postseason which begins with the NIB 12 Conference meet on Friday, May 12.
After winning the first outright title in school history last year, the NIB-12 conference race is loaded once again this season with DeKalb and Kaneland both considered contenders for state trophies.
Fredericks is quick to point out how many things went right last season.
Geneseo won all but two competitions last year, the United Township Invite and the state finals.
2017 Geneseo boys' track and field roster
Seniors
Andrew Benhart
Ben Cosgrave
Keith Elden
Cayson Frerichs
Matthew Ganson
Ryan Kass
Lucas Hofer
Zach Humphrey
Nelson Laingen
Keegan Minnaert
Tate Neff
Andrew Pischke
Brandon Ramos
Chandler Schwartz
Cole Schwerdt
Noah Sebastian
Kyle Sellers
Nathan Soria
Dalton Stage
Dalton Stamp
Sam Thomas
Jacob Verplaetse
Logan Weber
Charlie Wiese
Juniors
Kody Brower
Kade Coons
Cameron Darin
Blake Duncan
Ryver Griffin
Chris Hodshire
Cole Howard
Nathan Lambert
Matt McDonald
Jack Morrell
Drew Rapps
Joe Stohl
Nick Swartzendruber
Reed Vanderheyden
Raymond Venneberg
Adam Wells
Logan Ziegenhorn
Sophomores
Max Bealer
Billy Blaser
Nathan Carroll
Charlie Cathcart
Carson Cocquit
Billy Cosgrave
Noah Coughlen
Kaleb Decker
Kaleb Efflandt
Justin Lyman
Alex McAvoy
Juan Mejias-Dansbach
Colton Pischke
Kaden Rink
Peter Rizzo
Andrew Schmidt
Augie Schmitt
Luke Sebastian
Brad Smith
Nathan Tisor
Andrew Verplaetse
Zach Wilson
Freshmen
Eli Allen
Ky Ariano
Cade Backes
Zach Bauer
Neo Colter
Rylan Coons
Dawson DeCap
Jerry Green
Logan Hansen
Kyle Hofer
Matt Kozemski
Spencer Lindstrom
Carson Mariman
Mick Mooney
Jaycob Norton
Alex Phillipson
Colby Rapps
Ethan Saucedo
Jordan Seeley
Rob Stohl
Evan Veloz
William Venneberg
Eric Verplaetse
Ethan Welfer
Tyler Whipple
Seth Winchell
Nathan Yoder
Tucker Ziegenhorn
Coach: Don Fredericks. Assistants: Matt Deets, Tess Fredericks, Philip Moe, Shane Reschke, and Wes Vaden. Managers: Ayjai Adamson, Lilly Davis, Jessica Holm, Peyton Krauss, Lydia Mejias-Dansbach, Kaitlynn Rossitto and Amelia Seys.
2017 Geneseo track schedule
March 25 Geneseo at Illinois Top Times Illinois Wesleyan 8 a.m.
Mach 29 Geneseo at Sterling Dual Sterling HS 4:30 p.m.
April 8 Geneseo at UTHS Kiwanis ABC Invite Soule Bowl 9:30 a.m.
April 11 Geneseo at Rock Island JV Invite Rock Island HS 4:30 p.m.
April 13 Geneseo at Galesburg ABC Invite Galesburg HS 4 p.m.
April 18 Geneseo at Moline JV Invite Browning Field, Moline 4:30 p.m.
April 21 Geneseo at Rock Island ABC Invite Rock Island HS 4 p.m.
April 25 Geneseo F/S Invite Geneseo HS 4:30 p.m.
April 28 Geneseo at Pekin Invitational Pekin HS 4 p.m.
May 2 Geneseo at UTHS JV Invite Soule Bowl, East Moline 4:30 p.m.
May 5 John McCormick ABC Invite Geneseo HS 4 p.m.
May 8 Geneseo at F/S Moline Invite Browning Field, Moline 4:30 p.m.
May 12 Geneseo at NIB 12 Conference Meet Sycamore HS 3 p.m.
May 19 Geneseo at Sectionals TBA TBA
May 25 Geneseo at State at Charleston TBA TBA
May 26 Geneseo at State at Charleston TBA TBA
May 27 Geneseo at State at Charleston TBA TBA