TRACK PREVIEW ’10: Kentwood girls eyeing program history

They opened the season with a bang.

If the Kentwood High girls track and field team can finish it that way, the Conquerors very likely will have made school history.

“The girls track team is the only team at Kentwood that has never won a league title,” explained coach Steve Roche. “I have pointed that out to them.”

Apparently, the Kentwood girls took it to heart, too.

Especially in the season opener on March 18, when the Conquerors handled longtime South Puget Sound League North Division powerhouse Tahoma 89-61.

Tahoma entered the day riding a streak of 36 consecutive wins against its SPSL North opponents. The run helped the Bears snare four straight SPSL North crowns. Tahoma has won five of the last six North titles in all.

With the win in March, however, Kentwood has moved into the driver’s seat for capturing school history.

“It was a huge win. My group leaders, my captains .. we started talking about that meet last June,” Roche said. “Way back during those meetings, I told the girls to circle that date.”

Circle it, they did.

Kentwood won 12 of the 19 events at the meet. Junior sprinter Holly DeHart, who is among Kentwood’s contingent that competed at state last spring, set the tone by winning the 100 (12.47) and the 200 (25.53). Meanwhile, teammate Dana Wareham, who has been the rock of the program the last several seasons, grabbed gold in the 400 meter (1:02.12) and led off both of Kentwood’s winning relays. But the Conquerors were hardly done with the DeHart-Wareham 1-2 punch as sophomore Alyx Toeaina pulled a trifecta in the throws, winning the shot put (37-05.50), the discus (129-09) and the javelin (98-07).

“We’ve never beat the Tahoma girls in the eight years that I’ve been here,” Roche said. “They’ve been the standard we measure ourselves against.”

And the hallmark of that standard for the Bears always has been their distance runners. A longtime powerhouse on the cross country trails, Tahoma is just as dangerous on the track when it comes to long-distance running.

The Conquerors, however, had an answer for Tahoma’s long-distance prowess: Kailey Ulland.

Ulland, who was the SPSL North’s top finisher at the state cross country meet in the fall, showed she’s just as dangerous on the track, scorching the oval in 11:43.10, holding off Tahoma standout Hannah Mittelstaedt (11:52.88).

“For us to trump their distance runners was just huge,” Roche said.

Yet, the job had just begun.

Since knocking off the Bears on March 18, Kentwood has followed with convincing wins over Kentlake (108.66-40.33) and Kentridge (123-27). In a re-shuffled South Puget Sound League North Division, which no longer includes Federal Way, Auburn Riverside or Jefferson in track, the only teams standing between the Conquerors and school history is Auburn (April 22) and Kent-Meridian (May 5).

Of the two, Kent-Meridian will pose a considerable threat to the Conquerors. The Royals knocked off Kentwood last season and match up well from event to event. K-M also has a nice stable of standouts from which to draw from with Kelsey Bueno (pole vault) and Alexia Martin (distance) leading the way.

So while the Conquerors remain in the driver’s seat, a league title is far from a done deal.

“Kent-Meridian is definitely not to be overlooked,” Roche said. “They’re strong in all the areas that we’re strong.”

The Conquerors are plenty strong, too. In fact, Kentwood currently has the league leader in the 100 (DeHart), 200 (DeHart), 400 (DeHart), 3,200 (Ulland), 4 x 100 relay (Mykala Benjamin, Mikaela Armstead, Quincie Proctor-Guyton and Aiesha Goodlow). 4 x 400 relay (Savannah Luther, Megan McNally, Alena Davis and Wareham), shot put (Toeaina) and the discus (Toeaina).

“This year, everything fits,” Roche said. “The reason I like our team in dual meets is that we’re deeper than we’ve ever been. We have really strong throwers, really good sprinters … there’s not one area where we get pounded.”

Add it up and Kentwood’s season just may end with a bang, too.