Stepping stone. Building block. Both have been used to describe the success of the Kentwood High girls track team last spring, a season in which the Conquerors won the program\u2019s first-ever South Puget Sound League North Division title with a perfect 5-0 record and went on to take a school-best sixth place at the state meet.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Stepping stone?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Building block?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Conquerors view last season\u2019s success as a springboard. And what lies ahead could be truly special.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWinning the league title is something I had talked about for years,\u201d said coach Steve Roche. \u201cWhen we got that, it was like \u2018what\u2019s next?\u2019 With the girls we have coming back and where we\u2019re going … we\u2019re looking to build.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The fact is, the Conquerors can\u2019t go much higher.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
With that in mind, they\u2019ve set their goals right at the top this spring \u2014 a state championship.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have a strong chance. Our team is put together really well,\u201d said star sprinter Holly DeHart, who won the Class 4A state title in the 200 last spring with a time of 24.84 and took third in the 100 after crossing the finish line in 12.25 seconds. \u201c(Winning a state title) is on all of our minds. Getting our first league title last year was a stepping stone.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A stepping stone to potentially even better things this spring.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
And the Conquerors certainly have the necessary firepower to get it done. Because in addition to DeHart, the Conquerors added transfer Madelayne Varela, who was Kentlake\u2019s top sprinter last spring. Varela took eighth at state last season in the 100, 200 and 400. Take away a stumble in the 400, and the junior transfer may have won the gold medal.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt like my legs just gave out. My form gave away and I just fell,\u201d said Varela. \u201cIt was really frustrating. On a scale from 1 to 10, it was an 11.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Leaving a talented Kentlake squad wasn\u2019t easy, Varela admitted, but it made sense from a logistical standpoint.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s harder for me to go to Kentlake because my brother goes to Kentwood,\u201d she said. \u201cI think about (Kentlake) every day. I miss Kentlake, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Regardless, Varela is excited about the move.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThis team is pretty close,\u201d she said. \u201cI think we could win it all for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
And while much of what Kentwood accomplishes this spring hinges on its two superstar sprinters in DeHart and Varela, there\u2019s plenty of talent behind them to make a big state run in late May. Giving Kentwood the depth it needs to be a serious challenger to the state crown include: Alyx Toeaina (fourth at state in the discus, fifth in the shot put), Megan McNally (10th in the 800 at the Nike Track Nationals), Beth Parrish (8th at the Nike Track Nationals in the pole vault), Carly Horn (sixth in the high jump at the Nike Track Nationals) and long-distance specialist Kailey Ulland among others.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Kentwood also added soccer standout Mariah Lee (100, 200 and long jump) and Alyx Toeaina\u2019s younger sister, Sarah Toeaina (hurdles, high jump and javelin).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Add it up and the Conquerors could be sitting on something special.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of those things where a little voice in my head keeps saying, \u2018Don\u2019t screw this up. You don\u2019t get these kinds of kids in one place at one time that often,\u2019\u201d Roche said. \u201cI may never come across this again in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Which is why when some look at last season they may just see it as a building block or stepping stone to even better times ahead.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stepping stone. Building block. Both have been used to describe the success of the Kentwood High girls track team last spring, a season in which the Conquerors won the program\u2019s first-ever South Puget Sound League North Division title with a perfect 5-0 record and went on to take a school-best sixth place at the state meet.<\/p>\n
Stepping stone?<\/p>\n
Building block?<\/p>\n
The Conquerors view last season\u2019s success as a springboard. And what lies ahead could be truly special.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-21085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21085"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21085\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21085"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=21085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}