IAC TRACK & FIELD: DEPTH WILL HELP MAKE NEWARK VALLEY COMPETITIVE (10 PHOTOS) (2019-03-20)

BY TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
NEWARK VALLEY - An impressive turnout should help Newark Valley runners, jumpers and throwers complete at a high level this spring.

NV has nearly 60 athletes out for the boys and girls track teams with 35 boys and 24 girls.

"The numbers are good," said girls head coach Eric D'Arcy. "I'd like to have a couple more girls. I'd like to get up around 30 girls, 35 boys. That would be perfect."

The Cardinals are somewhat mixed in experience levels. The teams are developing more parity between them with the amount of talent.

"Our girls team is a little bit younger. We've lost some experience the last couple of years," D'Arcy said. "We've had a great run with the girls teams. The boys team is beginning to become a little bit older, a little more mature. That is one of the bigger differences I think we're seeing.

"We're pretty excited about the boys team. They've got a lot of guys, so what's nice is that in every meet we compete in we're going to be able to put four or five people in every event and that's going to be a big difference. That's how you do well. When you have numbers it helps."

Among the top competitors on the boys side are Micah Williams and Caden Bennett in the middle distances, Lucas Frank and some of his fellow throwers, distance runner Jonny Sherwood, and Raydon Ford, to name a few.

"We don't have any superstar on the boys side," said D'Arcy. "We have a lot of balance and a lot of kids who are going to play an important role I think. We still haven't seen some of them. They're young and we haven't seen them in a real race situation."

The most notable loss from the NV program comes from the girls team. Molly Baker, a top-10 finisher in the pentathlon at last year's state meet, is now competing at SUNY Cortland.

Back are Marissa Silba and and Sophie Stewart, both 5-time state qualifiers in cross country. They make NV a strong distance threat. Madison Sherwood should be competitive in the pole vault and sprints.

"We've got some others," D'Arcy said. "Again, we're going to be young. We've got some young girls that are going to have to fill in in some spots. Our strengths are probably going to be a couple of the girls in the distance end, and then probably some of our field events. Pole vault and those kinds of things, we should be pretty solid in those."

The athletes have a full and experienced coaching staff to learn from. D'Arcy handles the distance runners and hurdlers; Joe Lakin serves as the boys head coach and works with the throwers; Brian Sherwood works with the high jump and pole vault athletes, and helps with the sprinters; and Joe Frieser works with the sprinters, and long and triple jumpers. He will also assist modified head coach Brandy Duke, who also helps the varsity program in variety of areas.

Newark Valley opens the season April 2 at home at 5 p.m. against, Candor, Tioga and Notre Dame.

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IN PHOTO 1: Lucas Frank heads up a solid group of Newark Valley throwers. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.