"I think some of the seventh- and eighth-graders can help us out, too. We don’t have any pole vaulters because we don’t have the facilities to practice in that event. We’re a little thin in the hurdles with Roger DeBoer being our only returning hurdler with experience. Developing hurdlers is something we can work on."
The Patriot girls will benefit from the addition of Edgerton, too.
Goehle has a roster of 35 athletes (up from 24 last spring) to build a team from, and the list features proven and untested athletes.
"I like the quality of the older kids," he said. "They’re kids who are very good, if not great, athletes. They are very competitive. With 35 kids, we can throw some of the younger kids in with the older kids and should be able to do some things."
The roster consists of two seniors, one junior, four sophomores, seven freshmen and 21 seventh- and eighth-graders. Ten of the girls lettered for the H-BC-E program last spring, seven competed in the section meet and one advanced to state.
The Patriots did lose a pair of quality seniors from the 2002 squad in Bev Wurpts and LaDonna Sandstede.
Wurpts ran with successful 1,600- and 3,200-meter relays, and won a CC title in the 1,600-meter run. She placed second in the sub-section and fourth in the section in the 1,600.
Sandstede ran with successful 400- and 800-meter relay teams.
Erin Boeve, the team’s lone junior, has to be considered the top returnee.
Along with being a member of the CC champion 1,600-meter relay team and a member of the 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams that placed third in the sub-section, Boeve is an excellent jumper.
She won CC titles in the long and triple jumps, placed second in those events at the sub-section level, and won the long jump and finished third in the triple jump at the section meet. Boeve didn’t advance to the finals at the state meet in the long jump.
Sophomore Cassi Tilstra and eighth-grader Mya Mann are two girls who experienced outstanding 2002 seasons.
Both girls were members of the 1,600-meter relay, which placed fifth in the section. They also ran with the 3,200-meter relay, which won RRC and sub-section titles, and placed second at the section meet.
Tilstra won a CC title, placed third in the sub-section and sixth in the section in the 400-meter dash. Mann placed second in the sub-section in the 800-meter run.
Other girls returning with section experience from 2002 are senior Amber Poppen, sophomore Kelly Mulder and eighth-graders Amanda Tilstra and Amanda Connors.
Poppen, a jumper-sprinter from Edgerton, advanced to the section in the high jump last season.
Mulder was a member of the 400- and 800-meter relays, and Connors ran with the 800-meter team. Amanda Tilstra placed fourth in the sub-section in the 3,200-meter run.
Freshmen Rosie Lewis and Kari Roozenboom and eighth graders Kerri Fransman and Chelsea Fink round out the returning letter winners from 2002.
Lewis is a thrower-sprinter, Roozenboom is a hurdler, Fransman runs middle distances and Fink runs sprints and middle distances.
Senior exchange student Corinna Braun and sophomores Erika Fransen and Brittany Kramer will help the Patriots this season.
Braun will run distances, and Fransen will run distances and middle distances. Goehle is unsure what events Kramer will compete in.
The coach is unsure what events freshmen Jessie Leenderts and Stacy Bush will participate in, but he lists classmates Katie McGaffee as a thrower, Rachel Kvaale as a middle distance runner and Amy Tiesler as a jumper-sprinter.
"The additional 16 seventh- and eighth-graders we have could help us down the line, too," Goehle said.
"We have great jumpers in Amber Poppen and Erin Boeve, and we should be strong in the sprints and middle distances. We’re not real deep in the sprints and middle distances, but we have some quality kids in those areas. We could have some depth in those areas in the middle of the season if the seventh- and eighth-graders are ready to move up."
