Lewis points to big plans for program at Metea Valley
Years ago, Aaron Lewis competed at the Carlin Nalley Track & Field Invitational as an athlete at Chicago Christian.
Saturday he returned to the meet as Metea Valley's head coach.
"Since we're only a freshman-sophomore school and team this year we really just wanted to get our kids a lot of exposure to a varsity-level meet and competition in order to prepare for next year when we are a varsity team. And definitely the kids have responded very well," Lewis said.
The Mustangs' track team is centered in the right place, around the 400-meter mark. The all-sophomore 1,600 relay of Will King, Alan Williams, Aaron Laskey and Tre Sean Mackey finished eighth out of a dozen 2A and 3A teams that ran at Benedictine University.
The 800 relay finished higher, a seventh place earned by King, Preston Mitchell, Laskey and Tyler Merriweather.
In the open 400, Mackey placed 12th out of 36 runners in 2A-3A competition. Freshman Eugene Pajakowski caught Lewis' attention by setting personal records in both his disparate events: 300 hurdles and discus.
"With this young age we're really just trying to find out where a lot of our athletes are going to fit over the next couple years for us," the coach said.
Among the 25 Class 2A and 3A teams represented at the Nalley, Metea Valley didn't score a point. At this point, though, the point is not their point total.
"We've just been doing this all year to get our athletes ready for not only this season but also definitely for the next couple years as we transition to a varsity program," Lewis said.
"We're trying to let them know that we're not going to really do a lot of damage this year or make a big name for ourselves, but definitely as we look forward to next year we have the potential or possibilities of several of our athletes in both individual events and in relays qualifying for state competition."
Three-ring circus: Waubonsie Valley already is fortunate to have two quality throwers in the shot put and discus rings in seniors Andrew Szott and Alex Kampf.
Junior Owen Saldana has risen to join them among the elite. For the rest of the season it appears the Warriors' weight lineup will be Szott at shot, Kampf at disc - in 2009 they were 10th and seventh in 3A, respectively, in those events - with Saldana throwing both.
In just his second year under Warriors throws specialist Roger Einbecker, Saldana has added about 50 feet onto his disc and about five feet to his shot, with respective marks of 165-8 and 51-1.
"He's been primarily a football guy but he's a really good athlete and he's very strong," said Einbecker, who developed his son Brett into a scholarship thrower at the University of Illinois.
"And he's kind of a visual learner, so when we have the opportunity to kind of see how to do the events right he gets it. He needs practice like everybody else, but things are starting to round into form for him and I think he's got more in him in both events."
Einbecker said both Szott and Kampf are supportive of Saldana rather than ego-driven, and the arrangement actually allows the two seniors to maximize their individual strengths.
Plus, Saldana has yet to deal with the big-meet experience Kampf and Szott have.
"I think Owen's upside is good," Einbecker said, "but it's a whole different deal when you get into sectional and state track meets, and I just hope we get enough repetitions in so Owen's comfortable in those events and does as well as he's been doing in the last week or two."