Janesville Parker runners look to the future
Parker’s schedule
SEPTEMBER: 10—At Madison West Invitational (Yahara), 4 p.m.; 15—At Big Eight Conference Grade Level Meet (Pleasant View), 4 p.m.; 22—At Rock Run (Milton), 4 p.m.; 26—At Midwest Invitational (Blackhawk), 9 a.m.; 29—At Sun Prairie Five Team Meet (Sheehan Park), 4:45 p.m.
OCTOBER: 3—At Stoughton Invitational, 9:30 a.m.; 6—Janesville Parker and Beloit Memorial triple dual (Rockport Park), 5 p.m.; 10—At Middleton Invitational (Pleasant View), 9:30 a.m.; 17—At Big Eight Conference Meet (Verona), 9:00 a.m.
JANESVILLE — Youth will be served this season for Janesville Parker High School’s boys and girls cross country teams.
With only two seniors expected to run varsity on the two teams, the Vikings are hoping to build for the future.
“We’re ahead of where we were last year at this time as far as our training and our times, but we’re still more or less on a two-year plan,” Parker boys coach Dan Bouska said.
“I’m not too worried about where we finish in the conference. I’m more concerned with working hard on bringing our times down. We’re probably a minute to a minute and a half behind most of the other teams in our conference, and we’d like to close that gap.”
Junior Taran Kobs is one of eight letter winners and will likely be the team’s top runner.
“He’s a strong kid,” Bouska said of Kobs. “And he’ll do a nice job of filling in for the loss of Duncan Brose.”
Junior David Tyler, who lettered as a freshman but sat out last season with a broken ankle, is back and is close to 100 percent.
The other varsity locks are sophomore Alex Little, senior Ryan Riley and junior Adam Cavey.
“Assistant coach Guy Stricker is doing a great job of stressing how important it is to work on times each and every day,” Bouska said. “We had a decent summer of training, and hopefully, that will pay off.”
Despite four varsity runners returning, the Parker girls must replace their top three from a year ago—including one-time state qualifier Catie O’Leary.
Junior Sadie Johnson has looked the strongest early on, according to head coach Joe LaChance, now in his 19th year.
“Sadie really worked hard over the summer, and it shows,” LaChance said.
“But the key for us will be to stay healthy. If we can do that, and that’s a big ‘if,’ than we definitely have some bright spots to build on for the future.”
Juniors Brooke King and Ashley King are returning varsity runners, but both are battling injuries heading into the season-opener next Thursday at the Madison West Invitational. LaChance said the King twins are dealing with leg injuries lingering from the spring track and field season.
Junior Danielle Flood is another varsity returnee, along with senior Kathryn Pernot.
Sophomore Lexi Lathrop is pushing for a spot in the top seven, along with freshmen Emily Richardson and Miranda Slabak.
Sep 4, 2009 at 1:30 p.m.
Suggest removal
Will this finally be the season that the girls coach does something besides run around and take pictures at all of the meets. Maybe something like coaching and motivating your athletes. This program has had strong runners for the last 5 or 6 years and their coach has done little to develope that talent and motivate the athletes. As a former member of the boys program, I would like to see those girls that are four year members of the team at least recieve some credit for their efforts. At least mention their names and give them some credit for their efforts. Time for a new coach.
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