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Helt on outdoor season: ‘I think we have enough talented people to win again’
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
PLYMOUTH — Rochester’s season-opening outdoor track meet against host Plymouth was postponed Friday due to rain and lightning.
No makeup date was announced.
The meet had begun, and the 4 x 800 meter relay, the girls 100 hurdles race, the boys 110 hurdles race and the 100 and 1,600 for both girls and boys had been completed prior to the rain.
Rochester won the boys 4 x 800 race in 9:17.53. Rochester’s Zoe Seward and Chris Rohr won the girls and boys 1,600, respectively, though times were not made available.
Track practice began statewide on Feb. 13, and Rochester did have three indoor meets prior to their first outdoor meet.
Rochester coach Ryan Helt described the indoor season as typically “chaotic” because of spring break.
Both the girls and boys distance medley relay teams advanced to the Hoosier State Relays, which were held in Bloomington March 25. Seward also advanced as an individual to the 3,200 meters, where she finished eighth and earned the Lady Zs’ lone team point.
“Well, really in indoor season, what we got to see was some of our returners coming back and putting up some PRs that were nice to see,” Rochester coach Ryan Helt said. “Obviously, Chris and Zoe’s accomplishments have been covered pretty well. Our DMR teams ran really well.
“But probably the most gratifying thing was just integrating some of the younger kids into our varsity races and seeing how they worked.”
Helt described the relationship indoor track has with outdoor track.
“It’s just a chance really to break up the monotony,” Helt said. “You’ve been going since the second week of February without much reward, so I guess indoors is to get excited and to have something to train for, but we’re at the outdoor phase of the season now, and this is the fun part where we actually get to go out there and test our mettle against some other teams.”
Rochester is the two-time defending Three Rivers Conference champion in both girls and boys track.
Kennedy Jackson, Rochester’s lone state qualifier from last year in the girls shot put, has since transferred to Culver. Madilyn Calloway, another former state qualifier, graduated. TRC 200 meter girls champion Kenzie Bradley and TRC boys pole vault king Dustin Sibert also graduated. Braxton Mencias, last year’s sectional long jump champion, also graduated.
“It’s really going to be a challenge this year,” Helt said of both teams’ three-peat bid. “We graduated 19 seniors, I think, and a lot of those were high-quality kids, and you say they’re irreplaceable, but you have to replace them. And then we had a transfer that was pretty key, our one state returner. And we had a couple kids not come out that I was expecting.”
Helt then said that his comments should be interpreted as making an excuse.
“It is to say we’ve got a harder job in front of us,” Helt said. “Some kids are going to have to step up. I think we have enough people, enough talented people to win again. But there is a target on our back. Nobody in the conference appreciates the team that has won a couple times. We’re going to embrace that challenge and just know that everyone wants to take us down, and we want to keep what we have.”
Helt identified Seward and R.J. Keranko as potential state qualifiers. Seward qualified for state in cross-country last fall. Keranko is the reigning 800 meter sectional champion and anchored Rochester’s sectional championship 4 x 800 relay last fall.
“We’re a little closer in our boys sectional to winning than I thought we might be last year,” Helt said. “We’ll see how the season develops. But we haven’t brought home a sectional title in quiet awhile (since 2005). It’s been a long time. If that opportunity comes, we’d certainly like to step up and take it.
“But there’s a lot of baseline understanding to get before we prognosticate too far.”
RHS will host John Glenn at 5 p.m. Thursday at Barnhart Field. It is one of two home meets on the season.
Senior night is 5 p.m. April 18 against Peru.
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