The Ringling High School track team entered this season having to replace athletes in a number of positions. But head coach Phillip Koons says that even with having to piece all that together, they still had a great season.

“We lost several key contributors from last year’s state championship team,” Koons said. “I thought we could still be competitive in relays, pole vault, and hurdles, but thought our lack of depth might hurt us in team points. We knew that, in order to be successful on the team level, we would have to assign a much greater workload to our best athletes to maximize team points.

Overall, we had a great season. We had to spend some time in the early season meets with different
relay lineups and placing guys into different events to help figure out how we could best distribute our athletes to score team points. Our guys worked hard throughout the season and got better and better.

We were fortunate to peak at the right time and run all of our best races of the year at the state meet.”

There were a number of team members that stepped up and made big contributions to the team this season.

“Kaden Barron was a repeat state champion in the 110-meter hurdles. He also ran on the state champion 4×100 and 4×200 relay teams,” the coach noted.

“Will Inselman and JD Blodgett were two of our key legs on our 4×100, 4×200, and 4×400 relay teams. Caleb Taylor was the bronze medalist in the 110m Hurdles. He also ran on our 4×100 and 4×200 state
champion relays and was a mainstay on the 4x400m relay. Will Davis was the state runner-up in the pole vault. Kysen Fincher won the bronze medal in the pole vault as a sophomore. His points in this event were crucial for our team. He continued to get better throughout the season and has a bright future ahead.”

As Koons looks ahead to next season, he knows there will be some small challenges, but he fully expects that his team will not see much of a drop-off.

“Losing Kaden Barron will leave a void in our relays, and we really counted on him for points in the hurdles,” he stated.

“Developing young sprinters will be key to trying to maintain our success. We also have the challenge of needing to develop some young throwers and distance runners, in hopes of making our team more well-rounded. I would like to give credit to all the assistant coaches. Kyle Bentley coaches our vaulters. All three of them qualified for the state meet and two of them medaled. Cooper Koons and Carly Koons both do a great job of coaching our throwers, along with helping coach relays.

I am extremely proud of our athletes.

They worked hard and persevered throughout the whole season. They came up with their best performances on the biggest stage. They are the first Ringling team to be back-to-back state champions
in any sport. We have only had a track program for five years, and these kids have embraced the work it takes to be successful in this sport.”