GCMS HS Track and Field Closed for 2024 Season

GIBSON CITY – The Gibson City Melvin Sibley High School track and field team started the 2024 season in unfamiliar territory: the first week of practice was outdoors.

Unseasonably warm weather during the last week of February allowed GCMS to practice four out of five days in the athletics facility rather than the indoor space required in normal February weather.

GCMS men's head coach Mark Ward said, “In all my years of coaching, I can't remember a day when we were blessed with such good weather.'' “It's great to be able to get the kids outside and stretch their legs instead of locking them inside a building or a gymnasium. We've had a really good response to that as well. This first week… The children have worked really hard and have done well so far. I couldn't be happier.

“I think it's going to be a huge benefit for us and everyone in the community. We're already doing more form and endurance work early in the season than we ever have before. It's really rewarding for us. I am.”

On the men's side, the Falcons have 29 players.

“The season is looking great,” Ward said. “Right now, the world is in our favor, so we just have to choose. If we had a larger number of people, we could probably spread out the participants better, and the kids wouldn't have to run four events.” “We can rest our kids and allow them to perform really well in the events they compete in. The numbers game is going to be really good for us.”

One of those 29 boys is Sean Schlickman, who will return as a senior after competing in the state tournament in the pole vault last year.

On the girls side, the Falcons will once again make a state qualifier at Savannah Shumate, which competed in the discus at the state tournament for the second year in a row last May.

“We expect pretty big things from her,” GCMS women's head coach Tess Strang said. “There are quite a lot of players who are coming up, and last year we were close, so I hope we can overcome that difficulty this year.This year, we want to announce more than just one. Masu.”

The men's group also includes senior leaders such as sprinter Aiden Sanken and pole vaulter Alex Ward.

Chase Pollard and Enrique Gonzalez return as distance runners.

“Enrique is working really hard on the field,” Ward said. “We have a lot of strong senior leaders.”

There are also 14 new students in this group.

“Those boys have really responded to that leadership and are really settling into where they need to be,” Ward said. “Having 14 freshmen really gives us time to mold them. By the time they become seniors, he still has 14 leading the team and hopefully doing well.” Masu.”

“Those boys have really responded to that leadership and are really settling into where they need to be,” Ward said. “Having 14 freshmen really gives us time to mold them. Hopefully by the time they become seniors, we still have 14 leading the team and doing well. We have a lot of talent. Some of it is quite raw, so we can shape it and adapt it.”

The sophomore group includes Jacob Chase, who along with Sanken helped GCMS finish fourth in the 4×200 relay sectional award last May.

“I think it would be good to have some relays between the 4×200 and 4×400 areas, so that would help a lot.”

In the shot put, sophomores Cale Holzhauer and Logan Ward finished third and ninth, respectively.

“Those two guys went 40 feet in the shot put last year,” Ward said. “Logan really broke out in the discus last year, and we’re looking forward to him being able to put it out there. Sophomore Dominique Bond has really hit the ground running in the discus since last year. Our sophomores are no slouches either. They're going to help us a lot along the way.”

The GCMS boys have one junior, Nolan Lin.

“He's going to try some new events this year,” Ward said. “The track returners are going to do really well and get points.”

The freshmen group on the girls side won the IESA Class 2A sectional championship last year as eighth graders.

At the IESA state meet, the Falcons girls took third place in the 4×400 relay thanks to the efforts of Lily Sizemore, Josie Christ and Kate McCall. Sizemore also finished fifth in the 400-meter dash, while Chryst finished 11th.^th.

“They're all promising freshmen. We have a lot of young talent coming in, so I'm excited to see what they have to offer,” Strang said. “We want to bring in people with that talent as well. There's always a big change in just life between high school and middle school. And when a 15-year-old plays against his 18-year-old, things change a lot. there is.

“The muscles have developed a little bit at that point, but their mindset also has a lot to do with it. They're all gamers and they've all done pretty well before. Sometimes we do good things. I’m hopeful, but you never know.”

Sophia Ray, who placed fifth in the 400-meter dash at last year's regional race, is returning, while Cecilia Goodin, who placed fifth in the 800-meter dash, is running from Knox College. Regan Tompkins, who competed in the long jump and high jump last year, also graduated.

“Cecilia was one of our strong seniors last year. Regan Tompkins was also someone who filled a lot of holes for us. With them gone, there's a lot of room for people to fill.” There's definitely a hole left that needs to be made,” Strang said.

“I hope Anna Goodin can fill the role of her little sister, but it's really up in the air right now because you never know who's going to train and come out and surprise you, especially in the 800m and 400m areas. But we're waiting to see if someone steps into that hole.”

The Falcons will compete in a meet hosted by El Paso Gridley High School on March 15 at Illinois Wesleyan University's indoor track facility. Athletes with qualifying times, jumps and throws will compete in the Illinois Prep Top Times competition on March 22 in Bloomington.

“We'll see if we can get some participants,” Strang said.

The Lady Falcons will compete in tournaments at Torono Unity and Monticello on April 12 and 26, respectively.

“I’m interested to see how we fare in the big invitationals like Unity and Monticello,” Strang said.

April 15th, GCMS will run in Tuscola.

“I’m excited to be running in Tuscola this year,” Strang said. “I think that's a good thing.”

Paxton-Buckley-Roda also plans to attend the tournament in Tuscola. The women's Falcons will host the PBL on April 19th, while the men's will host the Panthers on April 23rd.

“It's always fun to start the season with PBL and Fisher because our athletes get to play against kids they know and athletes from the conference,” Strang said. “It’s just going to be a fun competition.”

“Anytime we play against PBL, we love being in that competition. These kids have some really good backstories, like competitive camaraderie,” Ward added. “You really see how we grow over the course of a season and how much we can improve ourselves to the point where we get to the sectionals and get a bus full of kids and take us down to Charleston. Hopefully we can keep them strong, healthy and hungry.”