Patriots building upon success
By Jason S. Rufner
Three years ago, the Park View Patriots girls' track and field team did not win a single meet.
Last year, they took home the state championship, the first such title in the school's 32-year history.
"It was very much a surprise, from where we started as freshmen," said senior Julia Anyaugo, a hurdler, triple-jumper and discus thrower for the Patriots.
"We didn't know how it felt to win," Anyaugo continued. "But once we started working in our specific areas of talent, we started saying, 'Oh, we're doing something here.'"
Fellow senior Charlene Fowler, a sprinter and jumper, also has participated in the team's ascent. Fowler contributed a second-place finish in her favorite event, the long jump, during last season's state meet.
"It was really amazing to me, because it showed that with hard work and teammates, anything is possible," she said.
"It was thrilling," said senior Natalie Baird, the state's reigning discus champion, of the team's accomplishment. "It was wonderful."
First-year head coach Randy Kerico is focusing his squad's attention on earning a second consecutive championship this spring.
"It's hard to come back and win a state championship for a second year in a row," Kerico said. "We're hoping that the kids have the fever, so to speak, and they want to work harder."
Kerico was previously an assistant on the track staff, working with sprinters and throwers. He boasts about the "good mix of experience" his coaches offer.
"We're trying to build the program with a coaching staff that all have track experience, which is a great thing to have."
The Patriots return all but one of the athletes who contributed to last year's success, missing only Tiffany Brown, now a soccer player at Colorado College. Kerico points to such continuity as part of the program's development.
"They're all an intricate part of the team," said Kerico of his seniors, mentioning Laura Tomlinson and Kelly White among others. "They're here to work. I ask them to do something, and they do it. The younger kids see that, and so they are willing to work too."
Junior distance runner Megan Barnes has demonstrated the willingness to work, as reflected in her position as co-captain.
"I'm starting the leadership now," she said. "I'm just going to build off of it next year, and be even stronger, hopefully."
As Kerico watches over his charges on a drizzly April afternoon along the rubber track ringing the Park View football field, the rapport between coaches and athletes is evident in the easy laughs that lighten the damp air.
"We're starting to build from within, making a foundation and building up from it," Kerico said.
An integral piece of that foundation is Baird, a two-time Nike All-American. A signee with The College of William & Mary, Baird is currently preparing to defend her discus championship in the famed Penn Relays at the end of April. If she does so, she would become the first three-time girls' discus champ in the history of the prestigious meet.
Baird, a 100-meter sprinter and a 4x100 relay runner, also owns titles from the Colonial Relays in the discus and shotput.
"The shotput is fun, but the discus goes farther," she said, laughing. "Makes it more exciting."
Baird, a former soccer player who began track in earnest as a freshman, concentrates on her craft unceasingly.
When asked why Baird is the accomplished athlete she is, Kerico instantly answered, "Her work ethic." He added, "She works year-round at everything, from lifting to training, seven days a week working out hard."
Several Park View track athletes have migrated skills honed from other sports. White is experiencing track for the first time after three years on the Patriots' soccer team. Fowler formerly focused on basketball before being talked into track by her friends.
After winning her first heat in her first meet, Fowler was convinced.
"When you win, it feels good and you want to keep doing it," she said.
Whether the Patriots repeat is, according to Kerico, a function of how hard the athletes are willing to work.
"It's more of an individual sport, so the pressure is on you to drive yourself for your team," said Anyaugo, a fourth-place finisher in the hurdles during the state meet. "I like that pressure to push."
Baird said, "We're just trying to do better than we've done before, so as long as we can do that, we'll be happy."
"I'm looking forward to more competition," Fowler said emphatically. "They're going to be looking out for Park View."