So far, the Allentown High School indoor track and field team is making a good first impression.
The Redbirds are in their first official varsity season of having a winter track program, and it appears the sport is here to stay. In fact, interest was so high that close to 40 boys and girls came out for the team.
"We got some pretty good numbers. Quite a few boys and girls came out," reports head coach Doug Hunt. "The outdoor track team has always had some pretty good numbers, and we got a lot of those kids who don’t play a winter sport.
"Plus we got some cross country kids. So I think we should do well even though it’s our first season."
Of course, Hunt might have had a little something to do with getting those cross country kids to come out since he has coached that fall sport at Allentown since 1984.
"A lot of those kids also run outdoor track and were looking for something to bridge over to the spring season," Hunt, a runner himself in high school and college, explained. "So having an indoor track team in the winter made a lot of sense."
But while this marks the first official varsity team, it’s not the first time Allentown High athletes have competed in indoor track.
"Ray Visbeck, who coached the outdoor track team here for years, used to volunteer to take some kids to the big indoor meets during the winter," Hunt pointed out. "Then the last few years we had more kids show an interest and say they wanted to get involved. So the board went ahead and put together a formal program."
And Hunt was offered the head coaching position. Not that he didn’t already have enough to do. For the past 16 years, he has also coached the Allentown golf team in the spring. Between that and coaching cross country in the fall, Hunt, a physical education teacher at the high school, used to look forward to having the winter months off.
"I also teach a lot of health classes so I bring a lot of work home, grading tests and preparing classroom work," he said. "Coaching a third sport has actually been a little hectic, but I really enjoy it. It’s a great group of kids. They’re a lot of fun and they work hard."
The 2002 season is just beginning to heat up, too. Two weekends ago, the Redbirds competed in the State Group II Relays at Princeton University’s Jadwin Gym, while the Group II individual competition takes place this weekend at the same venue.
"I think we did OK at the relays," Hunt said. "We were reasonably competitive, but that’s a highly competitive meet, and it was a little bit tough."
Allentown’s best effort in the meet was by its distance medley relay team of junior Brian Mayer, senior Save Griffith, junior Brett Mallinson and senior anchorman Scott Vorwerk."
"They finished 20th out of about 35 or 40 schools, which is pretty good," Hunt said.
In the girls meet, junior Karen Fiscor, one half of the Redbirds’ shot put tandem, also had a good meet, according to Hunt.
Other girls the coach is expecting to have a strong season are distance runners Dana Burke and Lauren Farrell, and Nicolle Mann, a sprinter/middle distance runner. All three, like Fiscor, are juniors.
"We have a lot of juniors on both teams," Hunt noted. "We’re pretty young, but there’s a lot of potential so the future looks good."
Another junior on the boys team Hunt thinks should have a solid season is sprinter Dave Cerulo.
The Redbirds will also swing into action in the Colonial Valley Conference this week with the first of two regular-season developmental meets Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Lawrenceville Prep. The second one is scheduled for Feb. 1 at Peddie.
"These meets involve the whole conference and gets everybody ready for the conference championships at the end of the season," Hunt said. "We’ve never done it before so we don’t know what to expect. This will be the first time we’re taking a formal team there so we’re going to learn a lot on Wednesday."