Published: March 22, 2008 12:04 am         

Whopping turnout of 95

Over twice as many athletes on the Goshen High School boys track and field team could mean coach Brock Maust is one step closer to his goal of building a competitive program.

“Last year we had 43 athletes, this year we have a roster of 95,” the coach said. “We have had a consistent 88 in workouts. The numbers are exciting, but the question is still whether or not we can compete. We not only have some depth, but also some quality among increased numbers.

“We are getting kids from other sports. We have kids from soccer, football, swimming and basketball.”

Eight letterwinners are back from last season’s 4-9 overall, 0-7 in the Northern Lakes Conference team.

Returning veterans are seniors Brock Goodman, Michel Murto, Zach Prater and Woodrow Young; juniors Carmelo Castillo, Thomas Gingerich, Gustavo Hernandez and Cameron Miller.

Murto placed fifth in the 800 meters (2:02.75) and seventh in the 1,600 (4:41.10) in last year’s sectional, Goodman seventh in high jump (5-10) and Miller 10th in the 3,200 (10:31.18).

“Murto is the heart of our distance program,” Maust said. “Goodman has the most experience in the jumps, Gingerich is our No. 1 thrower and Miller is coming off a great cross country season.”

Miller finished 11th in the regional and 37th in the semistate during last fall’s cross country season.

“Dstance runners are a strength of this team,” Maust said. “We are doing a lot of things based on Mike Wynn (GHS boys cross country coach). He is in his 16th season as a track assistant. He is the backbone of my coaching staff.”

Other seniors are Daniel Driver, Scott Flory, Nathan Foster, Martin Fuentes, Steven Kilmer, Jose Lopez, Juan Medina and Brandon Slabach.

“We only have nine seniors, but are starting to get the full potential out of them,” Maust said. “They are the heart-and-soul of this team. They need to learn how to be leaders.”

Other juniors are Alex Aldana, Jacob Bontrager-Singer, Felix Buchmueller, Josue Chavez, Tyler Coburn, Cristian Gamboa, Jimmy Garcia, Brandon Hanna, Brant Hartman, Jacob Heiliger, Alan Hernandez, Jair Hernandez, Josue Hernandez, Kevin Hernandez, Chris Hershberger, Francisco Inchauregui, Sam Jacobs, Eric Kantz, Andrew Krabill, Jason Lauver, Jonathan Leal, PJ Metzler, Tim Nisley, Nick Paluchniak, Fernando Sanchez, Lucas Shelly, Daniel Vielman, Clark Warner, Kahler Willits and Ross Yeater.

Sophomores are Rob Andrews, Bryan Baer, Tony Del Valle, Joey Elchert, Chris Figueroa, Frankie Ford, Anthony Garcia, Francisco Garcia, Colin Gregory, Jerson Gutierrez, Manual Hernandez, Austin Hodge, Ian Irizarry, Nick Lewallen, Ivan Loera, Ryan Looker, John Martin, Jamie Minier, Cody Schrock, Zach Terrell, Taylor Truex, Brian Vanhook and Kellam Venosky.

“We have a lot of first timers among this class and we are anxious to see how they can do,” Maust said.

Freshmen are Michael Conteras, Aaron Culp, Zach Daniels, Joey Diaz, Jordan Falin, Andrew Frey, Aaron Frost, Joe Haskins, Luke Jacobs, Aaron Krabill, Robby Lehman, Gabe Lepe, Raymundo Lopez, Nico Magullenes, Dustin Mast, Josh Pierce, Tony Pung, Josh Riegsecker, Michael Riegsecker, Carson Roberts, Dakota Rogers, Trevor Shetler, Allen Taylor, Tyler Wynn, Aaron Yoder and Clayton Zollinger.

“There is a lot of great potential among the freshmen. They are ready to be varsity competitors,” Maust said. “We have high expectations for them. We qualified a 4 x 800 relay for indoor state and two of the runners were freshmen.”

Also on the coaching staff are Chris Howell (throws), Jon Dolph (jumps) and Fred Yoder (pole vault).