By Aimee Brandon Posted March 2, 2016
TRACK
Every year Lowry track sends multiple kids to the State competition and they are looking forward to another good, successful season.
“Our season last year was a good one. We got better every week and improved. The girl’s team was a strong contender and finished strong at Zone. We were in the top 4,” said coach Shaun Murgel.
Murgel has set some goals for the season including, “to improve every week and to finish in the top 3 in Boys and the top 2 in girls. We are going to put kids in events that can help us be more competitive week in and week out.”
The program has a lot of returning coaches who know how everything works.
“We have spent more time recruiting athletes for track by going to open gym time during baseball and softball to get some more athletes out. We have Gary Echeverria coming back to coach our Pole Vaulters, and Ray Garrison is going to be helping out as well. We are a solid staff with our coaches returning from last year,” said Murgel.
As far as the biggest competition, they are looking out for Fallon, Elko, and South Tahoe.
The Buckaroos should have a strong team with Mikeas Somers, Bryan Terry, Chris Kearns, Liam Gallups, Brandon Dowd, Jillian Albright, Audrey Snow, Madison Montero, Kenadee Jeppsen, Whitney Willey, Shelby Garrison, and Brenda Martinez returning in addition to new recruits.
SWIMMING
The swim team has also had many successful seasons. Last year they tore up the competition in the league and went to Zone and State as a major contender.
“Last year we were nearly undefeated at conference meets with both the boys and girls teams and broke the school record for the men’s 200 medley relay,” said new coach Shelby Ruff.
Ruff had much to say on the upcoming season and her plan to get more swimmers to State and bring home more awards.
“This season we’re going to fine-tune technique and get everyone to master or learn at least one stroke they don’t normally swim. Hopefully, this will round out the team and we can get more people qualifying for state in their individual events,” said Ruff.
The team is going into this season with all new coaches. These coaches are ready to prepare the team to compete and get some Ws.
“This year we have an all-new coaching staff with myself and Jennifer Yetter. I can’t speak to how the program’s philosophy has changed as a result because I’m new to the league, but we are already focusing on discipline and technique. The main thing is making sure athletes practice like they want to compete both physically and mentally. I think everyone would like to see us consistently outswim Tahoe and Truckee because those are the closest meets,” said Ruff.
Ruff is excited to see what the upcoming season brings.
“With the way swimming is structured, every race counts so I can’t single anyone out. Starting open swim in December has helped both the returning athletes and the new swimmers make huge improvements in the last few months so we’re starting the season ahead of where we’ve been in the past. I think we’re on track to have a lot of regional, and hopefully state, qualifiers this year. It’s exciting to watch!” she said.
BASEBALL
Baseball had a disappointing season last year, but they are ready to learn from their mistakes and take on this season.
“We finished 5-23 and in last place. It was the first season in years that we did not qualify for the playoffs. To say the least, it was a disappointment, especially considering the talent we had on the team,” said head coach Ron Espinola.
Concerning their goals for the season Espinola said, “We need to keep things as simple as possible and that starts with putting forth our best effort each day.”
The team has a few new coaches this year including Dee Mendez, Levi Carl, and Pat Donovan. Espinola knows just what the team needs to do to have a successful season.
“Our main competition is ourselves. We need to not beat ourselves. Last year we found a lot of ways to lose games. If we can eliminate mistakes we can turn those losses into wins. As usual, the league title will go through Fallon as they are the defending champions. Elko and Spring Creek should also be at the top of the league,” said Espinola.
The team has a lot of returning athletes to assist in making the season successful. Espinola shared, “We have a large senior class that returns from last year. In addition, many juniors are new to the team and will make key contributions.”
SOFTBALL
Softball made it to regionals last year, but the season came to an end there.
“We had a pretty good season last year. We fell to Fallon by one run in a heartbreaking loss in the regional playoffs,” said coach Tyrell Lucas.
Despite that they are ready to go into the new season with a new JV coach this year, Austin Mayo.
“We are welcoming Austin Mayo to the coaching staff. We are excited to see what he brings to the team and the different ideas he has to offer,” shared Lucas.
Lucas shared that their biggest competition this season is, “everyone. We plan on taking everyone seriously as it’s a new year with new players. We plan on beating everyone.”
The team has two returning seniors among other returners.
“We have a handful of girls returning but our two seniors, Ashlee Barron and Caitlynn Cooper, have been on varsity since their sophomore year and I’m expecting them to come out and play their hardest and be leaders on the field,” said Lucas.
GOLF
Most of the last golf season was put on the shoulders of the seniors and the freshman used it as a learning year.
“The season was a tough fight. We had to learn to integrate two freshmen into the four seniors and then to try and get the freshmen who didn’t travel trained for this year,” said returning sophomore Zane Fifield.
The team is hoping to place high enough in Regionals to qualify for State.
“Our goals for the season are to place at least fourth because most teams also lost seniors and that will put us into state,” said Fifield.
Coaching this year is Todd Milton who also coached the girl’s golf team in the fall.
“So far it doesn’t look like our philosophy is going to be much different from last year, but we are going to have to be well-behaved this year with Milton,” said Fifield.
The boys are at a possible disadvantage because they only have one returning senior and the rest of the returners are sophomores, but the team has their goals set and they are ready to achieve them.
“Our key returning players this year are the freshmen from last year. We had seven freshmen last year on the team and all seven are coming back out again to contribute to the team. We also have a senior returning to the team in J.W. McDade,” said Fifield.
