High expectations for 2015 track season, distance leads way

As the 2015 Track and Field season approaches, there are high expectations for the New Berlin West team. Last season, the girl’s team took the conference championship and several individual events, and both boys and girls qualified for the state meet; their goal is to have a larger showing this season.

But this season comes with an obstacle for the program as a whole, as nine year head coach, Matthew Ische, will not be returning to coach this season. Tim Rodiez is the new head coach and has big shoes to fill.

The teams distance coach, Catherine Kowalski, described Ische’s coaching style as quite “competitive and intense”. When asked how she feels about this coaching change, she stated how things are going to be “different” when it comes to this seasons outlook overall as Rodiez is more “laid-back” and places the power in the athletes to “push themselves” to be better and achieve greatness. But change isn’t always a bad thing and this transition will definitely not stop this team from succeeding this upcoming season.

While the coaching style may be slightly different than the past seasons, their goals as a program are still set high. As the distance coach, Kowalski has high expectations for each of her athletes this season. For the girl’s team, Kowalski believes taking the conference championship again this season is one of the main goals for the team.

From the distance runner’s standpoint, Kowalski has high hopes of having a 4×800 team heading to the state meet, held in La Crosse, this year. She also, has much confidence that Grant Marton will be a state qualifier for the boys 800m race and has the potential to break a school record for this event. In addition, Kowalski believes Sarah Meleski, Madeline Egan, Emily Sydlowski, Jamey Devine, Claire Radtke, and Allie Maniscalco, will be key assets to the distance team this spring season.

Kowalski has been coaching Track and Field for 13 years now and when asked to describe her coaching style in as few words as possible, she said, “intense, challenging, and supportive”. Kowalski pushes her athletes to be the best each and every practice and expects the great things to come from her athletes throughout the entirety of the season.

Practice for both the boys and girls team begins on March 9th as the Vikings will compete is their first indoor meet on March 18th on their home track.

Kowalski stated that this group of athletes has “much potential” and will achieve greatness this 2015 season.