Evan Marshall returns for his senior season to anchor the state title hopes of the Faith Christian Eagles. Photo by Alan Versaw.
We held off until the new year, but now it's time to talk a little track. In just over five months, we'll be crowning ten teams as state champions. This article is the first in a series that will look at teams that should have some high hopes for the season ahead.
Faith Christian didn't miss a state title by much last spring. With some inspiring late-in-the-meet performances in the long jump and high jump, Hayden Loudenslager brought the Eagles to within three points of a state championship.
But Hayden Loudenslager is gone. Graduated. Ditto for Evan Brekke and Torrey Smith. Caleb Voth moved away. Even so, there should be a lot of fight left in Faith Christian.
Perhaps nowhere else are the possibilities bigger for Faith Christian than in the throwing events. As a sophomore and freshman last spring, Derek McCartney and Grayson Bundick scored six points at state for Faith in the shot put. Those are big numbers for two boys who should have a fair bit of growing left to do. Bundick was also within shouting distance of scoring in the discus.
On a personal level, I'm hoping Kris Lettow is back coaching the Eagles this spring as I think it would be wonderful for McCartney and Bundick to have the kind of instruction few people are as capable of giving as Kris is. Kris's daughter Adrienne, however, graduated last spring and the current version of the CHSAA directory does not list a track coach for Faith Christian. So, at the very least, I'm among those not "in the know" about the coaching situation at Faith. Mr. Lettow, by the way, was a 1980 Olympic Trials qualifier in the discus.
No discussion of Faith track and field 2011 is complete without mention of Evan Marshall. Marshall finished fourth and third, respectively, in the 100 and 200 last spring at the state meet. He anchored two relays to state titles. When you think of the top returning sprinters in 3A, Marshall heads up a short list. Four events is a lot of load to carry at the state meet, but Marshall navigated that responsibility well last spring. If Faith doesn't have the legs for competitive sprint relays this spring, look for Marshall to extend his range to 400 meters.
Distance could be the strongest event area for Faith Christian this spring. While the Eagles were one guy short of a very dangerous cross country team this fall, track only requires four guys for the 4x800. The trio of Sam and Luke Yeager (the latter is a freshman who already posted the best freshman cross country season in all of 3A this year) and Evan Fortney give Faith Christian lots of reason to hope they'll be scoring some serious points from 800 meters on up this spring.
Fortney is more the longer distance specialist, while the Yeager brothers figure to be running mostly 800s and 1600s. Sam Yeager is the top returner in 3A at 800 meters.
Depending on how the rest of the team progresses, the Yeagers could see some relay action, in either the 4x400 or 4x800, or perhaps both.
While Faith Christian has a long history of bringing superior talent to the track, they have not always fielded the deepest of teams. If there's a potential weakness this year, depth figures to be a candidate for that spot. There may be enough horses in the stable with just the aforementioned talent, but the margin of error isn't very big. A nice turnout would have some folks in Arvada smiling. If the Eagles win a state title, it won't be their first. Faith Christian put together back-to-back state titles in 2006 and 2007.