The Arrowhead boy’s varsity track team kicked off the 2012 season with their first practice Monday, March 5^th.

The Warhawks have a lot of returning athletes from the 2011 team—who placed second at state less than a year ago. With experience aplenty and great senior leadership, the guys are confident in what they can accomplish.

“I’m feeling confident. We did lose some key components that we need to fill. But overall we have a lot of kids returning which will be good” said senior Sean Berendes.

One of those components is sprinter Nick Abresch, who is out after suffering an ACL tear this winter.

Senior distance runner Kyle Lewin feels the same way about the teams’ chances: “I feel confident that we will be state champs this year.”

Many of the track athletes have been training all winter in preparation for the season. For the sprinters, it has been a combination of specialized sprint workouts including inclined runs, weightlifting, improving flexibility, and core strength.

Lewin and other distance runners trained with lengthy runs specific to their events. He also says he’s  focused greatly on strength training this winter.

Seniors Jamahl Wright and Berendes say their off-season training consisted of running and lifting with a tight group of athletes, which they’ve named the ‘Core.’

The team looks to repeat as Classic 8 Conference champions after a strong showing last spring with multiple first place finishes. Senior Mitch Panton edged out Waukesha West’s Nick Tehan (as a junior) by three tenths of a second to take the 200m dash finals.

In conference, Ryan Adamski, a current senior, finished number one in the 800m dash. The always dynamic duo of current senior Russ Sandvold and junior Ben Bierman, went one-two in the 1600m run. And Lewin took the 3200m run and Brandon Mortenson the high jump. The team tallied a total of 186 points.

The Warhawks were runners-up ate State to a strong Brookfield East side with 39.33 points.

Russ Sandvold brought home the gold in the 1600m run with a time of 4:12.98.

Some other schools to watch out for this year are Whitefish Bay and Brookfield East. The Warhawks have their first meet on St. Patrick’s Day (3/17). They travel to UW-Whitewater for the Nelson/Daniels Classic.

Athlete profiles

Kyle Lewin

                Events- 1600m run, 3200m run

                Season goals: “to finish top 3 in 3200m run at State.”

Sean Berendes

                Events- 4x1 relay, 4x2 relay, 4x4 relay, 400m dash, 200m dash

                Season goals: “to win in state, break 50 seconds in the 400m dash.”

Mitch Panton

                Events- 4x1 relay, 4x2 relay, 4x4 relay, 400m dash, 200m dash, 100m dash

                Season goals: “to win state, break 3 relay records.”

Jamahl Wright

                Events- Long jump, 4x1, 4x2

                Season goals: “to win state, get 4x2 relay team to state, break school long jump record.”