Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
As he enters his 20th season as the head coach of the Northwood track program, Jeremy Lewin is excited about the potential of his two squads despite low numbers on the boys side.
The girls team is highlighted by athletes such as sophomore Emily Reichow, junior Haleigh Baker, and senior Monica Penaflor.
Reichow and Baker finished 1-2 in the pole vault last year at the TAAC Championship. Penaflor finished second in the 100 hurdles, and the 4x800 relay team also finished second.
Lewin said his girls team is approaching nearly 30 individuals, and the veteran team has a lot of talent.
“A lot of kids have several years of experience in several events, which gives them all the reason to hope for a really, really good second or third year in the track program,” he said. “We have a lot of really good kids coming back.”
As a senior, Lewin said Penaflor has been doing really well getting ready for hurdles.
“She spends probably three days a week working hurdles and two other days a week just working on sprints,” he said. “She had a really good junior year, so I'm looking forward to seeing what she can do.”
Baker is someone who has developed a high level of focus this year.
“Haleigh has kind of been that girl who I could just kind of put into a place to fill a spot on a relay the last couple of years,” Lewin said. “This year, she really wants to focus on her pole vault and running the open four. She's expressed high interest in focusing on those events to try and really solidify her spot on the team. Haleigh is a very determined young girl. She’s adamant about getting better and improving her stats from last year.”
Reichow, meanwhile, is a part of a talented group of underclassmen on the girls side.
“She is going to be great this year,” Lewin said. “She's just a ridiculously hard worker and strives to do the best she possibly can in anything she does. She's fantastic. These young classes, these sophomores, freshmen, and then a few of the juniors are going to help us have a really good season.”
One of those younger athletes is Kayla Shlegel, who is a freshman 400m runner.
“As an eighth grader, she ran a 1:02 in the 400, which is just flying,” Lewin said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing what she can do for herself in an open against some high school competition, and then putting her in the relay and going from there. She’s a very determined young woman.”
Some other standouts include Mia Calvillo, who runs the 100 and 300 hurdles, Ryan Arthur, who runs the 200m and was part of the 4x200 team last year, and Marissa Gutekunst, who is a sprinter in the 100 and 200.
Calvillo also helps in the relays, as well.
“(Mia) has put in a little bit of extra work this offseason, gotten a little stronger in the weight room. Ryan (is the) same thing. She was new to us last year. She kind of took to track pretty well, and she did a lot of work this offseason. She has already shown signs of significant improvement, so I'm looking forward to seeing what she can do.”
The depth in roster size really has Lewin looking forward to the season.
“A school our size, as small as we are, to have 30 girls on the team is pretty significant because I have more to work with,” he said. “I don’t have to max out events for girls, and that gives kids more opportunities to focus on individual events they really want to do and then maybe a relay or two.
“A girl like Emily Reichow can focus on the pole vault, and I can put her in a couple of relays. I also have a girl named Olivia Eischen. She is a sophomore this year. She loves high jumping and wants to just run relays. So she wants to focus on the high jump and that's great. She'll do sprints and run and do the high jump. I can do that because we have so many girls.”
Typically, Lewin fields a roster in the low 20s, and adding even five or six more makes a big difference.
“I have a couple of new faces I'm kind of curious about,” he said. “I got some new throwers on the team, and some juniors that have been kind of coming up the last couple of years. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do as far as relay teams.”
Greene headlines boys roster
Senior TaeVe’ion Greene, who won the 110 hurdles, finished second in the 300 hurdles, and finished third in the high jump at last year’s TAAC Championship, will headline a smaller boys roster.
“We have 14 on the roster right now, which is unfortunate and much, much lower than we usually have, but it gives kids like TaeVe’ion the opportunity to just focus on hurdles,” Lewin said. “He's very happy to do that. He's been hurdling for the last six years. He loves it. He's a three-time regional qualifier in the hurdles. One of his goals is to break that barrier and get down to Columbus in one of the two events at least. He's very focused right now, so we'll have to see.”
Junior Gabe Lewin, the coach’s son, won the TAAC pole vault title.
“Gabe is a pole vaulter. It's what he does,” Lewin said. “He will go into any event I ask him to go into, one because I'm dad, but also if I need him to fill a spot for a relay, he will. He is a diehard pole vault kid. That is his event, and he's doing really well. He cleared 13 feet in the winter state meet this year. He was ecstatic about that, and he's looking at going beyond the district or the regional meets, and maybe even getting a chance to go down to state and have a really good end of the season.”
Sophomore Konnor Moyer finished third in the 800 in the TAAC.
“Konnor is a kid who just does whatever you ask him to do when it comes to training,” Lewin said. “He doesn't complain about anything. He just goes and does it. He was remarkable last year. He was a huge surprise for us. We didn't know what we were going to get out of him, and he came out and had a fantastic freshman year. I'm hoping he can improve on that from last year and have a good sophomore season.”
Lewin thinks they will also have enough kids for a 4x800 team, so he’s hoping for a solid effort there. As far as other individuals, sophomore Deandre Curry is running the 100 and 200 sprints.
“He's very fast. He's a very strong kid, and he had a pretty solid freshman year,” Lewin said. “He never ran track before, so he was raw and worked off natural ability. This year I’m looking forward to focusing on his spring training to see what he can do.”
Another sophomore who Lewin said had a good year last year is Mitchel Fowler, who runs the 800m and will probably compete in the 4x8.
Outside of those mentioned, Lewin said they have some new faces and a few freshmen, and he’ll wait and see who emerges from that group.
Overall thoughts
Despite two different teams in terms of roster size, Lewin is excited for this season and said he has great kids on both sides.
“This year there's a huge disparity between both groups where for the boys, there's not a lot of game planning when you only have 14,” he said. “They're going to run their events. They're going to compete in the events that they're in, and we'll see which relays we kind of put together throughout the season. We can mess with it a little bit, but there's not much there to work with.
“We got great kids (though). There’s not one kid here I would trade for anybody. They're just fun kids to work with, and I'm excited for all of them.
“When you go to the girl's side, it’s the same thing. There’s a bunch of great kids. You have 27, 28, close to 30 girls on the team, and you have the ability to mix and match a little bit. Kids can challenge each other that way. If one of the girls didn't make the relay teams she wanted to be on, she can compete for it. The fastest four girls get on the relay teams. And if a girl hops off and has a fantastic week in practice and competition, she can work her way into those teams, and that's what's great about having numbers. You have to game plan. It’s part of it.”
