Sedona Red Rock High School can boast the state’s top returning girls shot put thrower in junior Hannah Ringel and one of the school’s best distance runners ever in senior Wyatt Stevenson.

But “potential” is the best way to describe not only the vast majority of the other boys and girls in track and field this spring, but also their ability to improve upon last season’s eighth- and 15th-place finishes at the Division IV state championships.

“More than half the team [is] brand new,” said Harry Schneider, head coach of 29 boys and 23 girls in SRRHS track and field. “We have our ‘studs’ and our state-caliber athletes, and we have a lot of kids to fill in that could have State potential.”

Illness and injury kept 18 of them home from their season opener Wednesday, March 2 — a multiple meet at Wickenburg High School.

Freshman Abby Stevenson is one of the injured, while sophomore State placers Julia Koss, a pole vaulter, and Collier Trcic, in the long jump, are two of the sick.

“Abby is a good sprinter and hurdler,” Schneider said. “But she’s already got a little hip problem, so she’ll just do sprints.”

Schneider doesn’t know how many of them will have shaken “early-season aches and pains” heading into the Scorpions’ second meet Saturday, March 5, beginning at noon at the Skydome Classic in Flagstaff.

But Schneider wants to see, as early as possible, what freshman Evan Favorite, sophomore Angeleah Merchant and junior Mychael Saczalski can do.

“Evan’s such an incredibly raw talent,” Schneider said. “Angeleah’s also an excellent sprinter and tremendous hurdler.

“One of my biggest problems as a coach is changing kids’ habits [with] sprint. There’s different things we work on, and one of them is a right, correct way to sprint.”

Schneider also wants to see what junior Joe Glomski can do in the long and triple jump once he gets over a hip flexor injury.

“He’s brand new,” Schneider said. “He’s probably the fastest kid on the team.”

Junior 100-meter sprinter Xavier Turnbull is still getting into shape after a car accident last month, and senior
800-meter runner Noah Bohme is also hurt.

While Wyatt Stevenson’s younger brother, Dawson, will still be a contender in the high and long jump events as well as a 4×100 relay runner, Schneider is high on early results from senior Nick Malmgren and sophomores Nathan Hoyer and Tennyson Wilson.

“Tennyson looks incredible,” Schneider said. “We know the middle-distance relay is going to be a good team.”

Junior long and triple jumper Chaz Rescigno and senior middle-distance and relay runner Denny Drotzmann could, with time, also leave their marks, Schneider added.

His best hope for a pole vaulter is senior Luke Doerner, while juniors Justin Aleman and Jake Christensen are the top two boys throwers but may still be a year away from State.

But the future is now for the “exceptional” Ringel, who Schneider said will also throw discus with fellow junior Sophia Perry and sophomore Brittney Medel.

“Hannah’s the best in the state in the shot, and she’s going to be one of the best discus throwers,” he said. “So she’s got to get her timing down.”

A knee injury affected Perry’s technique in the high jump, an event in which she qualified for State two years ago.

But Schneider doesn’t want to waste the talent of any other incoming basketball players — which also includes sophomore hurdler Chenoa Crans, junior triple jumper Xan Hawes and senior first-timer Annie Parrella, who Schneider feels will run the 400 meters.

“She’s curious,” he said. “She’s got tremendous natural endurance.”

For more photos, please see the Friday, March 4, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.