Girls track team looking to answer its questions

FREMONT – When Ross girls track and field coach Travis Bates looks at his 2018 team, he sees a handful of known quantities.

He knows the Lady Giants will more than hold their own in most of the field events thanks to Olivia DeRodes, AnneMarie Moses and a trio of solid throwers. He sees capable sprinters, such as Jazelle Lindsey and Ashanti Elkins.

But, moreso than in previous years, Bates also sees something else: Question marks.

“We have more unknowns this year than we have what we know,” said Bates, entering his 26th year in Ross’ track program and his sixth as girls head coach.

“We have these younger girls, but all kinds of unknowns, we don’t really know we’ve got there.”

The Lady Giants lost four major pieces to last season’s squad. Sisters Imani and Vanashia Elkins comprised half of the 4×100 relay which finished third at districts, while Vanashia also placed third in the 200. Also gone are Kimberly Hetrick, who ran a leg of the 4×800 relay (which took 10th at districts), and thrower Matallyn Overmyer who finished fourth in the shot put at the district meet.

While the holes left from last year are considerable, Bates believes they can be filled, particularly by the Elkins’ younger sister, Ashanti.

“We lost a lot of points, especially with Vanashia, but looking into the future, Ashanti, a freshmen, she can be really good. We have to keep her from getting injured, she’s had some issues with her hips. Right now she’s healthy and feeling pretty good. She can fly.”

Bates sees Ashanti Elkins as a valuable asset in the 200 and 400 as well as relays.

In the field events, Bates is expecting throwers Marissa Overmyer, Emma Jahns and Olivia Baptista to provide points in the discus and shot put.

“The throwers will have the most depth we’ve had in a while, where we’re going to place in the top half, maybe top three or four, in every meet,” Bates said.

“Throws, for the girls, we have Marissa Overmyer, who I think can be pretty big contributor, who can make it to the regional, maybe state, we’ll see how that goes. Emma Johns, a junior, is really coming along in the shot put. Add to that Olivia Baptista, who has a lot of promise with the shot put. She is a good athlete, obviously, and has some explosiveness.”

Returning for the Lady Giants are their only two state qualifiers from last year, DeRodes and Moses. DeRodes was district champion and third at regional in the high jump while Moses took third at district and second in the regional on her way to qualifying for the state meet.

“I know with Olivia and AnneMarie we can pretty much always count on them,” Bates said. “And Jazzele Lindsey, as a sprinter, if we can keep her healthy, has a really big upside to her.”

Areas that have Bates unsure how they’ll resolve themselves include the short sprints. The 100 dash, 4×100 and 4×200 have the Lady Giants trying to find depth to score points.

The middle sprints and longer runs figure to be the Lady Giants’ strengths. McKela Elder returns for the 1600 and 3200 runs and a young crop of capable runners may be able to relieve Elder from the 4×800 relay and allow her to concentrate on her individual events.

A season ago, Elder, along with Hetrick, Sarah Widman and Ellie Stover finished 10th at the district meet. Widman and Stover return and Bates is excited to see how they can do when paired with freshmen Mara Brown and Madalyn Metcalf.

Perhaps the biggest offseason addition to the Lady Giants will come in the form of new part-time hurdles coach Jennifer Long. Long, who ran at Bowling Green State University, will bring her hurdling knowledge to Janna Sutton and Alexis Prenzlin.

“With (boys team head) coach (John) Elder and (assistant) coach (Mike) Rankin, we were a little more than adequate,” Bates said of the hurdlers, “but with Jen having run it, she knows more of those little things. She’s great.”

Bates and the Lady Giants will be taking the long-view on the season, remembering that an individual meet is just a stepping stone to there they ultimately want to go.

“Our goal is to use the whole season as training and get them to the point where they can do what they do at districts and get the farthest they can.”