The NWN sat down with head coach Christopher Vivone to discuss the boys’ track and field team and his expectations for the 2014 season.
NWN: How did the team do last year?
Vivone: I believe we ended up third in conference, last year. Went top 5 at sectional. We had two relays and five individuals make it down state. And we had two Allstate athletes and Matt Henry in the 300 hurdles.
NWN: How do you hope the performance level will at be this year?
Vivone: I would hope that we’re right up there battling for conference- that’s always our goal. We’ve got the talent, we’ve got some really good guys. The problem is, we don’t have the depth. So if one guy goes down due to injury or eligibility, that might put us behind. But if everyone stays out and stays healthy, we’ll have a pretty good team.
NWN: Who are the leaders on the team?
Vivone: Seniors Denis Gargovic, Matt Henry, Ben Henry, Louis Reinemann, Isaac Reinemann, Sergio Dorado, Jimmy Holbrook, Chris Cadet and Wilfred Atade. And junior Theo Beck.
NWN: What kind of training are the guys put through?
Vivone: The first two weeks are like a base training: basic conditioning. And then the sprinters, they will go into a speed development phase- real short stuff but real fast, working the fast switch muscles. Distance, they’ll do a series of training sessions also but theirs is definitely different than sprinters. They’re more working on endurance and speed endurance, where the sprinters are working on straight speed.
NWN: What would you say makes the boys track and field stand out as a sport?
Vivone: I would say number one is our work ethic- I would put our work ethic up against anybody. the kids have really bought into working hard and that’s one thing we’ve all taken pride on: working hard.
NWN: Who are you looking forward to compete against?
Vivone: I would say it’s always against Evanston. Since we last won conference they’ve reeled off them in a row-I’d say they won the last 6 or 7. The conference goes through Evanston so that’s our goal: is to compete against and beat them.
NWN: What are you expecting from the guys this year?
Vivone: I expect the guys to work hard and I expect really good things to come at the end of the year. I expect that we should get multiple events down in state. That’s the expectation around here.
