Lady Apaches track team eyes state berth

Years of building and “reloading,” as Gonzales head girls track and field coach Cully Doyle likes to put, has led to another strong start for a Lady Apaches group eyeing a spot at the state track meet this spring. The talent is there. And with many area and regional qualifiers returning, the Lady Apaches have high expectations, as they should.

“To recap, coming off of last year, our goal is nothing less than to win a district championship,” Doyle began. “That’s our goal every year. We fell short behind Wimberley last year but, not to take away, and that’s not my standard, it’s OK to be second. But the standard is we’re going to go beat those teams. Now we have a chance to do it again.”

“I want to get more girls not only the regional meet but the state meet,” he added. “We take a lot of pride in taking kids to regionals but we take a lot of pride getting kids to state. We got multiple kids that can get to state. In the distance races, the hurdles, the sprints, the throws, the jumps, it’s just a matter of staying healthy, having a little bit of luck along the way and just keep working hard.”

One athlete to highlight is Gonzales’ lone state qualifier, junior thrower Devon Williams. Williams qualified in both the shot put and the discus throw.

“She really bought in last year in drills and doing things, it was really nice to see her progress,” Doyle said. “I really don’t expect anything less from her. She set the standard. We had the standard with Ericka [Hernandez] and the girls before her but we take the field events serious and we want to keep that tradition going. Devon is definitely going to be a key point for us and we want to work with her.”

Doyle noted that there were other throwers in the program that have done great so far, including Alyssa Ramirez who took second in district behind Williams.

“Sometimes the number two and three girls get lost in the shuffle, even though that’s pretty good, but they get lost in the shuffle when somebody goes to state,” Doyle explained. “I don’t want to take away from that because those girls are good, and they’re fighting for spots.”

Other names to look out for include Maggie Barnick, Shelby Davis, Tyla and Johnna Dalton with their jumps, Katie Blundell on the pole vault and, as Doyle noted with the amount of success they had during the cross-country season, their long-distance runners in Veronica Moreno, Stephanie Reyna, Krystalynn Buesing, Kaylin Ramirez, Jordan Williams and Krisanta Esquival.

“The distance races and the field events, we definitely expect to try to take care of business in those,” Doyle said. “The girls are working really hard there.”

Depth is going to be the key for the Lady Apaches to be successful as a team this spring. Although the seventh-year coach didn’t name anyone in particular, he noted there was a strong freshmen class coming in that’s doing well.

“I’m super excited about the depth, once again,” Doyle touted. “The only way to win is to have depth out there. We were second behind Wimberley last year, we beat some good teams, we beat La Vernia, but we were second behind Wimberley and we want to try to match that. Wimberley is not in our district this year but La Vernia is going to come on strong, we know that, they got a great class of athletes. Cuero’s got a great class of athletes. For us to be able to match them and top them, that’s where are numbers are going to shine.”

Speaking of depth, Doyle pointed out that the team can be strong in other track events, where Madison Singletary and her “God-given speed,” as the head coach points out, could be something to look out for from the sophomore.

“She’s got a lot of natural God-given speed,” Doyle said. “I believe in her and want her to see that before it’s too late. She’s a sophomore and we do expect big things out of her.”

Madison Blundell, Maraiah Mathis and Peyton Ruddock are other athletes who will be counted on for events such as the hurdles.

With the amount of depth the Lady Apaches seem to have, Doyle and the coaching staff will have to decide on how to build everyone up meet after meet. With a roster of over 60 athletes, Doyle expects to take it one meet at a time.

“As much as I like winning, winning is not the emphasis for a whole team track meet on those days,” he said. “I might pull a kid right before the race. I might now run three kids, I might not long jump three kids, I might not high jump three kids. That would be my decision because I got to determine what’s important for this week, how hard did we really go at it the week of and what’s to come over the next two weeks. So I got to determine those things and see if it’s really important for so-and-so to run the 100-meter hurdles today because her legs are sore, I’m going to rest her and just run her in the 300s. Those are decisions we got to make.”

One example Doyle pointed out was Moreno, who he believes can win every two-mile race she competes in. But is it important for her to win those races in February or March? Or does the emphasis needs to be on building her up to make sure she’s ready for the district meet. Those are the types of decisions the coaching staff need to make in order to get as many athletes to the state meet as they can.

Speaking of the coaching staff, the Lady Apaches return the 2017-18 sub-varsity cross-country coach of the year Kevin Johnson, who’s been a huge asset to the program, according to Doyle.

“We got a great coaching staff,” Doyle said. “Coach Johnson, he’s running that charge, really proud of him as well. Got a new assistant, if you will, Coach Rachel Tucker. And I want to brag on the junior high coaches. Coach [D’Laine] Easley is doing a great job, really proud of her. I really expect big things out of her. She’s a learner. She soaks things in. She’s very knowledgeable. It’s an opportunity for me to learn with them as well. Jill Gonzales and Jessica Aguilar, those are fun to be around that are hungry to help this program be successful.”