Warriors Track Team Young, But Improving

Although it's still early in the year, the King Philip indoor track teams are holding their own.

Unfortunately the results don’t really show in their records – the boys are currently 0-3, while the girls are 1-2.

“We’ve had a lot of really close meets, but it has been tough on us as we’ve had someone important missing for every meet,” KP Coach Julie Nievergelt said. “In my eyes we’re looking good, but its hard to tell when you’re running on the Franklin track, as it’s so much different than Reggie Lewis.”

In the early going, Nievergelt has gotten strong performances from freshman Owen Gonser (2-mile), Nick Roberts (600 and 1000) and junior Chris Allen (mile) for the boys, and junior Hannah Beaulieau (2-mile) and freshman Katie Lukes (mile) for the girls.

While Roberts has placed in every meet thus far for the Warriors, Gonser is closing in on qualifying for the states. The first-year runner for KP is currently fourth in the Hockomock League in the 2-mile with a time of 10:28, and needs to lower his time to 10:25 to advance into the state tournament.

Allen has been a phenomenal runner in the mile, posting a time of 4:38 while running in Franklin. Nievergelt is convinced that the junior can drop his time to around 4:20 at the Reggie Lewis Center.

For the girls, Lukes is a top-six runner within the league and has already qualified for the states, but will not be able to participate due to prior commitments — her family will be on vacation.

“Her goal was to make the cut, and she did that,” the coach said. “As a freshman, she’ll have many more opportunities to take part in the states.”

Like Roberts for the boys squad, Beaulieau is also a lock for finishing in the top two for the female Warriors. She has also qualified for the states in the two-mile.

On Monday, KP had six athletes capture first place in their respective races at the Paul Davey Freshman/Sophomore Meet in Franklin.

Grabbing top honors for the boys were sophomores Connor Chipman (50 meter hurdles with a time of 7.6) and Austin Gatcombs (mile with a time of 5.07). Freshman Gonser not only took first in the two mile, but also set a new meet record with his finish of 10:52.4.

For the girls, it was Lukes (mile in 5:46), Ashley Avery (300 in 46.7) and Ellory Lyons (high jump clearing 4-6) taking top honors at the meet. Lukes was a mere 5 seconds off the meet record and could have possibly eclipsed it had she and the coach known how close they were.

Amongst 10 teams participating, the Warriors came away with most first-place finishes giving Nievergelt something to smile about.

“It was a great overall day,” the coach said. “It’s very exciting for the younger kids to get this opportunity to be in the spotlight. It also gives me an idea to what the team is like. This is a very strong young team and in two years they’re going to be phenomenal.”