Lynchburg-Clay High School track coach Shawn McLaughlin said the LCHS boys track team is looking to improve on last year’s successes with a well-balanced approach.
“Last year, both boys and girls teams finished second in the league, so going into this year, we’re hopefully going in the right direction,” he said.
Lynchburg-Clay’s main goal this year, McLaughlin said, is for both the boys and girls teams to win first in the league and place in the state meet.
McLaughlin said the team is at a record size this season.
“We’ve got the largest track team we’ve had in probably 15 years,” he said. “We have 58 kids on the track team this year – 29 boys and 29 girls. We’re definitely a growing program. We have to take two buses to track meets this year for the first time.”
Zac Carter, a returning senior, was a regional qualifier last year in the 100-meter dash, and a regional qualifier and league champion in long jump and high jump. McLaughlin said he has a good chance of closing out his high school track career with a repeat performance.
“I would think he would be able to return in all three of those events this year,” he said.
Bobby Merry, another senior, will perform well in middle-distance and distance events this season, as well as relays. Merry was a regional qualifier in the open 800 last season, and McLaughlin said he expects him to do the same in relays this time around.
“He can do just about anything,” McLaughlin said.
Senior Brandon McCammon is also set for a solid year in the 1-mile, open eight and relays, according to McLaughlin.
Seniors AJ Stroop and Trevor Lindsey will bring some muscle to the field in throwing events this season, McLaughlin told The Times-Gazette.
“Trevor didn’t get to do a lot last year because he had some seniors in front of him,” he said. “AJ has placed in the league in shotput and district, and he’s gotten stronger already… I know I can definitely say we lost our school-record-holding discus thrower, so I’m really counting on my throwers to step up in discus.”
McLaughlin said he’s looking forward to watching Carter jump while a new crop of freshmen and sophomores come into the picture.
“I would say our greatest strength is probably with Zac in the jumping events,” he said, “but we are very solid all the way through sprinting, distance and field events… There are a lot of fresh faces on the team – new freshmen and sophomores that will come in and improve the team as a whole as well.”
Reach David Wright at 937-402-2570, or on Twitter @DavidWrighter.
