PLYMOUTH – On Saturday, three athletes from Plymouth will walk out on the track at Bloomington to take on 26 of the best athletes in the state in their event in the state track and field state championships.
Somewhere in the neighborhood of 370 schools compete in the state tournament — each with multiple entries in each event. Just surviving that competition and making it to the finals is quite a feat in itself. Nicole Horvath in the discus is making her second trip to state after winning regional competition at South Bend St. Joe. Joining her will be Rachel Crawford, who won the 400 at St. Joe and also qualified in the 200, but scratched from that race to be fresh to challenge in the 400. Joining them will be sophomore CeCe Robinson, who placed second in the shot at St. Joe.
“In the entire state, each event gets 27 participants, so just making it to the state is pretty impressive,” said Plymouth girls track head coach Jeff Kindelan. “The fact that we got three (state qualifiers) this year is awesome. My goal was to get at least two. The two I thought would make it made it and then we had another get in. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I’m really not surprised where these girls are right now.”
While Horvath and Crawford were favorites to make the cut, Robinson seemed to come out of nowhere to earn her state trip.
“I kinda like being the underdog,” said Robinson. “I was seeded fourth going into regionals, so I knew I had to beat a lot of people, and I PR’d (personal record) four times. I PR’d by two feet. It was an excellent time to peak.”
Kindelan — in his first year as head coach at PHS — also teaches chemistry and is the assistant cross country coach. He coached boys track the past three years at Clay High School. This is his first year coaching girls track. He inherited a good group of athletes and his three state finalists in particular.
He knew Crawford from Plymouth’s cross country team, but his two throwers introduced themselves early in the season.
“The first day of practice, we were going to do this endurance event and they were leading the pack,” said Kindelan. “I was still trying to put names with faces at that point and they said ‘well we’re throwers’ and I thought they’ve got to be pretty amazing athletes to be leading the endurance runners.”
Horvath’s feels her second trip to the finals will be an advantage.
“Last year was my first year at state, and I don’t think I did terrible but I don’t feel I did as well as I could. So in my mind I feel like I choked,” said Horvath. “It’s nerve wracking. You’re down there with 26 of the best throwers in the state and it’s intimidating. I think I was intimidated and scared. I think it’s an advantage this year because I know what to expect.”
It’s been a nerve wracking ride for Kindelan as well.
“The toughest thing for me is figuring out when do we start peaking?” he said. “I have an excellent assistant coach Gary Fribley who’s responsible for our throwers. He has a lot more to do with their success than I do.”
He added, “When do we start getting faster and faster and that’s a very nerve wracking thing. What you want early season is endurance and try to not have a ton of speed because most people can only be really, really fast for a couple of weeks and then they start losing their edge. So that whole process of ‘do I get them ready for sectionals?’ and ‘do I get them ready for regionals’ or ‘do I get them ready for state’ — I guess we’ll find out on the third if I gambled properly.”
Crawford has a specific goal in site for the weekend.
“I’m excited for people to compete against and push myself,” said Crawford. “I’m hoping I can break the (school) record. I do a lot better when I have somebody to chase.”
Kindelan is hoping that the experience will be something other runners will share with his three qualifiers.
“If we can get to where its a habit to take some athletes to the state it will become a lot less intimidating,” he said. “These three are such great competitors and I think when we get down to the state they are going to step up.”
