Fairfield Track & Field Preview

The Fairfield Lions track and field programs look to be even more competitive than a season ago, and with a roster of nearly 50 boys and girls athletes combined, there should be a competitiveness to the team this season.

Seniors for Fairfield include Randy Lamme on the boys side, and for the girls, there are Chelsea Copas and Tove Granestrand as the only seniors in the program. There are a total of 10 juniors, nine sophomores and nine freshman on the boys side. For the girls, there are one junior, nine sophomores and seven freshmen.

On the girls team, there is a lot of potential with such a young group of athletes, as head coach Deborah Mangus speaks very highly of her team.

“Sophomore Blake Adams returns having won the league shot put title in the SHAC last season, and our girls 4x800-meter relay finished eighth in the district last season, making the podium with four freshmen who are now sophomores,” Mangus said. “The team consisted of Chloe Barber, Ciara Knisley, Dakota Haynes and Maggie Donahue. Dakota Haynes placed sixth in the 3200m run at the district meet and made the podium as well. Newcomer Grace Shope is expected to contribute to the distance events and 4x800m relay.”

Coach Mangus also spoke highly of the boys team as well.

“Junior Trent Swisher was the SHAC 800m conference champion and is returning this year, and also the SHAC winning 4X200m relay team of Michael Mason, Klay Walker, Devon Haynes and Nick Price are back.

“All the regional qualifiers on the boys team are returning to the team, as they include Wyatt Evans, Trent Swisher, Noah Richmond, Klay Walker, Matthew Mangus, Michael Mason, Devon Haynes, Nick Price and Garrett Spragur. Freshman Brandtson Duffie has shown promise in the indoor season. He is expected to contribute to the team.”

For the FHS program, a big key for this season is the work they did in the winter, including many participating in indoor track, which is a club sport at the school.

“We had the most participation in our third season of indoor track,” Mangus said. “It should bode well for our upcoming outdoor season as we had nine different boys run under 5:15 in the mile, and three boys ran under 10:32 in the two mile. We also had a 4x800m relay that ran 9:05 indoors.

“We expect everyone to work hard and improve on a daily basis. We have adopted the motto ‘Do your job’ for this year. If everyone does their job, we should be a very competitive and improved program.”

Coach Mangus continued to speak about the upcoming season.

“Our boys last year finished second in the 10-school SHAC conference meet, 22.5 points behind Eastern,” she said. “The goal is to compete for the boys SHAC conference crown against the likes of Eastern, Lynchburg-Clay and Ripley.

“The girls finished sixth in the 10-team conference and are poised to move into the upper half of the league this season. We should have a good number of boys and girls qualify for the regional meet and compete for podium spots.”

The future is bright for the FHS program, as they are excited to eventually have their own track facility in future seasons.

“We are excited and thrilled to have use of our own track facility in the future,” Mangus said. “We have had an outpouring of support and increased number in our program each of the past three seasons, and we are grateful for that.

“The board of education, superintendent and athletic director have supported our program and authorized the hiring of Jeanette Cunningham, throws and high jump coach, and Clinton Pelfrey, sprinting and long jump coach, which should make a big difference to our team.”