For those of you who don’t really pay attention to spring sports at Elder, you are missing out on a hidden treasure on our track and field team: shot put and discus.

Anchored by all-star seniors Karl Lengerich and Jake Siry, the team is looking to make some serious noise in the GCL this year, after losing one of their most valuable players last year in AJ Burdine.

Currently, they are stacking up to be a big threat to the rest of the GCL, with newcomers Colin Rodenberg and Joe Isham, as well as returning throwers Riley James and Logan Hutzel.

I think shot put and discus are two sports that definitely get overlooked by the vast majority at Elder students who are totally focused on March Madness and the upcoming Reds season. Track meets are a cheap way to do something cool on Saturday mornings.

Junior Logan Hutzel told me that he expects the team to be competitive again this year.

“I think we’ll be pretty solid. Without Burdine we’ll struggle a little it, but we have Lengerich and Siry to back us up. I also have high expectations for new incomer Joe Isham this year.”

Isham told me that even though he’s new he can still see this team going a long way.

“We’ve got a pretty solid team. We’ve got Leingrich and Siry at shot put, Colin Rodenburg and Jake Bono at discus. I’m not really sure how we’ll do, since this is my first year, but we’re a really strong team and I believe that we can definitely compete with anybody out there.”

Newcomer Colin Rodenberg had nothing but good things to say about his discus team this year.

“They’re just a bunch of great guys you know? They work hard, and they all enjoy what they do. I can’t really say how I think we’ll do, since this is my first year, but they’re just all around some great athletes, funny guys too.

Veteran thrower Riley James is very confident in his team’s chances at GCL this year.

“I think we should be fairly decent. We’re led by Karl and Jake and we have a great class of juniors. We should compete very well at every meet and I think we could be looking at Karl and Jake both going to district and possibly regionals. Junior- wise we have Logan Hutzel and Steve Ashworth leading us in shot and Noah Poland and Jake Bono our top discus guys. I don’t think I will be as good as them this year, but I will be competing at JV and they will compete at varsity. Of our sophomores, we have Alex Mastruserio and Sam Florian, who should be pretty decent this year. Our only flaw would have to be our lack of freshman.”

If you’re lucky enough to go to a track meet this spring, be sure to stick around when the hard working throwers of Elder High School step up and show the GCL what being a Panthers is all about!