Season Preview: English boys’ track ready for improvement

An inexperienced roster lacking sufficient depth typically adds up to a consistent struggle, particularly in high school track, and the Lynn English runners can attest to that notion.
Under the leadership of first-year coach Oren Wright, the youth-laden Bulldogs finished the 2014 season without a win (0-6). But this year should yield much better results.
?From a team standpoint, our roster had low numbers but the kids were always competitive,” said Wright who reflected on a mutually trying transition period.
?I?ll have to take some of the blame for those losses as there were certainly some growing pains,” he said. “I?m sure I did things completely differently than my predecessor (John Walsh) so the guys had to readjust to that on the fly.”
Depth doesn?t figure to be much of an issue this season for English, who despite losing eight seniors will welcome back a pair of key juniors as well as a strong sophomore class.
With Chris Lessard, Peter Matu and Josue Perez lost to graduation, junior Daekwon Shepherd returns as the lone member of the Bulldogs 4×100-relay team which qualified for States last spring.
Shepherd will compete individually in the 100-meter dash and the long jump as well. Fellow junior Andy Choun returns as the elder statesman of the 4×400-relay squad along with sophomores James Cabral and Kevin Francisco.
Additional underclassmen contributions are expected from Hugh Calice in the hurdles and triple jump, Dan Calnan in the shot put and Nathan Nop in the 400-meter hurdles. Senior C.J. Hernandez will compete in the high jump.
?This is a much deeper group of athletes this year with several capable of performing at an extremely high level in several different events,” said Wright.
That depth and versatility will be key for the Bulldogs this year.
?Everyone is willing to be plugged into wherever it is the team needs them to be,” Wright said. “It?s amazing seeing such unselfishness from these kids day in and day out. If a teammate is straggling, there is always somebody who stops to help them out. This team?s heart and attitude is unbelievable.”
Such positive vibes might seem hard to come by given the uncooperative weather this winter which pushed back English?s season-opening meet to Tuesday at Salem.
?It?s been tough on the kids for sure,” said Wright of the unsuitable outdoor running conditions. “We?re finally back outdoors so I have to credit the kids for making all the necessary adjustments needed to get through the offseason.”Matt Fraser can be reached [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at@MattFraserDI.