Blazers’ program continues to grow in numbers.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
Addison Trail girls track coach Dave Pytko is enjoying a record turnout this season.
Pytko noted the Blazers program now features 55 track and field athletes.
“We have a plethora of kids at different age levels,” he said recently. “We have 55 kids on the roster and that’s more than we’ve ever had. When I started we had 12. We are growing. We’re definitely going in the right direction. For example, our distance group is much bigger and better than it had been in the past and that’s another huge difference. There are probably 16 to 18 kids there and that definitely gives us flexibility in events. We don’t have to run kids in a lot of events. They can do one or two instead of three or four and that definitely makes a difference in how the girls perform. Of the 55 kids, the majority of them are probably new. That means about 30 kids are brand-new to the sport. They are learning how to race and learning how their body responds to competition and they are learning about training. They are learning how to race. Instead of having just a mindset of running, they are learning what goes into a race.”
Pytko saw progress earlier in the indoor season as the team headed into the conference meet.
“We started off slow, but we picked things up,” he said last month. “Things started coming together for us. We’re a little farther along than anticipated. We have a lot of things finally coming together. We had a meet at the beginning of the season at York and it was not good. We also had a meet at Willowbrook where we didn’t come close to what we wanted, but we did have some good things happen.”
The Blazers took third on the varsity level at their own AT invite, while the JV team took second in the same meet.
“We’re seeing a lot of growth,” said Pytko. “Going from York at the beginning to our invite, they did very well. We also competed at Morton and took seventh out of 14 teams and we didn’t have some of our top athletes.”
Addison Trail’s JV team, despite having athletes moved up to help the short-handed varsity, took fifth at Morton. “If we didn’t have to make changes to the varsity lineup we would have taken second on the JV level,” said Pytko. “That’s how strong our frosh-soph group is right now. They are going to help us at the varsity level at some point during the outdoor season.”
Addison Trail once again will be led by the likes of standouts Lauren Kroll and Klea Gjonaj. “Both of them are doing a really good job in our sprints,” said Pytko.
Sophomore Natalie Diaz has been a help for the Blazers in the distance events. “Our sophomore distance runners have been the biggest surprise,” said Pytko. “Times are dropping week by week. They are learning how to race.”
Pytko also has been pleased with the progress of junior Giovanna Scarabaggi, freshman Julia Swierzb and Alex Nava. “Giovanna has done a great job with our jumps,” he said. “She’s a natural. She’s learning the jumps. I think she’s done an outstanding job and I think we’re going to hear more from her. Julia is our freshman hurdler. She’s done an outstanding job with the hurdles. She’s learned how to race at a high level and she’s learning how and when she needs to turn it up. She’s learning about the intensity of the varsity level. Alex has turned it up the last few weeks. She’s proving she belongs. She thinks she can make a big contribution to the team and I don’t disagree with her. She’s running the 200 and 400 and working the hardest sprints there are. She’s another one who has done a good job.”
