Numbers game for boys track

by Eric Keppeler
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, April 21, 2007

It’s not easy to build a program, but now Randy Lombardo gets to take a crack at it.

A former standout in several sports at Lewiston-Porter, Lombardo now tries to put together the boys track team as varsity head coach after spending last season in charge of the boys junior varsity squad.

So far, the team has about 30 athletes, and Lombardo says the biggest challenge is trying to figure out how best to use the talent he has on hand.

“It’s hard,” Lombardo said. “That’s not a lot of kids, but it’s enough so that it takes time to see what they can do. Right now, we’re juggling the athletes around to see where they can benefit the team the most.”

He’s got a very talented core group that he can use in almost any event.

The Lancers are solid in the sprints with Zach Eoute and Jake Wasneechak competing in the 100 and 200. Eric Kramer, Nick Ventrilla and Ethan Duncan all return to run the 400 and the 800, joined in that latter race by Chris Guard. Going in the 1600 are Jason Carminati, Paul Schultz, David Grabowski and Guard, while Carminati and Schultz are the team’s top two-mile men.

This group gives Lombardo several good options for the relays, along with a few others. Right now, it looks like Eoute, Wasneechak, Anthony Zito and Eric Tower in the 400 relay. The 1600 team has perhaps the most options, including Kramer, Ventrilla, Grabowski, Guard, Schultz, Carminati and Duncan, as well as Adam Lyle and Terry Seyler. The 3200 relay squad will include Ventrilla, Kramer and Duncan, and either Carminati or Schultz.

The athletes, for their part, are eager to go wherever they can best help the team, Lombardo says.

“They’re very spirited and close, and they want to do well,” he said. “They really try to do whatever they can to help each other out, and that will go a long way towards making us more successful.”

The Lancers welcome back a pair of veterans in the hurdle events in Matt Yarger and Seyler. Yarger will run both hurdles, while Seyler also will compete in the high jump and the pentathlon.

A lot of the same names turn up in the field events, as well.

Zito and Wasneechak will handle the long jump, while Grabowski and Kramer join Seyler in the high jump. Eoute and Grabowski are the triple jumpers. Kramer joins Seyler in the pentathlon, while Tower, Zito and Schultz are the pole vaulters.

In the shot put, senior football standout Peter Violante will throw left-handed after injuring his right shoulder, joined by Taylor Crystal and Nick D’Amuro. Violante probably won’t throw the discus this year, so that event falls to Crystal and D’Amuro.

All in all, Lombardo knows he’s got some great building blocks for his program.

“I think we’ll be competitive,” Lombardo said. “The kids on this team are hard workers and they’re determined to do well.”