By Kim J. Harmon

If the Lady Nighthawks should happen to win their fourth consecutive South-West Conference indoor track championship this season under new head coach Dave Foss, then it shouldn’t stop anyone from recklessly tossing around a word like . . . oh, let’s say – DYNASTY.

Not only will a fourth consecutive championship be unprecedented in the sport, in this part of the state, it will be exceedingly more difficult for the ‘Hawks to achieve such a thing during the 1999-2000 season.

It’s a bad news, good news, bad news sort of thing.

The bad news? The loss of people like Erica Masella, Shannon Elf, Jen Mazur and Kim Snow – who provided not only front-line strength, but depth – will hurt.

The good news? People like three-time individual champion Janelle Tracy, Laurie Miller, Erin Kostecki and Cassie Shewmaker are all returning to the fold and those are four of the best there are in the SWC.

The bad news? Not only are the numbers slightly down, but it also seems as if everyone is nicked up, banged up, or otherwise hobbled in some way.

“We are pretty beat up so far,” said coach Foss. “There are some back problems and some off-season surgeries. But I think they still have a pretty good shot (at the title), even after losing some key people. They are still in the running.”

The girls will be led by Tracy and Shewmaker, the co-captains, with Tracy out in front of a good stable of sprinters. Shewmaker will lead the middle distance runners while Kostecki, off a tremendous cross country season, will anchor the distance.

Miller and Jamie Lindquist will take over the jumping duties from the departed Masella.

And while there are a bunch of hopefuls in the weight events, coach Foss should be looking towards Cristina Poplawski for the biggest impact.

“We’re pretty hopeful,” said coach Foss, “if they can put it all together.”

Numbers Up For Boys

It wasn’t too long ago – maybe four years – when the athletes on the boys’ indoor track team numbered in the single digits. But since then the numbers have steadily increased until this year, the 1999-2000 season, when those numbers have reached a robust 25.

A lot of quantity.

But is there quality?

That’s what coach Foss will be trying to find out during the early stages of the campaign – which starts next Thursday. He is a bit more unfamiliar with the boys and is still trying to put together a picture of what the Nighthawks have.

“Chris Carolan looks to be our top runner and he’s coming off a great cross country season,” said coach Foss, “but I don’t know right now about the rest of the team.”

One thing is for sure, the ‘Hawks will be without their top distance man of a year ago, Jeff Gasparini, who had a tremendous indoor and outdoor track season and will have to adjust in those events with the talents of Carolan, Ryan Ignatius, Dave Rod, Stuart Ratcliffe and AJ Palmer.

Where the ‘Hawks appear to be the strongest, however, is in the sprints.

“It seems like we have a lot of good kids there,” said coach Foss.

Tony Napoleone will be one of the lead runners in the sprints and he will also spend time in the hurdles. Adam Delvecchio will do some sprinting, as well, while taking charge of the pole vault in the field events.