HHS alum Tony Villeda give runners encouragement during practice. Villeda has returned to coach during the 2010 outdoor season. Photo by Vanessa Ehrenpreis
Throughout the indoor and outdoor seasons, the track team has relied on volunteers to run meets smoothly and fine-tune jumping, pole vaulting and hurdling skills. Particularly during outdoor track, when the track team nearly doubles in size, volunteer efforts are invaluable in adding to the coaching staff.
“We didn’t have a pole vault coach during indoor, but Tim Bierle, who graduated before I was in high school, coaches us so I can compete in pole vault at meets now,” junior Haley Wenos said. “I don’t know if we would be able to really pole vault well if we didn’t have an actual coach who knew what they were doing.”
Bierle, who graduated in 2006 from Harrisonburg High School, was the state champion pole vaulter both his junior and senior years of outdoor track, was the state champion pole vaulter in indoor track his senior year and holds the state record in indoor competition. He went on to Virginia Tech to pole vault for a year before transferring to James Madison University. Bierle coaches more than ten athletes who are learning to pole vault at HHS.
Returning track athletes make up a significant portion of the volunteers at home track meets, too. Historically, track athletes develop very close friendships with their peers and their coaches which tend to continue long after they graduate from high school. Coach Dave Loughran recruits graduated athletes who are at college close to home or on break.
“Because I go to JMU, whenever there is a home meet, Loughran asks if I can help time [at the meet] or come to help set up,” JMU freshman Liz Klemt said. “I came to as many cross country meets as I could but I haven’t been to any outdoor track meets yet.”
James Madison University freshman Miranda Brewer enjoys volunteering at track meets because the experience prepares her for what it is like to be a coach.
“I want to be a coach after I get my degree,” Brewer said. “I like helping out my old team and seeing the difference in their times from last year to this year.”
Brewer admits that volunteering with the track team is bittersweet, though.
“It [volunteering around the team] makes me wish I had time in my schedule to run at JMU,” Brewer said. “I ran for seven years, from middle school through high school, so track was a big part of my life.”
The state AA track meet, which is held each year at HHS, requires the most volunteers of any athletic event throughout the year. Several hundred volunteers, from current track athletes not competing to past athletes home from college, converge upon the track to run the meet smoothly.
“I’ll be at the state meet,” Brewer said. “It’s definitely the craziest meet of the year.”
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