The 2018 track and field season didn’t begin as Warrenton Head Coach Steve Wurtzel had planned.

There’s a chance he could be without his top hurdler and top jumper for the entire spring thanks to a pair of injuries, and Wurtzel is looking to his underclassmen to help fill the void.

Senior triple-jumper Rylie Cox continues to battle a back injury that ended her basketball season in December, while junior hurdler Allison Tonioli is scheduled to have surgery on her foot next week that should leave her sidelined for 10-12 weeks. 

Both athletes also ran in the 800-meter relay last season.

“It’s been a rough year for her,” Wurtzel said of Cox. “She’s been trying to stay positive and optimistic, and we have 12 weeks to get there. Hopefully we can get her back fully healed and confident, because she wants to race and compete. Tonioli was another big one, and this is the first time I’ve had to deal with two top athletes being out like this.” 

Despite those losses, the Warriors still have a pair of returning athletes who should compete for spots on the podium at the state meet.

Senior high-jumper Sabrina McRoberts qualified for the state meet last year with a jump of 10 feet at the sectional meet in Mexico.

“She’s shown some great leadership so far, and we know what she’s capable of in the high jump,” Wurtzel said. “Then we had her throw a javelin the other day and she might have some promise in that event too. She could be a key piece of the 4X4 as well. We have five or six kids who could end up in that race, so we’re going to change that lineup and see if we can get the right lineup for state.”

Senior Kayla Nelson is the only returner who competed at the state meet last season, finishing 13th in the shot put (34 feet, 6 inches).

“State was a good learning experience for Kayla last spring and she’s going to build on that experience,” Wurtzel said. “She broke the school record late in the season last year, so there’s nothing that’s going to stop her from progressing further.”

Other notable throwers include sophomore Miranda Nelson and junior Breanna Wielms, as well as newcomer Kassidy Haller.

“We are looking forward to seeing Miranda build on what she threw last year as a freshman,” Wurtzel said. “She just missed going to sectionals last year in the shot, so she has some easily attainable goals.”

Wurtzel seemed enthusiastic about his freshman class as a whole.

“We have some good newcomers coming up,” he said. “Emma Lewis is a freshman who had a good cross country season, and she’s shown some good determination and wants to be a good distance runner. Morgan Frye has a lot of speed, and was able to get a 13.6 in the 100-meter dash in the eighth grade without hardly any training. Grace Bostick will be a top hurdler, and she’s another one of those speedy kids. She will help us in the 100 and 400, too.”

Wurtzel said fellow freshman Allison Gerard  will help this season as well, and he believes he has the pieces to replace the talent that graduated.

“What we lost in Emma Housewright we gained in Frye,” he said. “What we lost in Courtney Richardson we gained in Bostick, and what we lost in Andrea Poole we gained in Lewis.”

The Warriors begin their season Friday at Lebanon, and Wurtzel said his players and staff will use the first part of the season to figure out what works best.

“You have to be able to fight through adversity,” he said. “It’s like what me and Coach (Greg) Williams say about basketball: The system is in place and the training is in place. Now it’s about putting in the athletes and seeing what happens. But the constant is the training philosophy, the workouts and the expectations. And as long as you’ve got that, it doesn’t matter what kid it is. It matters how much desire and willingness to compete that kid has.”