Conference champions return to lead Knights

PALMER — When Colony track and field coach Tom Lincoln looks at his squad, there aren’t as many athletes as he’s seen in years past. But just because the Knights don’t sport the quantity they once had, it doesn’t mean they’re lacking in quality.

A trio of defending Northern Lights Conference individual champions and 10 2009 state qualifiers will lead the Knights into the 2010 season.

“We’ve got some veterans, but we also have a lot of newbies too,” Colony head coach Tom Lincoln said last week.

Senior Matt Jaronik and sophomore Taylor Stewart both return after winning a pair of conference titles last spring. Senior Gaynor Johansen also won a title at the 2009 NLC meet.

Jaronik will lead a boys squad that finished fifth in the NLC last season. The senior, who will play football at the University of Saint Mary in Kansas, captured conference titles in the 200- and 400-meter last season, and qualified for the state championships in four events. Jaronik posted a second-place finish at the Big C Relays in Anchorage last week.

State qualifiers Anthony Bricker, Tanner Enloe and Blake Niver are also back for the Knights. Bricker finished fourth in the 110-meter hurdles at the NLC meet last season and Niver finished fourth in the 300 hurdles at the conference meet.

Lincoln said senior Eric Fan, a three-time state champion for the Colony wrestling team, could be a key addition for the Knights. Fan will throw the shot put.

“He hasn’t thrown a lot, but he’s getting better,” Lincoln said.

Stewart, a conference champion in the long jump and triple jump as a freshman, is among Colony’s leaders on the girls’ side.

“We should definitely be strong again in the field events,” Lincoln said of the CHS girls.

Joining Stewart in the jumps are senior Siobhan Johansen, and juniors Laura Maresh and Valencia McPhail. Siobhan Johansen finished third in the triple jump at the NLC meet last season and Maresh was third in the long jump.

The Knights also have strength in the throwing events. Gaynor Johansen returns as the conference’s champion in the discus. Junior Shellina Irwin finished second in the shot put during the NLC meet last year, and won the event at the Big C Relays last week.

Irwin, Gaynor Johansen, Siohban Johansen and Taylor Stewart all qualified for state last year. Senior Sydney Stewart returns after running the 3,200 at the state meet last season.

Audrey Michaelson is among the top freshman on the Colony girls’ squad.

Colony was off this weekend, after competing in the Big C Relays last week, but will head south Friday to compete in the two-day Skyview Invitational in Soldotna.

** Editor’s note: This is the third piece of a four-part series previewing the Mat-Su Valley 4A prep track and field squads. For past stories, visit frontiersman.com/sports.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.