Gardner leads Trinity’s young team

• Paul Gardner

AP Photo Dickinson Trinity senior Paul Gardner and three other seniors lead a Titan group that has a high number of juniors and freshmen.

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The Dickinson Trinity boys track and field team has four seniors, but it’s the non-seniors who are expected to be the team’s big competitors this season.

It’s the beginning of April and the Titans have already competed in their first outdoor track meet.

“We had a meet last week in Hazen and saw some pretty nice things,” Trinity head coach Craig Kovash said. “Some kids performed really well. Kids like Paul Gardner, who is a returning state qualifier in the 800. It’s very encouraging things to see early on in the season.”

The four seniors Trinity will be leaning on heavily this season are Paul Gardner, Brandon Sickler, Mitchell Kovash and Christian Stockert.

“We have couple seniors up there that we can kind of look up to,” Trinity sophomore Nick Klug said. “We’re hoping that they can lead us and some of the young guys can step up toward the end.”

Klug won the high jump at the Hazen meet with a height of 5 feet, 10 inches. The mark was a personal record for the sophomore.

“It was pretty good,” Klug said. “Last year, I went 5-6 and PR’d by four inches. Everyone else did pretty well. We just have to keep on improving.”

Gardner finished first in the 800-meter run, an event in which he qualified for the Class B state meet last year. The senior said he was proud with the work the Titans put in during the offseason.

“It definitely did show off right away,” Gardner said. “We came out and won a couple different events. It definitely showed that we were definitely ready early on.”

The other two returning state qualifiers were Mitchell Kovash in the pole vault and junior Ben Gordon in the javelin.

Other juniors looking to make an impact are Mitchell Meyer, Alex Binstock, Robert White, Cody Heiser, Dylan Gress and Jacob Degele. Binstock won the 3,200 in 11 minutes, 37.82 seconds, which was 38 seconds better than runner-up Josh Enget from Beulah.

“I think the younger guys have really stepped up,” Gardner said. “They’ve really surprised me on how well they have progressed. I know they definitely have room for improvement and they can definitely go a long way. I have especially high hopes for the young guys on the team.”

Along with the juniors are a heap of freshmen: Cole Wilelmi, Sam Sherer, Jon Volk, James Gordon, Cole Beck, Coltyn Nelson, Gavin Fitterer, Jace Kruger, Easton Brost and Brett Mortenson.

“We have a good mix,” Craig Kovash said. “We have some seniors that are obviously going to be our leaders for us this year. We have a nice class of juniors and we have a really big class of freshmen.”

The coach said the more the season progresses, the more the freshmen will play an important role in the team’s success.

“They are going to be better and they are actually going to be some big contributors for us,” Craig Kovash said.

Gardner said the one factor that has been pleasant contribution this season is the weather.

“It’s a great help to have good weather,” he said. “We could get an early start and start doing things on our own. It’s just been good the whole time.”

Tags: high school track and field, trinity titans, sports