Coming off a win at the Oldham County Kickoff Classic on Mar. 22, the defending state champion Rocks are picking up where they ended last season. A mixture of experienced seniors and talented underclassmen, the team is building on last year’s success, which culminated in state championships in five events — all won by 2018 graduates.

Gallery • 22 Photos

photo by Andrew Cawood

The defending track and field state champion Rocks are continuing their winning ways.

Looking to Go Back to Back

by Julian Pirtle, Staff Reporter

Back to back — a phrase that fits Trinity’s track and field team’s goal for this season.

Going into the 2018 season Trinity was seeded third in the state, behind Louisville Male High and St. Xavier. The week before the KHSAA Class 3 A state championship meet, Trinity was seeded first and projected to win by a landslide. The Rocks did dominate, winning with 87 points, 27 higher than the runner-up.

The amount of growth the team had from beginning of last year’s season to end of last year’s season happened due to the amount of work the team put in. Despite losing most of the athletes who won six events at state, the Rocks are looking to repeat.

The Rocks are led by seniors and juniors Jack Baum, Shane Williams, Nick Michels, Nick Stauble, Deke Hook, Nick Lewis, James Moore, Elijah Moore and Julian Pirtle, among others.

The team members have a number of things in common: they are hungry, humble and not satisfied with only one state championship.

Despite practicing last year at Walden and this year at Waggoner, the Rocks, including head coach Scott Holzknecht, don’t make excuses.  Holzknecht said, “Not having a track isn’t a good excuse to not do our best.”

Having lost a number of talented athletes, among them double distance runner champion Trevor Warren and high jumper Robbie Springfield — both now at the University of Kentucky — this year’s team continues to rely on their work ethic.

Jump coach Barry Swearingen said,  “This year’s track team may not possess as much God-given talent as last year’s, but I see the way these men have trained in the preseason. If they continue to dig the whole season as much as they have now, there’s no doubt in my mind we will be a top contender in this year’s state meet.”