Newcastle’s Dogies are off and running again

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Dogie men placed second at the 3A East Conference meet in 2020, and though the squad lost some strong competitors to graduation, head coach Kathy Beehler was quick to note that she has some strong runners returning. 
“We definitely lost some of our top runners, but I’m super excited about who is coming back, and who we have coming up as freshmen,” she declared. “They are hard workers who are driven and motivated and it’s just going to be a fun season. I think it’ll be one of those years where we are going to see improvement each and every week.”
The Dogies graduated Carson Bock, Zach Purviance, Bridger Alishouse, Gunner Ramsey and Conrad Prell from the boys, and Alaina Laurence and Lara Lopez from the girls.
Returning to the men’s squad include seniors Avery Chick, Mathew Drake, Travis Scribner, Zade Orsborn, Max Makousky and Tristan Troftgruben. There are no junior athletes, but two sophomores will return, Teegan Hatheway and Wyatt Cole. Finally the men will add eight freshmen to the squad from whom Beehler is expecting some great contributions. 
“I’m pretty excited because I feel like our seniors are really strong and then we have some pretty good freshmen coming in,” Beehler nodded. “I feel like as the season progresses, we are just going to get better and better.”
The Lady Dogies didn’t have enough numbers to compete as a team last season, however this year Beehler is excited to rectify that situation. Junior Janaya Ralls and sophomore Tara Carter are returning, while five freshmen, also a talented rookie crew, are coming in to fill out the roster.
“We have a team!” Beehler exclaimed. “I expect them to do really well because they are looking strong already. Aspen [Baird, ninth grade,] is running up with our boys right now and Tara has been running all summer. They are just all working really hard.”
Last season, the incoming freshmen teams both won their conference meet as eighth-graders, so Beehler admits she has high hopes for them to transition to high school competition pretty seamlessly.
“Generally, I usually put freshmen in the JV or freshmen division early in the season, but I’m thinking that I’ll have some of them run varsity right away,” she said. “If some are too nervous at first, we may ease them in, but I have a lot of confidence in them to compete well at the varsity level.”
Travis Scribner was a little late to join the team in practice as he returned late last week from basic training, however the state makes an allowance regarding the 10-practice requirement for cases such as this.
“Travis has been working hard at basic training all summer,” Beehler said. “We are so happy to have him back and our team is so proud of what he is doing to help lead our country and our team.”
The coaching staff had some changes as well from last season. Beehler is returning as head coach while Jessica Troftgruben has transitioned from middle school head coach to assistant high school coach. As such, Troftgruben’s vacancy in
the middle school is being filled by Nikki Bloom.
The Lady Dogies and Dogies start their season off with their only home meet of the year Friday at the Newcastle Country Club golf course. The varsity men will run first with start time scheduled for 9 a.m. They will be followed by the varsity girls, then the combined JV team and finally the middle school boys and girls will finish off the day. 
“It’ll be a good meet and a good start for everyone,” Beehler concluded. “I’m excited to see how the kids compete!”