With the absence of Coach Loughran, the indoor track team is very short staffed due to multiple coaches quitting and moving. The cross country season was finished with the help of the middle school coach but now with indoor coming, a new co-head coach is needed.

Stepping up to fill in, Gerald Hertzler has agreed to coach indoor track this year. Hertzler already has 20 years of coaching experience here at HHS and is specialized in distance.

“I was approached about the position to take them through indoor,” Hertzler said. He will be Co-head coach for indoor but will be focusing on the distance team.

“There are other sprint, jump, and throwing coaches,” Hertzler said.

There are a few different reasons that Hertzler decided to take up coaching again.

“I ran track and cross country through high school so it’s in my blood from that. I also like the objectiveness of it,” Hertzler said. Running sports are different from all others because even though every athlete runs their own race, the scoring is based on the team, making it a team sport even though the same teams athletes compete against each other at meets.

“It is a team sport with an individual aspect,” Hertzler said. Keeping that in mind, Hertzler plans on to see improvement in all athletes regardless of ability and to make the team better as a whole.

Goals for the team this season are simple; in addition to individual improvement Hertzler wants to see the team win conference.

“Then [we will] give out best run at regions and get some athletes to the state meet,” Hertzler said.

With a change of management, we can expect to see some differences in the team and how it is run.

“We are just going to see how it goes,” Hertzler said, He doesn’t know how the team used to be run but knows that with it will continue to do so even with the loss of the majority of the coaching staff.