Lake Central’s Ron Fredrick named Girls Track Coach of the Year

Updated: July 21, 2011 1:29PM

Andrea Alvarez wasn’t really sure the Lake Central’s track team would be able to maintain the program’s winning tradition when this season started.

With seven key performers having graduated — a group that earned 27 letters, including 14 All-State honors — who could have blamed her?

Coach Ron Fredrick saw top performers Dana Payonk, Megan Plenus, Shannen Reynolds, Kate Krull, Kristina Hemmerling, Sam Stewart and Alyssa Markiewicz all graduate.

All of them had to be replaced. It wasn’t going to be easy to make up for the group’s talent and experience.

“The losses we had from last season were very significant — we lost seven girls who lettered every year they were in the program,’’ Fredrick said. “Any time you lose that much talent, it’s a big adjustment. We had many question marks — really right up until the end of the season. Questions like, ‘Who will replace those athletes? How are we going to do in terms of winning and losing? Can they do it week in and week out?’ Only now, that I look back, can I say, ‘Well, yeah, that’s the way it was.”

Alvarez, who competes in the 100, long jump and relays, wasn’t sure how things were going to work out even though the postseason was quickly approaching.

“At the beginning of the season, I was very skeptical, because we had a lot of empty spots to fill and we were looking for a lot of the underclassmen to come in and fill those spots,’’ she said.

“We had to count on the veterans we had returning to perform in their events, and, at the same time, provide leadership for the underclassmen. There were definitely times where we questioned things, but coach definitely had it figured out, so we could peak at the right moment.’’

The Indians ended up going unbeaten through a fourth straight DAC season, won all their dual meets, captured a 20th straight sectional title and won the Chesterton Regional for the third time in the last four years.

Fredrick, the Post-Tribune’s Girls Track Coach of the Year, made a few strategic changes that helped the team make up for some of the points lost to graduation.

Underclassmen stepping up included Parriss Bettis (sprints, long jump); Katelyn Brown and Brooke Lambert (pole vault), Kaitlyn Moricz (long jump), Riley Wayco (high jump) and Tatiana Lazic (distances).

Fredrick moved Isis Thomas — who went unbeaten in the DAC in the 200-meter dash as a junior — to the 400 to add depth. It worked out quite well as Thomas excelled.

Fredrick also subbed Bettis for Thomas in the 200 and took Thomas out of the 400 relay, so she could run the 400 and the 1,600 relay.

After losing two runners from the 3,200 relay, Fredrick replaced them with Lazic and Shelby Carroll.

Aside from the fact LC had only seven state-qualifiers this year — they had 17 in 2010 — it was a successful season.

“I didn’t have a lot of stars, I just had a lot of people who were interested in winning for the team,’’ Fredrick said. “By the end of the season, the people I had plugged into those open spots were doing it week in and week out and were performing as well as the people they replaced.

“This season was great. It was very satisfying the way the girls performed up to their potential. I was very pleased with the way they got after it and stuck with it. This group knew what they had to do. It was a very pleasing season. I was amazed all year as this group met and exceeded my expectations.’’

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