ARGYLE — Track and field coach Steve Chancelor remembers his first year at Argyle vividly.

The fifth-year boys head coach was leading the Argyle track program — boys and girls — and had 17 athletes combined.

Since girls coach Kathi Olson’s arrival a year later, Chancelor has just concentrated on the boys and this year he took 55 boys to the recent District 8-3A track meet, which the Eagles won by 77 points over second-place Decatur.

The girls won the meet by an even wider margin (95.5) than the boys, as both teams won their first district track championships, and now both teams go to Odessa to begin the Class 3A Region I track meet today with hopes of adding to their trophy cases.

“When you see the numbers and the intensity of the workouts come up, yeah, it’s really gratifying,” Chancelor said. “It makes me feel good that the program’s turning around.

“Last year and this year we’ve gone from hoping we make it to regionals to knowing we’re going to state, and that’s the mindset that’s taken over. For a long time it was, ‘Let’s just try to get kids out on the track,’ then it was, ‘Let’s try go to regionals,’ and now it’s, ‘Let’s go to state and do well.’”

Olson said with both teams’ strong senior classes, it was almost inevitable that 2008 would be the breakout year for Argyle’s track programs.

“I’m glad it happened,” she said. “I think it would’ve been weird if one and not the other won. It was one of those things that it was meant to be and we were both supposed to do that well this year. … It was good that it happened in the same year so we could celebrate it together.”

Relays rule the roost

On both the boys and girls sides, the Eagles are paced by their relay teams. With the relays counting double points in the team standings, both teams could be looking at adding regional championships to their resumes this weekend.

Chancelor said he sets up his entire team around the 400, with some runners dropping down to run the 200 and others going up to the 800.

On the boys side, the 4x400 relay has a bit of redemption on its mind.

A dropped baton at the regional meet last year spoiled the Eagles’ chances at possibly winning a regional team championship and a definite trip to the UIL state meet in Austin.

The team is anchored by Garrett Hughey, who signed with Houston earlier this month and finished fifth in the state last year in the 400. Chancelor said his athletes haven’t forgotten about what happened last year.

“I think there’s some hunger there,” he said. “I know for me there is, and I’m assuming there is for them. We would’ve been first or second, and dropping the baton was earth-shattering to all of us. You work that hard and long to get to that point and you drop the baton and it’s devastating.”

The girls 4x400 team finished fifth in the state last year and returns all but one runner, but has found a more-than-capable replacement in freshman Dixie Kurrus.

The 4x100 and 4x400 teams are both entering the meet as district champions.

Senior Leah Woodson, who’s been to the state meet twice in her career, anchors both relays for the Lady Eagles and said both relays are expecting success come this weekend, but especially the 4x400, thanks mostly to the team’s chemistry.

Aside from Kurrus, JoJo Fletcher, Jessica Bonfield and Woodson have been friends for years and have competed on the varsity volleyball team together for the past three seasons.

“Me, Jessica and JoJo have always been close,” Woodson said. “We’ve always been friends. Run-ning with them is just easy. We have good chemistry on the track.”

Freshman finding her way

What Kurrus has done on both relays, along with fellow freshman Michelle Kuckelman on the 4x100, is pretty phenomenal in itself, but she hasn’t stopped there.

The freshman will also be competing this weekend in the 100, which she lost by one one-hundredth of a second at district, and the long jump and triple jump. She’s going in the long jump as a replacement after finishing fourth in district by 1 1/2 inches.

Olson said Kurrus has surpassed expectations by going to regionals to compete in five events.

“She has done a tremendous job,” Olson said. “As a freshman going to regionals in five events, that is a really big deal. She’s one of those kids, kind of like Leah and JoJo, that they’re just good at everything. They make such a contribution to the team. In the future, I know she’ll be the anchor in a couple of relays and I know she’ll be a big asset in the coming years.”

Argyle ruling the distance

Olson has been without her top runner over the past few years, Kristie Krueger, for much of the season because of a foot injury. But Krueger won the 800 and the 1,600 at district in dominating fashion and will look to add to her state titles in the coming weeks despite running a new event (the 800) and ditching the 3,200.

“It’s been weird not having her around,” Olson said. “She goes to rehab on a daily basis. It’s been weird because I’m so used to having a guaranteed 20 points because she’ll win her two events, so that was hard on the team aspect of winning meets.”

On the boys side, Argyle is equally dominant in the distance events with the top three finishers in both the 1,600 and 3,200, led by Blake Woolums, who finished second in the state in the 3,200 last year and is this year’s cross country state champ.

Woolums’ main competition all year has been his teammate, Stephen Curry, which can’t be a bad thing.

“I do have the best times in the region but I’m feeling pretty confident with regionals,” Woolums said. “My biggest competition is probably my own teammate, and he’s been right on my heels all year, but he hasn’t quite beaten me yet.”

ADAM BOEDEKER can be reached at 940-566-6872. His e-mail address is aboedeker@dentonrc.com .

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