The Riverside Panthers track & field teams begin their 2022 campaigns with areas of focus and improvement for each with some notable individual athletes set to return. For the boys, defending their WPIAL championship streak will be a point of focus under their new head coach while the girls have high expectations as well and hope to contend for section and playoff titles.
RIVERSIDE BOYS TRACK & FIELD
The four-time defending WPIAL champion Panthers Boys Track & Field team will be led by a new face this spring.
Chelsea Kordecki takes over as Riverside head coach after the retirement of longtime coach Chuck Kotuby last year.
Kordecki coached with the track program for the last nine years and has worked alongside Kotuby and Winfield and their staff during that time and looks forward to continuing the legacy of Kotuby.
“Coach Kotuby set a great example of expectations and goal setting and that is exactly how I plan to continue to coach this team,” says Kordecki. “We have a seasoned staff working with us, and I push to learn from them every day in order to continue the legacy Kotuby began.”
The Panthers have won four titles in a row but and will have several returning athletes competing this spring whom placed at last year’s WPIAL individual meet.
Notably, senior Ty Fluharty, who returns for a senior year.
The distance runner most recently finished 2nd overall in the 2021 PIAA Class-A Cross Country Championships and also has set several marks in 800m and 4×400 relay events last spring.
Fluharty plans to run at Buffalo University, but not before one last showcase in PIAA Championships according to Kordecki.
Joining Fluharty in relay events will be Brody Barton, who will finish out his senior year in the hurdles, and Alden Wetzel, a junior, who has returned from an early injury and will be of great value to several areas on and off the track.
The Panthers graduated one senior from the championship 4×400 team last year [Colby Belczyk].
Kordecki sees another promising season ahead and hopes to return to Shippensburg with another standout group.
“I expect another WPIAL title,” says Kordecki. “We have many returning seniors that understand what it takes to reach this goal and have been putting in the work to achieve it.”
Determination and work ethic are influential to all the underclassmen and has been evident in the performances thus far says Kordecki.
The coach is hopeful for key underclassmen/newcomers to have impressive introductions but the team has experienced a handful of injuries to start the year, so it will be a slow start for several events.
Kordecki wants the team to treat every meet as a stepping stone to team playoffs and states and never give in to reputation or rumor.
“Anything can happen in any event that can turn the meet in a different direction, so we will continue to prepare each and every day to get us back to the championship/podium where we belong,” concludes Kordecki.
The team will look to continue its rich successes that now include 15 straight years undefeated in the section, setting WPIAL history with the most WPIAL AA Track and Field championships with seven and being the only AA school to win four straight WPIAL team championships.
It surely was a special way to end a coach career for Kotuby, and a baton now passed on to Kordecki.
RIVERSIDE GIRLS TRACK & FIELD
Sydney Hale and Jordan Chesko will lead the girls’ track and field squad this year under the guidance of head coach Royann Winfield.
Hale was fifth at the state championship last year in the discuss. Chesko went to the state meet in the high jump and placed 12th.
Both will have higher expectations this season according to Winfield.
“We expect them [Hale & Chesko] to do even better this year.”
Hale has signed with Akron to continue her athletic endeavors.
The 4×800 relay team missed going to the state meet by a second and, according to Winfield, the girls have worked really hard and should make it back there this year.
The team also has some areas to focus on improvements.
“We are strong in the distance, hurdles and throwing events,” says Winfield. “But we lack depth in the sprints and jumps.”
Mohawk and Shenango are the top two teams in the section.
“We expect to contend for the playoffs and section. We have a lot of quality girls who should make it to the WPIAL Championships and the PIAA championship,” concluded Winfield.
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