Kentwood TC (MI)

Team Website / NTN Profile

Top Athletes: Isaac Cox (distances), Jon Henry (sprints), Robbie Rix (pole vault), Tori Brooks (jumps), Chris James (hurdles), Mohamed Mohamed (sprints), Deshawn Nelson (jumps) and Nate Smith (throws).

Team Strengths: In the most unique situation out of all the teams at Nike Track Nationals, Kentwood TC is not allowed to compete with any non-senior runners due to state rules.  However, with tremendous depth on the squad, Kentwood is ready to roll and will still contend for the national title.  Strong across the board, athletes like Isaac Cox (distances), Jon Henry (sprints) and Robbie Rix (pole vault) will challenge for very high finishes in their respective events.

Key to Success: While extremely strong on the track and in the field, the key to success for Kentwood is their ability to have Deshawn Nelson (long jump) and Nate Smith (discus) PR in their respective events.  All the other events have athletes scoring very well, however, these two aren’t scoring as high, so a couple additional inches for Nelson, and a couple additional feet for Smith on their PRs would take this club to the next level.

Q&A with Dave Emeott

NTN: Your squad has been one of the top ranked squads in the country all track season. What do you feel your team needs to do in order to bring the national title back to Michigan?

Dave Emeott (DE): I think we are in a similar situation to all the other teams.  Our State finals were almost a month ago so we think is going to be important to tap into some of that top season form we had a few weeks ago.  This meet is a different beast with most athletes only in one event, and no relays.  It will take a lot of focus to be successful.

NTN: The team rolled through their competition this season  showing time and again that they were the best team in Michigan. What have you had your athletes do since the end of the state season to prepare for Nike Track Nationals?

DE: We have continued workouts since the state meet.  We have been fortunate to be involved in a few track meets as well, and this has kept us sharp.

NTN: One of the strong points of your team seems to be that they are very diverse, with athletes capable of putting up some big marks in nearly every event.  Is that part of the Kentwood track and field philosophy?

DE: This is exactly how we set up our team.  We focus on being strong in all events.  At the beginning of each season we evaluate our weaknesses and work hard to fix them.  We are very proud of the fact that we qualified for our state meet in 14 of 17 events.

NTN: This team is loaded with experienced athletes.  How do you feel their experience will play into their success come July 2?

DE: Because of our state rules we are forced to use senior only competitors.  In the beginning I saw this as a weakness because we are leaving athletes with better marks home.  However, I have seen where this may help our team, having all seniors can work in our favor just because of all the experience we bring to the meet.  We are hoping to compete well on July 2nd, we plan to compete hard and enjoy the trip.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.