Midd-West brings young squad into track season

BY JOSH YODER Sports reporter

MIDDLEBURG — Midd-

West will look to improve heading into the 2023 track and field season under head coach Jason Gemberling. Gemberling will be joined by assistant coaches Chelsey Beaver, John Daku, Shayla Heckman and Tom Williams.

“We have had a great winter and it has all of my coaches excited for the start of the season,” Gemberling said. “We have had great numbers at our winter workouts and hope our kids see how their hard work in the offseason pays off.”

One of the contributing factors for the Mustangs this coming season is the confidence level of the athletes coming off of indoor track during this past winter. Confidence has made a massive difference for the team this year as opposed to years past.

“I have seen a huge difference in the approach our kids are taking to the offseason,” Gremberling said. “We finished this season with quite a bit of success and the kids are feeding off of that desire to improve this year.”

Another factor for the confidence boost is that this year’s team is filled with a combination of youth and experience.

Coach Gemberling believes that this will be beneficial throughout the season.

“We are young on both the girls and boys side, but our upperclassmen is a great group of kids who can lead by example,” Gemberling said.

Because of that combination, the Mustangs believe that they can be highly competitive in multiple areas. Though they also hope to help the younger athletes improve throughout the year.

“I wouldn’t say there is any specific area. I think looking at who will be competing for us this year. We are going to have some areas that we will be very strong and some others where our youth will show,” Gemberling said.

But with that being said. Coach Gemberling isn’t too concerned about the inexperience because of the team’s mindset of working hard and looking to get better each and every day.

“Honestly, I am not overly concerned about anything, except maybe Mother Nature,” Gemberling said. “We have a great group of kids, who always show up ready to work. Which to me is more than half the battle.”

Midd-West will face some tough competition from both the boys and girls side of the league.

For the boys, the Mustangs will be up against teams like the returning

Division II and District champion Lewisburg Dragons. On the girls side, they will be having to deal with Milton who is also coming back as Division II as well as District champions.

However coach Gemberling feels that the PHAC itself could be anybody’s game and it should be fun to be a part of it.

“Our league and district is always extremely strong. Overall, Lewisburg and Danville are always strong. But the other teams in our league will all have strong areas of their teams,” Gemberling said. “For me, dual meets and tri-meets are just a great opportunity for our