Woodstock Academy senior Kenneth Birlin is working hard this indoor track season.
“He’s really trying to get somewhere down near the 1000-meter and the 800-meter (school) records,” said first-year indoor track coach Josh Welch.
The current school record holder in those events?
Josh Welch.
“It would be kind of cool to train him to beat them. I don’t know if he’s there yet, but we’re going to try,” Welch said.
Welch is a 1998 graduate of Woodstock Academy.
“It’s pretty cool,” Welch said of coming back to his alma mater and coaching the sport that he excelled in while attending Woodstock Academy.
Welch left for a short time and then returned, working for the Hyde School for 15 years until it shut down and the facility was purchased by Woodstock Academy.
Some chose to stick around.
Welch was one of them and he currently teaches physics and algebra.
But when he is not in the classroom, he’s out on the track.
He was an assistant coach for boys’ and girls’ cross-country in the fall and now takes over for Nicole Brousseau as head coach of the indoor track program. He will be assisted by the two cross-country head coaches, Joe Banas and Peter Lusa.
Welch said it was only fitting that during his transition between Hyde and Woodstock Academy that the cross-country team that he was a part of was inducted into the Woodstock Academy Alumni Athletic Hall of Fame.
It was during the golden years for the sport at Woodstock Academy.
“There is this aura of (former Woodstock Academy track coach) Mike Lunt, Bob Mondani and company where a lot of the records changed. The whole board is late ‘90s, early 2000s and I would like to start adding on to that. Mike and Bob were a great combination. They worked together in cross-country and then Lunt took over in winter and spring and they communicated well together and had a good plan for kids.|” Welch said. “Looking at how I trained under those guys, I turned into an 800 runner which really helped me bring my 5K stuff down. I’m doing three seasons now, so it will be good to have some consistency across the board with Banas and myself and Lusa is helping out which is awesome. So we will have a trio of guys, at least for a while, which will really help.”
Both the boys’ and girls’ indoor track teams have 27 athletes currently for the indoor season with a good mix of events covered.
Those numbers are a bit better than last year, probably due to the influx of some cross-country athletes. Welch is still trying to get some football athletes and athletes from other offseason programs who want to stay in shape over the winter while helping out the program’s fortunes.
Birlin and cross-country teammate, Ethan Aspiras, will be two of the key performers for the Centaurs in both middle and long-distance events.
“I haven’t done indoor before so coming into the season with a coach that I know is really nice,” Birlin said.
The work that Birlin is doing now is in preparation more for the spring season, than the indoor season, in his quest to overtake the school record.
“I’m very confident that I can. I’m just trying to get in better shape during indoor so I can do (break the marks) in outdoor,” Birlin said.
Other key performers include Danylo Ntamwemizi and C.J. Burrows, two football players who are coming along nicely in the shotput in their first year with the program; Lucas Couture will compete in the pole vault as well as the sprints and hurdles while Gavin Savoie is working in the sprints.
Like Birlin, junior Julia Theriaque has some pretty high aspirations this winter.
Hers are in the high jump for the girls indoor track team.
“I would really like to win the (Eastern Connecticut Conference) championship, I got second last year and I’m also shooting for the school record (in the event),” Theriaque said.
Theriaque has also been working on the hurdles.
Senior Ivy Gelhaus will run either the 300 or 600-meter and some relay events.
“She has come out pretty fired up this season. She was a little more casual last season, but is putting in the work this year. She looks very promising,” Welch said.
Meg Gohn and Aria Gianfriddo will be the top distance people for Welch while Sydney Couture will compete in the pole vault.
“We want to see how many we can get to qualify for the states. I don’t know the competition well enough (in the ECC) to know how we will do as a team right now. We don’t have as big a program as some of the others who tend to be huge so we’re focusing on individuals,” Welch said.
Indoor track schedule:
 Dec. 19:  at Tantasqua Regional (Mass.)    5:30 p.m.
 Dec. 22:  ECC Invitational (at Coast Guard)      9 a.m.
 Dec. 29:    at ECC Invitational (at Coast Guard)       9 a.m.
Jan. 2:   at Tantasqua Regional (Mass.)      5:30 p.m.
Jan. 5:    at Univ. of Rhode Island Invite    9 a.m.
Jan. 9:  at Tantasqua Regional (Mass.) 5:30 p.m.
Jan. 12:  at E. Coast Invitational (at Providence Tech)  9 a.m.
 Jan. 16:  at Northbridge (Mass.)  5:30 p.m. 
 Jan. 26:  at Bacon Academy Invite (at New Haven)   9 a.m.
 Feb. 2:  at ECC Championship (at Coast Guard)   9 a.m.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy

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