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There are three seasons in high school athletics and Josh Welch is now familiar with all three.
The long-time track coach took over the boys’ cross-country program this fall.
This winter, he is in charge of both the girls’ and boys’ indoor track teams and mentors the girls’ outdoor track team in the spring.
The turnout for the boys’ indoor track program has been good with 28 currently signed on. Only four of them are seniors.
Austin Adams, Charlie Caggiano, Gavin Grant and Joel Koleszar will be the only ones departing the program due to graduation in the spring.
Caggiano, like his coach, is a three-season running athlete with outdoor track being his favorite due to the size of the team and the opportunities the outdoor season presents.
Indoor track tends to be a little more intimate.
Caggiano is more of a distance-type runner. That will be the strength of the boys this year as he is joined by the likes of juniors Christian Menounos, and Colton Sallum and Koleszar, the senior.
Menounos set the Woodstock Academy record in the 1000 (2 minutes, 36 seconds) last winter which Welch believes is about eight seconds off the state record in the event.
Sallum’s mile time has gone down to 4:36 and Welch thinks that could drop into the 4:20 area this season.
He needs to improve 10 seconds to own the school record.
Other athletes who could make a difference include Anthony Beaudreault who has put in a lot of offseason work and Welch feels could be a solid sprinter and 300-meter runner and could even be made into a hurdler before all is said and done.
In addition to having only four seniors, the Centaurs also have only three other juniors besides Menounos and Sallum, Michael and Eli Susi and Aidan Kane.
Caggiano also pointed to freshman Ronan Curran and Bronson Eddy whom he feels have a lot of potential. Caggiano will be focused on the 1000 and 1600-meter races this season.
The boys’ team opened the season on Saturday with an ECC meet where only individual achievements counted as no team scores were kept. Sallum had a good day as he was a dual winner. The junior recorded a personal best 4 minute, 32-second time to win the 1600m and also captured the 3200m in 10:24.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
From left: Joel Koleszar, Gavin Grant and Charlie Caggiano will all be integral parts of the Woodstock Academy boys’ indoor track team. Photo by Josh Welch/Woodstock Academy.
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