LUCKEY – Eastwood’s boys track and field team is the two-time defending state champion in Division II.

But winning a third straight state championship isn’t the Eagles’ major goal this season.
Instead, Eastwood is stressing daily improvement and concentrating on winning its 11th straight Suburban
Lakes League championship.
Once the league meet is completed on May 14, the Eagles will turn their attention to the post-season.
Eastwood also was second in the state in 2008 and has finished in the top 10 at state in six of the last
nine seasons.
"You don’t need to put that kind of label on the kids and the team," Eastwood coach Gary White
said when asked about the chances of winning a third straight state title. "But we do have a great
group of kids and we’re going to surprise a lot of people."
This season’s team will have a different look. No longer do the Eagles have the dominant individuals
they’ve had in the past.
Eastwood won last season’s state title with just three athletes, who combined to score 38 points in the
state meet.
Justin Welch won the shot put and the discus, Cody Seifert was second in the 100 and third in the 200,
and Nick Twining finished fifth in the 800.
Welch and Seifert graduated and are competing collegiately this season, Welch at Georgia and Seifert at
Kent State.
"We’re not sure about winning state again, but we’ll be better than everyone expects," said
Eastwood senior Nick Twining, who finished fifth in the 800 at state last season. "We’d like to win
it again after winning it the last two years, but our first goal is to win the league and then we’ll see
what happens after that.
"Our goal is to be peaking for the end of the season, and our coaches do a great job of making sure
we’re doing that. Our workouts are designed for us to be at our best at the end of the season."
Although the Eagles don’t have the dominant individuals, they’ll still have a deep and talented team.
Eastwood returns 96 of its 139 non-relay points from last season’s SLL meet, including three champions –
junior Kyle Schlumbohm in the pole vault, Twining in the 800 and senior Taylor DePew in the 200.
The Eagles return 25 lettermen, including 13 seniors.
"We will be more solid from top to bottom than we were last year," said White, who is in his
23rd season. "That may not translate into a great district team or a great regional team, but we’ll
be very solid from top to bottom. We have a good core group of returning kids who are working
hard."
White believes the Eagles could have several relay teams qualify for state, including the 1,600 team that
returns Twining, Depew and senior Darrin Goodman.
"Rather than try to get a bunch of individuals to state, outside of the ones we know who have a
chance, we’re looking to get a number of relays to state this year," White said. "We think we
can have some awfully good relay teams who can go down there and score some points. That’s neat, too,
because you get a lot of kids involved with relays."
Twining, Depew and Goodman ran on Eastwood’s 1,600 team last season, finishing 12th in the regional at
Lexington High School. The top four finishers in the regional qualify for state.
The Lexington regional usually is the toughest of the four regionals in Division II, and athletes who do
well in the Lexington regional often place in the top eight at state.
"Those three guys are pretty hungry with (Twining) leading the way. They feel they can be one of the
top four teams at Lexington," White said. "If you can do that at Lexington, you’re probably
going to be on the awards podium (top eight finish) at state."