By Lee Davis
Homewood’s budding girls track dynasty added another blue trophy to its mantle in early May, as the Lady Patriots won their third consecutive outdoor title. The Homewood boys brought home the second-place trophy.
First place finishers for the girls included Jasmine Griffin, who won the 400-meter run, Elysa Griffin, who took first place in the long jump and Caroline Lawrence, who took top honors in the high jump. The foursome of Griffin, Lawrence, Ann Moseley Whitsett and Madison Kirkwood won the 4×400 meter relay.
In boys competition, Andy Smith claimed the championship in the 1,600-meter run, and Sean Conboy won the 800-meter dash. The foursome of Pierce Jackson, Paul Selden, Will Stone and Tucker Wilson won the 4×800 meter relay.
All the recent success makes it easy to forget that there was a time when the Patriots hardly made a ripple in track and field. All of that changed in 2005-2006, when Tom Essingler was named head track coach.
“Homewood always had a lot of potential,” Essingler said. “It was just a matter of getting all the pieces in place.”
The new coach made a strong beginning, taking the Patriot boys to the state indoor title in his first season. Sustaining the success required much more.
“It really began at the middle school,” Essingler explained. “The coaches there did a great job of getting the kids to come out for track. At first there might be as few as six kids. Then the number was up to about 20. Now we have more than 100.”
Essingler also said support from the school administration was a key. “The school was willing to make a commitment to track and help bring in qualified people to make sure our athletes get the individual attention they need to be their best,” he said.
And now Homewood’s winning way feeds on itself, according to the coach.
“The new kids coming in understand the tradition we’ve built and want to be remembered as the ones who continued the legacy,” said Essingler. “We’ve developed a mindset where we expect to win.”
