On the heels of its first conference championship in recent memory, El Dorado’s girls’ track program went into last week’s 5A State Track & Field Championships believing it had an outside chance of shocking the field.
Injuries, most notably to junior sprinter/jumper Carshaila Rozier, dampened those expectations and the Lady Wildcats finished a distant ninth.
Did injuries ruin an otherwise outstanding season?
“Ruin is a tough word,” answered El Dorado coach John Koonce. “You’ve got to look at the fact that we’re very happy with the conference win. And there were some things that went our way that day. We had some girls PR and do better than they’d ever done. You look at those injuries at the end and you say, ‘Golly, why did that happen?’ But you also have to look at a lot of good things that happened, too.
“As far as us winning state, when you saw what Vilonia did, with the girls being healthy, they would’ve all had to perform better than they performed all year. Not to say we couldn’t have done it, but it would’ve taken a monster effort. Vilonia was very good.”
El Dorado will return 19 athletes next season, including Rozier and Breyonna Steward.
“Obviously, you have to give your hats off to the seniors. We are losing some good seniors,” said Koonce. “Obviously, you want to take what happened in conference and say, ‘Hey, this needs to be the standard now.’ Not only that, we want to take it a step further. The end goal is state and that’s something we have not reached. I think we have a lot of good girls and a lot of good pieces coming back that could reach that. And I think we have some pretty good buy-in right now to that goal.
“There’s a lot to be excited about it, a lot to be optimistic about for next year.”
In addition to most of the team’s sprinters, jumpers and throwers returning, Koonce hopes to eliminate a glaring weakness next season. Freshman Emma McGee was the primary point producer in the distance events this season. Koonce said he has a crop of runners who will be freshmen next season who could join McGee and help fill that void.
He also likes the leadership he has returning and singled out Steward, who was sixth in the hurdles and sixth in the triple jump at state.
“Not only does she produce on the track, she’s a great kid,” he said. “If you could walk around the El Dorado High School halls and pick a kid that you’d want to be a leader for your team, it would be Breyonna Steward.”
Rozier finished second in the long jump last week before reinjuring her leg in the 4x100. On Friday, Koonce said he didn’t know if she’d compete in the Meet of Champions.
If El Dorado’s season is officially over, the coach believes at the very least, it provided a blueprint to future success.
“The season did not end the way we wanted it to and that did leave a sour taste,” he said. “But when you step back and look, it was a good season. We’re optimistic about next year.”