APOLOGIES TO NEW PEOPLE AND PARENTS

The Springfield Republican did not publish the names of our team today.

If you notice many of our school's teams did not make the final edition.

Mr. Magee did not give us the information until this week ( past the deadline). Do not blame him either. For some reason the forms were misplaced in the school

I DID submit a roster to the paper and shall try to get our roster into the Reminder. I think the new members deserve SOME ink!

You all KNOW how much I love publicity! Besides,they DID interview me for the article. Notice the MassLive edition has Jenise's picture in it!East Longmeadow carrying winter success into spring track season
Pam McCray, The Republican, April 01, 2011 11:47 a.m.

EAST LONGMEADOW - The East Longmeadow girls track and field team is looking to bring the inside out.

The Spartans captured their first Western Mass. indoor track title this winter and they are hoping that momentum carries them into the outdoor season.

"Our team has a different look than indoors," said coach Michael Budd. "We have a lot of new people that we're still trying to figure out. My three captains are terrific, though."

Those three captains - Maya Rhinehart, Ali McMahon and Kayla Rybacki - will hold big leadership roles as Budd relies on his captains for feedback and input.McMahon had a stellar indoor season, repeating as the long-jump champion, winning the 55-meter hurdles and running on the winning 4x200 relay team to lead the Spartans to the Western Mass. title.

"Each one of them can take the sport to the next level," said Budd. "That's the success of the program. Kids can go elsewhere and perform and have fun. That's how we know we're doing our job."

The competition this spring will be anything but easy and coach Budd knows that better than anybody. "We want to continue our momentum but outdoor is different from indoor," said Budd. "There are a lot of good teams. Agawam is always a contender, Ludlow is strong, Longmeadow is dangerous, and that's just Division I. I still think Northampton is the team to beat."

The Blue Devils, looking for their third straight title, have another strong team this year.

The Spartans coaching system is similar to Northampton's. The boys and the girls teams practice together and the boys head coach was once Budd's assistant coach."We're really functioning as a team, which is one thing I think Northampton does really well," said Budd.

"We're taking the strengths of each coach and using it to our advantage."

With the season underway, the goal is obviously to win Western Mass., but Budd wants much more than that from his girls."Our goal this year is no different than it is every other year," said Budd.

"We want to get the maximum amount of people to the state meet. We want to make some noise there and move people to New Englands."