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Runaway favorite
By JAMAL THALJI, Times Staff Writer
WESLEY CHAPEL -- Brian "Stone" Colding is going over the list of returning standouts Wesley Chapel's boys track and field team will fill runways, lanes and sand pits with all over the area this season, his smile brightening with each name. Kenny "Junior" Roberts. Returning state qualifier in the hurdles. B.B. Roberts. Returning state qualifier in the 400 meters. Kurt Able. David Forry. Long distance stars. Then he gets to the other list of names, the kids new to the team this year. Tyrone Tomlin. Sprints. Tyrone Tomlin? Colding just shakes his head, his smile reaching its zenith. Yes, that's how good, how talented and how deep the Wildcats are in 2003. The defending Sunshine Athletic Conference champions aren't even worried about repeating this year. Yes, they're looking over their shoulders at Mitchell. But the Wildcats' true focus this year is on the postseason: namely, defending the district title and winning the region. How good can they be? Is state within reach? "If the kids continue to work hard, I think we can be as good as they want to be," Colding said. "They have their goals set. They want to repeat in conference and district, and we were third in region last year. They have their sights set on the region title this year. "Those are their three goals." Tomlin, of course, was on the first Wesley Chapel 4x100 squad to reach state two years ago. Knee surgery kept him out of track last year, yet over the past two seasons he still has been Pasco County's leading football rusher, gaining 3,507 career yards and scoring 70 touchdowns. His addition this year can only make the rich richer. Tomlin, along with Greg Harrison, Marcus Stewart, Nigel Bryant and Chris Roberts still are playing basketball. They've competed sporadically in track but aren't even up to full strength yet. That's a tremendous amount of points Colding's team is doing without in the sprints and jumps late in the season. And Colding might even get guards Zach Mills and Travis Lemaster to come out and run the 800. "When basketball season is over, what that's going to do for our team is that's going to allow more specialization in events," the coach said. "Right now I have kids like Jonathan Muhammad doing three field events and two running events. When these basketball players come out they're going to alleviate that pressure." Yet without them, Wesley Chapel already is burning up tracks everywhere. It was second at its season-opening Wildcat Invitational, losing first to state contender Jesuit by 18.5 points. At the Steak n Shake Track and Field Invitational at the University of South Florida early this month, the boys team finished fifth overall, and the Wildcats were the smallest Class 2A school in the prestigious meet. In fact, Colding has deliberately scheduled meets against stronger Hillsborough County schools this season to challenge his team. It's what his kids wanted, he said. "At the end of last season, after regions, a lot of our guys in fifth, sixth or seventh place were like, "Hey, another foot here, or another second off here, and I could have been going to state,' " Colding said. "So they all asked me if I would go out and find some of the competition they're going to find at the state or region meet." Yet many of Colding's coaching colleagues are struggling to find bodies to fill track teams with this year. Colding, however, isn't lacking for athletes. That's because his team benefits from a great feeder program, he said, in nearby Weightman Middle School. The middle school kids and coaches conduct their practices alongside Wesley Chapel's varsity kids and coaches. "We're just coaching the kids that come out," he said.
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