According to Theodore “Teddy” Browning, varsity men’s track team member and senior, many people do not believe the CHS men’s track and field team is anything special, despite winning the IHSAA State championship last June.

“It’s kind of weird because even though we won last year, and we were second two years ago, everyone still thinks we’re not a good track team and no one really has any respect for us,” Browning said. “So we constantly use that as motivation to keep beating everyone down and kind of burn the target on our backs and we work with that.”

In addition to Browning, Benjamin “Ben” Veatch, varsity men’s track team member and senior, said he agrees the team will have a target on its back this season, just as it does every season.

“We’ve always had a target on our backs. I don’t think a Carmel team ever hasn’t, so we’re kind of used to it. We just have to stick to what we do best, run for ourselves and compete at the highest level. I think if we do those two things, we’ll get the result we want,” Veatch said.

Head Coach Kenneth Browner said he agrees CHS inevitably always has a target on any of its team’s backs. However, Browner said coming off of a State championship, it is important for team members to embrace this target, and wear it proudly.

“I’ve always told the guys, ‘I would rather be the one that everybody’s pointing up to as opposed to always trying to chase people.’ Let’s let people chase us now,” Browner said.

In terms of getting the result they want, both Browning and Veatch said their goal is to bring home another State title. For many track and field teams, winning back-to-back State titles is challenging as the State meet itself is composed of many individual events. In addition, it can be hard for teams to continue their success after senior athletes who scored many of the team’s points graduate. For the CHS men’s track and field team, Browning said the two most impactful athletes who graduated in 2015 were Vince Laconi and Isaac James. Laconi and James both scored points for CHS during the State meet last year, in shotput and various sprint events, respectively.

“I think that’s going to hurt our team a lot score wise. Our team’s going to look really different, we’re going to have different dynamics and we’re going to score points in different events without those guys,”  Browning said.

Veatch said he agreed the loss of Laconi and James will impact the team, but said he thinks the team will do a good job of making up for these losses.

“They were senior leaders on the team. Losing guys like that is always tough, but we’ll definitely be really good this year. We’ve got a lot of guys that I think are going to step up and are just going to get better,” Veatch said.

Browner said he agreed and said younger members of the team, in addition to the leadership of the returners, will allow this year’s team to be successful.

“I think the program is at a point now where we can definitely reload and not hope that things work out. We’ve got some good young people that will step in and help us out, and we’ve got good senior leadership. We’ve got returning State champions, so we’re in good shape, because I think they’re still driven,” Browner said.

Luckily, as Veatch said, the CHS men’s track and field team has many athletes ready to improve and many returners who scored a large number of its points during last June’s State meet. Those returning scorers from last year’s State meet include: sophomore James “Jimmy” Snyder, juniors Mitchell “Mitch” Lipe, Ryan Lipe, Kenji Tomozawa, Jalen Walker, and seniors Nick Ash, Browning, James Griffin and Veatch.

Despite all of these returners and new hopefuls, Veatch acknowledged winning another State championship will take a lot of hard work.

“The hardest part is performing on the right day. The State track meet is really hard to win, because it’s just a lot of guys doing individual stuff,” Veatch said. “If one guy slips up, that’s five or six points down the drain and that can really mess with a team. It’s going to come down to being prepared, and our coaches will get us prepared, and being able to perform at our highest levels on the days it matters, like the Regional and the State meet.”

Both Browning and Veatch said strong leadership will be an important factor in helping the team achieve the goal of a State title.

“I’m going to try and set the tone for what we’re working for, and that we’re working for a State championship, and that every day counts. I hope that everyone kind of sees that I’m working hard day in and day out and that they should as well,” Browning said.

“We will just try to set a good model as our mentors did. A big mentor for me was Bobby Browning (‘14), he was a senior when I was a sophomore and I try to model my leadership off of him. We’re just going to try to keep the tradition going and we know what it takes to win so we’re going to instill that same message that we had last year,” Veatch said.

Although Browning and Veatch said there is a significant amount of work to be done before the team has the opportunity to win a State title, they both said they are eager to begin their senior season. Veatch said even though he still prefers cross-country to track, he has learned to love the team aspect of the track and field team, and that makes him even more eager for the season to begin.

“I’m excited just to start. We had a great team last year and I’m excited just to get out on the track and see the guys working out, see them run ridiculously fast times, dusting everyone away in their events. I’ve learned to love track,” Veatch said. “The team aspect is a lot different. Cheering for guys in other events that do completely different training than you, you see them doing completely different stuff in practice. We’ll be running 12-mile long runs and they’ll be doing sprint workouts. So, seeing all the different guys compete and being able to cheer for them, that’s sort of the biggest difference. It’s a different team atmosphere. I think it’s going to be a really great season, and we’re really looking forward to it.”