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Sep
07
2007
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Lansing Varsity Fall Sports Rundown |
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by Dan Veaner
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Friday, 07 September 2007 |
School may have waited until after labor Day, but Lansing's varsity players have been preparing for the Fall season since August 13. The season is already underway with wins in football, and boys and girls soccer. Athletic Director Ed Redmond says all the Lansing teams have a strong season to look forward to in soccer, football, volleyball, swimming and track. With only one loss for the season so far, Lansing competes in IAC Division 1 this year. "That's one thing about sports that I think is so valuable is that kids learn how to be successful, or not successful and deal with it," he says. "Winning is something that once kids figure out and confident they can pretty much win in anything because they believe they can win and work hard at it, it doesn't matter what the sport or what it is in life."
Football
 Ed Redmond
With 12 seniors on the team, Redmond has worked with the players in baseball as well. "They are a group of pretty talented seniors," he says. "They have been successful in baseball, they have been successful in basketball, and they have been successful in football. Ten of the kids that played for me in football were on my baseball team last year that won 27-3. They went to the States, so they got an idea how to be successful. That kind of carries over."
Soccer
 Lansing's soccer team has a long history of winning. Last year the team came within one game of going to the State championships, and they did go two years ago. So far this year they are 2 and 0, having beat Union Springs and Watkins Glen. Watkins Glen. "That was a good game," Redmond says. It was 1-0, a really exciting game."
Adam Heck is back as coach for his 11th season. "He's back again, he's just a real quality coach and it is just a great program," Redmond says. "He loves soccer. Adam is a guy who has built our soccer program into what it is today. He works great with the kids, he has a way of coaching and teaching that the kids respond to and respect."
Volleyball
Last year was Amy O'Brien's first as Lansing vollyball coach, and she brought her team to the State championships. "Amy has a good nucleus back on her squad and I think they are going to push hard for maybe a divisional maybe a league championship," Redmond says.
Redmond says she lost a lot of good players who were seniors last year, but the team has good prospects this year. "Winning the Sectionals is not out of the question," he says. "It's all going to depend upon how those young kids prove themselves throughout the year."
Girls Soccer
With Maureen Dracup leaving the coach's position to work with the area Olympic soccer development program, Lamaar Peters is taking over the team. Peters is a full time soccer coach who is very active with the Lansing Soccer Club. "Lamar is a quality coach," Redmond says. "He's a guy that helped in our boys program with Adam for a few years and now he's stepping over to the girls' side."
The team started the season 2-0. "Lamaar is a unique guy, very upbeat, always coaches with high energy," Redmond notes. "He's positive, kids like him. I think it's a good fit for the program. When Maureen resigned last spring I really thought this was going to be tough, but Lamar is going to continue the tradition and do just fine. I would expect them to challenge for a league and a sectional championship, maybe even beyond."
Girls Swimming
 Lansing's varsity swimmers sometimes seem like they can't help winning. That is due to strong, consistent coaching. On the girls side that means Diane Hicks-Hughes. "Every year they go to the league sectionals," Redmond says. "We send girls to the states. She really understands the sport she coaches, has great knowledge of the techniques, has become a motivator with girls. She's our longest tenured coach in the district and she is an outstanding coach."
Redmond says he thinks this year's team will be another strong one, despite losing some talented seniors from last year's team. "She gets a lot out of the girls and it shows in their performance as they go on to state level competition," he says. "I would not be surprised to see them win the league and section again. I think they will do just fine."
Track
The track team has a new coach this year, with Heather Miller taking over from Daryl Hill. The team is mostly boys this year, with only one girl running. They will compete in their first meet Saturday at Windsor. Redmond says that with so many girl's sports in the Fall season in addition to cheerleading it is not surprising that there aren't more girls on the team. But he notes that there will be more on the indoor track team in the Winter season.
"They are going to do well," Redmond says. "She's a new coach who runs herself. She runs marathons, she understands training, nutrition, all of those things that are important in a young person's life especially if they are an athlete. I think Heather is going to do just fine."
Cheerleading
High School Special Education teacher Jessica Keturi is returning for her third year coaching Lansing's cheerleaders. Redmond says this is both a Fall and Winter program, with the girls competing in the IAC league competition in February. "They will do dance routines, they'll do some cheers, and then they are evaluated," he says. "We've won Division 3 in the IAC I can't tell you how many times in a row."
"Jessica is outstanding," Redmond says. "She was here on August 13 with those girls just like every other coach. She works those girls hard and they take cheerleading very seriously."
Lansing Competes in Division 1 This Year
This year Lansing will be moving from the IAC region's Division 3 to Division 1. Three divisions in the region are determined by school population. Division 1 is comprised of schools in the region with the largest student population. Because Lansing passed Watkins Glen by one student this year, the teams shifted.
"Division 2 is geographical, so it includes all the schools in the South -- Spencer, Candor, and Tioga," Redmond explains. "Then division 3 are the small northern schools. The first division is determined by enrollment, and we do the second and third divisions by geography."
Redmond says he is very happy with overall participation in athletics. He notes that about 70% of Lansing students are participating. "It makes me happy to see them interested in sports," he says. "Not only that, they are going to be successful. We have a very knowledgeable coaching staff that truly tries to connect with kids. They try to make connections and I'm just blessed as an athletic director to have the quality coaches that I have. I think that is one of the keys in my job, to hire good people and then just let them coach. We're off to a good start. We're on a roll, our kids are doing well, and it's going to be another fun year."
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