Emmaus boys track and field coach Kami Reinhard has a simple but effective coaching philosophy.

“I focus on what our athletes can control, and on what each of them can do to be successful,” Reinhard said. “The effort our athletes put in directly relates to their results.”

During her tenure at Emmaus, the boys track and field program has been a consistent winner in the East Penn Conference and this year could provide yet another winning season. But it won’t be easy, as the Hornets have lost significant talent to graduation. In addition, they’ll be tested early and often.

“We have a tough dual-meet schedule and pretty much all of our meets are against strong teams,” Reinhard said. “I’m happy we have these meets scheduled to give our athletes track and field experience, but there are several weeks we have three meets a week. So, I don’t want to put any expectation on our athletes in regard to a record for the dual meet season, because we will not risk injury to win a meet.”

The boys’ goal this season is to have some young talent develop and to have as many athletes as possible qualify for league and district postseason action.

Not all the talent on the Hornet roster is young. The distance running group is experienced and features seniors Matt Norton, Ethan Strzempek, Holden Brown and Tyler Finck, along with juniors Oscar Felegy, Sam Dalton and Dominic Nunez. Sprinters Tyler Hargis, Didro Augustin, Nai Ri Lin, Zavier Urbaez and Dylan Bassett and junior Ethan Ferris should cause problems for the rest of the EPC.

Juniors Evan Loro and Jonathan Daphnis and sophomore Ben Price are among the school’s top jumpers. Hayden Schmidt, Angel Piccirillo, Chunakya Nukala - all seniors - and junior Tyler Shotwell should make their presence known in throws.

Hurdlers Connor Tittermary and Gabriel Krem should produce results for Emmaus this season, while A.J. Hurlburt, Ryan Vary and Maxwell Kennedy should all make noise as pole vaulters.

As always there is pipeline of talent coming into the program. Hornet fans should enjoy watching four freshmen - Conor Fisher, Jared Petre, Miles Cook and Richard Will - start to mature this season in distance running. Sprinters Donovan McCargo, Blaise Verrastro, Tylik Jarvis, Chase Fotta and Sam Moratori will also contribute to the team’s cause.

Jumpers Jasiyah Banks, Lucian Freeman, Kyle Moore, Gabe Buchman and Konstantinos Panagopoulos and hurdlers Timothy Smith and Robert Sallash will also receive some valuable experience this year. Throwers Deon Edwards, Tyriq Smith, Haven Tarbox and Moratori along with pole vaulter Tyler Grabinski, a freshman, should also see action.