'Day and night' for surging Indians

MARION -- Lukas Mees formed The Tribe. Taylor Rogers got the sprinters together.

The result is a transformation in the Marion High School boys' track team.

"It's night and day from last year," Taylor Rogers said.

The Indians more than competed against their Class 4A Metro brethren last week at Cedar Rapids Washington's Wilkinson Relays. They contended, finishing a close second to the host Warriors.

Then, Tuesday, they picked on some teams their own size, winning an invitational title at DeWitt.

A team that scored four points at the 2011 state meet (the shuttle hurdle relay placed fifth), the Indians look like 3A championship hopefuls.

"It's April, so it's hard to tell," said Coach Scott Immerfall. "But we're a good, well-rounded team."

Marion is ranked in the top six in 3A in nine events, according to quikstatsiowa.com. The shuttle hurdle relay (Cedrick Williams, Quinn Cannoy, Isaac Frazier and Rogers) is No. 1 at 59.49 seconds.

Mees, a senior who had previously played soccer in the spring, is No. 2 in the 1,600 and the 3,200. The 800- and 3,200-meter relays also are rated second; Rogers is No. 3 in the 110 hurdles.

A lot of the credit goes to Mees and Rogers, the sparks behind an offseason program that allowed the Indians to hit the ground running when practice began in February.

"Our biggest goal was to improve the quality of the long-distance (program) here," said Mees, who named the distance brigade The Tribe and ran 600 miles from the time cross country ended to the time track practice began -- nearly all of it outdoors through a mild winter.

Meanwhile, Rogers was keeping the sprinters and hurdlers active.

"We'd run a couple miles, then we'd go through some fast-paced workouts for 15 minutes," Rogers said. "We lifted (weights for) our legs and our core a lot. It really helped the sprinters."

And it allowed Immerfall -- who flip-flopped roles with assistant Chad Zrudsky since last season -- to put the Indians through more rigorous drills when practice began.

"The kids were ready to work hard right away," he said.

Mees was a seventh-place finisher at the state cross country meet last fall, and that success was enough to shift from soccer to track this spring.

"Looking into the future, I know I'll be a better runner than a soccer player," he said. "I want to be a part of a winning team, and that's what this could be."