Royal Oak Boys Track Team Opens Season with Optimism

The boys varsity track team opened the season with a 66-62 loss to Birmingham Groves on March 29, but the loss did not dampen coach David Barnett’s enthusiasm for this year's Ravens squad.

Barnett has good reason to be optimistic: The Ravens won the Oakland Activities Association Blue division title from 2007-09 and followed up Tuesday with a 71-57 win over Berkley High School.

Barnett is in his fifth season as coach of the boys track team. He coached at Kimball for nine years before Dondero and Kimball high schools combined in 2006. Barnett is coaching the team with Ryan Pippo, who was an assistant coach on the team for four seasons.

Last year, two Royal Oak seniors qualified for the state finals. Drake Filippis qualified in the 800 and 1,600, and Ryan Beck qualified in the 3,200. Barnett said Royal Oak will miss them, as well as the other seniors who graduated.

“In addition to our two state qualifiers, we lost a number of seniors, many of whom set school records in their final season,” Barnett said. “We're hoping the ethic of the past several seasons will live on with this group.

"Working hard and competing hard have been the hallmarks of Royal Oak track and field," the coach said. "Our expectation is that we'll improve throughout the season.” 

The key in track is consistent training, Barnett said.  The athletes who train with purpose each day in the season have the best shot at improvement and success, he said, while those who continue training in the offseason do even better.

Barnett said he has already seen positive results from his team’s hard work. Junior Jared Vier came within 2 inches of Royal Oak’s school record in the season opener against Groves. 

“Jared Vier worked really hard this winter, including qualifying for the indoor state finals in the 60-meter hurdles,” Barnett said.

“Ben Pryde and Leonard Jackson are a couple of distance runners who trained through the winter and are ready to perform well,” he said. “In the field events, Cornelius Williams and Robert Gibson also have worked hard to lead the throwers this season.”

Barnett is looking forward to the Royal Oak Relay on Saturday. The event brings together Royal Oak Shrine, Berkley, Clawson, Bishop Foley of Madison Heights and Hazel Park. It’s always “a fun and competitive meet,” he said.

The coach also pointed to the Ferndale dual meet May 3 as one fans should circle on their calendars. “Ferndale will bring a pretty incredible collection of athletes for our dual meet, especially on the sprint side,” he said.

The runners and field event competitors are working to qualify for state competition. Qualifying times and marks are set before the season.

“Progression toward those numbers comes fairly naturally,” Barnett said. “We train our athletes to peak at the end of the season,with the idea that they'll be ready to fight for a spot at the state finals.”