FORTVILLE — Though 45 years with the program — 43 as head coach — Bruce Kendall didn’t have any idea what to expect for the 2021 Mt. Vernon High School boys track and field season.
Kendall began coaching at Mt. Vernon in 1975, leading both the boys cross country program and boys volleyball team.
After spending two seasons as an assistant coach, his first year as boys track and field head coach was in the 1978-79 school year. He has a combined 113 seasons as head coach for school teams and 118 total seasons.
All that still didn’t lead to a lot of insight for 2021.
He has a lot of experience, but due to the pandemic there wasn’t a 2020 season. He didn’t have a lot to go on.
“As a smart coach, how’s that go? You under sell and over deliver,” Kendall joked.
“I told (athletic director Brandon Ecker) in February, this could be a really bad year,” he added. “I said, ‘I don’t think you understand, this could be a really, really bad year.'”
It didn’t turn out that way at all.
Instead of really, really, bad, the Marauders were really, really better.
By the end of the season, Kendall was taking 10 athletes to the IHSAA Boys Track and Field State Finals, held last month at Ben Davis High School.
As the season progressed the Marauders started winning meets and doing well in some of the larger invitationals.
Kendall started having a change of thought as his team competed in some of the bigger multi-team events. After spring break, they went to Terre Haute and handily won the Patriot Challenge. It followed with a win in a dual meet against Lawrence North.
“After the win (over LN), I thought, man, this is going to be a good year,” Kendall said.
Kendall is the 2021 Daily Reporter Boys Track and Field Coach of the Year. His Marauder team, along with success during the regular season, upped their performance when the stakes were the highest, winning Hancock County, Hoosier Heritage Conference and sectional team titles.
The conference and sectional championships were Kendall’s fourth for each meet.
They were just a few points shy from winning a regional. They placed third behind Pike (65) and Lawrence Central (60) with 54.33 points.
The Marauders 1,600-meter relay team of Wilbert Jones, Andrew Jones, Andres Langston and Joseph Bowsher placed fifth in the state meet. Bowsher also competed in the 300-meter hurdles.
Keagan LaBelle participated in the pole vault. Derrick Marble ran in the 100-meter dash and Colin Brown, Evan Rappe, Daylon King and Joseph Blagrave were in the 3,200-meter relay.
“Everything that could go right kept happening,” Kendall added. “We had to replace a couple kids in one of the relays in the middle of the season and had to move some people around. Everything kept hitting, as if we planned it. Our high jumpers at Week 5 were different at Week 7 and we had another different two at Week 10.”
The veteran coach gave kudos to his supporting staff, namely assistant coaches Nick Clarkson and Byron Simpson.
He deflects credit for the success and points it toward the chemistry built between the kids and the assistant coaches. He praised his trainers, too, for a relatively injury-free season.
“These guys are really good at their craft and make me look real good,” Kendall said.
