»RELATED: Thursday’s high school scoreboard
»RELATED: Thursday’s high school roundup
Emmanuel Christian won the championship by five points last season over runner-up Legacy Christian.
“We’ve always had a small team and every year we make the most of what we have,” ECA coach Chris Lundquist said. “I tell all my athletes they are in three or four events. We don’t specialize on our team because we have to stretch them out.”
The Ohio High School Athletic Association website lists ECA with a base enrollment of 37 boys in grades 9-11, smallest in the MBC. Dayton Christian is the largest with 117. Lundquist, now in his 10th season, started the track program and has won six conference titles overall (2010; 2013-17).
“We’ve had a great run. We’ve kind of created a culture where they come in and expect to be successful,” Lundquist said. “We’ve got a bunch of dedicated kids. They come out and they’re gritty and they work and work and work.”
About 20 kids are on the Lions roster, including team captain and senior Mitchell Toth. He’s the defending champion in the 110-meter hurdles and is a favorite in the long jump.
“We always try to encourage each other,” Toth said. “It’s great to have Christian fellowship here being a Christian academy. It’s just a very encouraging team.”
Bonfires and team pizza parties are traditional bonding activities. Attending a smaller school also helps with familiarity especially, according to sophomore Kyle Miller, “when the entire high school can fit into one lunchroom it’s really easy to build relationships with each other.”
Early in the season the Lions tried not to focus on keeping the MBC streak intact. Now that it’s here the Lions are ready to defend it.
“We can be as good as we want. We’re working hard, encouraging each other and trying to make each other better,” said weights competitor and sophomore Seth Potts. “We try to keep pushing forward. We know we can do it, it’s just will we?”
The girls program won the MBC championship in 2012 and – in part due to a large graduating class – returned just four girls the next season. The Lions continue to rebuild and are gaining ground on another league title attempt in the near future. The boys’ numbers appear solid heading into next season, but there’s always that chance of a rash of injuries or other obstacles that can quickly derail a small-school program.
One of the newcomers is sophomore Will Penrose, a sprint and middle distance runner who is also learning to pole vault.
“It’s kind of cool at school. It’s a smaller community. At a bigger school you’re not seeing people on your team in the hallway. But at our school it’s almost like a little family,” Penrose said. “Our team chemistry and our relationships on the team, it’s great. I consider most of the guys on the team – if not all of them – my brothers.”
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