Dan Wessner is about to embark on his second season in charge of the Emmaus boys and girls track and field teams. He’ll be doing so, however, without a number of key distance runners who had become the face of the Hornets’ track and field program in recent years.

The list of Hornet boys that Wessner lost to graduation includes Ryan Paradise, Greg Jaindl and Jake Feiertag, all of whom are running in college. Those three, along with Kyle Kleinberg, guided Emmaus to a silver medal at districts in the 4x800 relay.

Individually, the three finished well at districts, beginning with Paradise’s fourth-place finish in the 1600-meter run, Jaindl’s fifth-place finish in the 800 and Feiertag’s 11th place finish in the same event. Paradise is now running at Lehigh University. Jaindl remained close by at Moravian College, and Feiertag is down in Philadelphia at St. Joseph’s. Ian Adams also graduated.

However, even with that trio no longer in green and gold, Wessner returns a number of experienced runners this spring.

“The distance events were hit hard by graduation, yet I still expect that area to be a point of strength for the boys’ team as a number of younger athletes have shown the capability to be significant contributors to this team,” Wessner said. “The sprints have the potential to be another area of strength for this team.”

Kleinberg, a senior distance runner, is back after collecting hardware at last year’s district meet. Senior Del Vierling (11th in 3200-meter run) and sophomore Jacob Brown are also returning in the distance running events.

In the sprints, seniors Sean McFarland and Brian Mantone return as leaders. Sophomores Lubens Myers, Allen Doelue, Sone Ntoh and Izaiah McPherson will have an impact as well. Doelue, Mantone, McPherson and Myers placed fifth in the 4x100 relay at districts last spring.

Connor Dries (junior, hurdles), Chase Pavelko (senior, jumps) and Steve Dimitriadis (senior, throws) expect to be high point-getters for the Hornets as well.

“Many young athletes saw quality time on the track last season and if improvements have been made, this group has the potential to be very good,” Wessner said.

The girls’ side will be without Katie Bacher, a district medalist in the 1600-meter run and a member of the Lady Hornets’ 4x800 relay team that took second at districts. And while she has moved on to MIT after qualifying for states in both cross county and track, the distance events will continue to be a strong point for the girls’ side.

Junior Sophie Pickering (eighth in 800-meter run), junior Abby Dalton (13th in 1600-meter run) and senior Katrina Durrwachter (16th in 3200-meter run) all return after running a leg in that school record 4x800 relay race a year ago.

“The girls team once again features some quality distance runners, including three legs of the 4x800 relay team that won an eighth-place medal and set the school record last year at the PIAA Championship meet,” Wessner said.

Kiyae White won’t be running the sprints this season after suffering an injury earlier in basketball season, while Vanessa Huber (12th in javelin) and Sally Bauer (eighth in shot put) have also graduated.

The other top retuning participants on the girls’ side figure to be: sophomore Abby Heilenman (400 and 800 runs), junior Paige Thomas (hurdles), junior Amber Ziegler (jumps), sophomore Edna Creelman (jumps) and sophomore Hannah Lingold (throws).

“[There is a] large freshmen class that will make an immediate impact in the sprints, hurdles and jumps,” Wessner said. “Significant contributions can be expected this season from a number of athletes in this freshman class. Mackie Dries, Kayla Smith, and Alanna Smith (sprints) are freshmen that will be major contributors immediately. Expect many more ninth graders to play a large role in the success of this team.”