Kindleberger, Coker break Franklin Regional track and field records

By: Greg Macafee
Friday, April 19, 2019 | 8:48 PM

When Bob Ralston took over as coach of the Franklin Regional track and field program seven years ago, he set a goal for his athletes: perform above and beyond the expectations past athletes had set for the program.

So he has pushed his athletes to break as many school records as possible.

“And a lot of them have been dropping,” Ralston said.

Two more Franklin Regional records fell last week when sophomore Aly Kindleberger broke the high jump record of 5-foot-3 inches, which was set in 1996 and tied in 2011, with a leap of 5-4 at Gateway.

Later in the week at Penn Hills, junior thrower Allie Coker, who transferred in from Indiana, unleashed a throw of 37 feet to break the previous shot put record set two years ago.

“To have two more drop this year and see those two do it because of how hard they have been working to accomplish them, it’s pretty cool to see,” Ralston said.

Kindleberger looks to have a bright future ahead of her, and breaking the high-jump record might be just the beginning. The multi-sport athlete, who hopes to play volleyball in college, has been high-jumping since seventh grade.

But her freshman year was the first time she had a coach to teach her proper technique. She started to see improvements after she rid herself of bad habits, along with working on everything from her start to her footsteps to her leap. All of that work paid off last week.

“It feels pretty great, honestly,” she said. “It was a goal to have the record beaten by my senior year, so I’m pretty ecstatic that I’ve already beaten it. Now I’m just going to keep trying to improve.”

Kindleberger ultimately hopes to qualify for the state meet. With the improvements she has made over the past year and a half, the goal seems to be within reach.

“She’s improved so much,” Ralston said. “She hit 4-foot-11 last year, but just from that one meet at Gateway she improved 5 inches onto her jump. She said she was feeling good, and she got her steps down so I think she’s just going to keep getting better.”

While there were many witnesses to Kindelberger’s record, Coker’s record-breaking throw was a little more subdued. With the throwing pit at Penn Hills located far from the track, Ralston had no idea of Coker’s accomplishment until she told him afterward.

“She had just come back to the track, and she was just like, ‘Hey coach, I just broke the record,’ ” Ralston said.

Ralston said Coker had big expectations for herself this season and was looking to throw in the 37- to 38-foot range. Ralston said she has scored in all three throwing events in almost every meet this season and has been one of Franklin Regional’s top throwers.

The Panthers have gotten contributions from other athletes as well. First-year pole vaulter, junior JoJo Huczko already has topped 10-6, which is near the top of the rankings in the WPIAL.

“No one really knew about her,” Ralston said. “She kind of just showed up and tried the pole vault and was just a natural at it. I mean, a month ago was the first time she tried the event. She seems fearless. I mean, to go from never doing it before to flying almost 11 feet in the air, she just really took to it.”

As the end of the season approaches, Ralston said the Panthers will look to improve their individual times and distances in order to be at their peak level for the individual championships.

Tags: Franklin Regional