by Dave Boehler
Beacon Sports Editor

LUTHERAN’S CARLY SCHREURS already holds one school track record and is hoping for another this year. – Submitted photo

There were several sights to behold last season for the Schreurs’ family.

One was bringing a rototiller to Sheboygan Lutheran while other parents brought sand to make a jumping pit so athletes could practice their events since the school does not have its own track field.

“You do what you need to do,” said Stacy, the mother of Lutheran junior Carly Schreurs. “I guess the moral of the story is it didn’t matter if she had an indoor track with the best facility ever, we were able to make do with what we had.”

One of the driveways near the school serves as the running surface, and every year parents contribute to the homemade pit built next to the roadway.

“There’s so much besides just jumping into a pit,” Crusaders’ coach Hans Otten said. “You work on the leg strength and your speed and technique. Track and field, of all the sports, even if you don’t have a track you can still succeed. And Carly does.”

She is the school’s record-holder in the triple jump (36 feet, 5.5 inches) and has a sixth-place finish at Division 3 state to go with a first-place showing at the Big East Conference championship meet a year ago.

Not bad for someone who was not a jumper at the start of her freshman season.

That is when Schreurs mostly did long-distance running events. She always wanted to be a jumper but did not know when she would start trying it.

But midway through her first season, a third girl was needed to complete a triple jump trio at a relay meet.

“I was very excited to find out that I could jump,” Schreurs said. “I had no idea what a good jump was, so I just did my best.”

Schreurs added the long jump to her resume as a sophomore, and she was excited about that, too.

“But I had no idea how to long jump,” she said.

Schreurs figured it out, however, and ended up taking third place at conference in the event.

A short time later, she set her school record in the triple jump at sectionals to erase the previous mark of 35-9.5 that stood since 1996.

Her goal was to get the record, so she worked on strengthening her legs and on her approach to get as much power as she could.

“But I was surprised when I found out I did break it,” she said.

This year, Schreurs plans on doing the usual jumping events and a few sprinting ones as well. She wants to beat her school record and set one in the long jump.

“She’s starting to put together better speed with good technique,” Otten said. “Last year was her second year of doing (the triple jump), so we’re excited to see what’s going to happen this year.”

Improving her sixth-place finish at state is another goal.

“I’m praying that I could get first,” Schreurs said. “I think if God keeps me healthy and injury free, and I work on my sprinting and strengthening my legs, I think I can do it.”