Southwestern girls track and field coach Cristin Hockenberry is pictured with her husband, Jim, and children, Kater and Lucy. Submitted photo

It goes without saying that successful track and field teams begin the year aiming for success in their league seasons leading up to the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Championships, all the while lamenting the eventual loss of talented seniors who will not be along for the ride next year.

Those truths were certainly present this past season for the Southwestern Lady Trojans and their coach, Cristin Hockenberry, but there is no denying that there was also something quite extraordinary about the upperclassmen who will be moving on and the CCAA title that celebrated their final year together.

The legacy of a special group of leaders and the memorable opportunity to win a county title on your home track are two things that this year’s Post-Journal Coach of the Year will not soon forget.

“We have had a group of girls, especially our seniors and our upperclassmen in general, that have really bought into what we are doing,” said Hockenberry, who ended the year with her sixth county title and fifth Division 1 league title in the last six years. “They are excited about what we are doing. (Our seniors) are doing a great job of leading our underclassmen and teaching them our traditions. Their enthusiasm, they say it is contagious, and the underclassmen have caught on to that and just joined right in.”

Amongst Hockenberry’s group of talented upperclassmen were four co-captains who combined to help Southwestern finish with 206 points at the CCAA Championships at the Fran Sirianni Athletic Complex.

Hannah Lilly, Lauren Swan, Breah Orlando and Emily Rybicki combined to give the Southwestern coach points both on the track and in the field, as well as tangible leadership.

“Those four girls really took on that leadership role. They took pride in what they are doing,” said Hockenberry. “They are leading for those next classes of kids to come through. They had that captain title, but we had a number of girls on our team who stepped up and took care of one another. They enjoy being around each other. They get together outside of practice.”

Joining those accomplished CCAA performances were some equally impressive finishes by Trojans athletes who still have a few years left on the field.

Southwestern ended the county meet with a one-two finish in the discus, behind first-place Grace Lillie’s throw of 99 feet and second-place Gianna Hoose’s mark of 97 feet while Abby Manelick grabbed fourth with a mark of 89 feet, 4 inches.

The Trojans also grabbed a two-three finish in the shot put, with Rybicki taking second at 33 feet, 6Ç inches and Manelick taking third at 32 feet, å of an inch.

While Rybicki will be amongst the seniors leaving after this past year, Manelick and Lillie will both return to the field next year, while Hoose expects to have two more years of success on the way.

“Our throws this season really stepped up, which was fantastic,” Hockenberry said. “It was fun to watch, just our field events in general. Coach (Adam) Brown and Coach (Jay) Sirianni work a lot with our field events, and Coach Melendez with our sprinters does a great job, and we’ve seen improvement in all areas of the track. We also still have Coach (Fran) Sirianni out there working with our pole vaulters.”

For the talented group that Hockenberry was fortunate enough to spend this last season with, there was a special significance to finishing off the team season with a win at their home track.

“The kids love it, they know how supported they are by our administration,” Hockenberry said. “Our building and grounds crew, to be able to win that when we host it is kind of a way to be able to give back and say thank you.”