Season Preview: Kodiaks indoor track is racing into the 2025 season

The Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks indoor track team has its sights set on a third straight Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) banner as they head to Edmonton this weekend for the first Grand Prix event of the season.

The ACAC season includes three Grand Prix events including Edmonton, Red Deer Polytechnic in mid-February and the third hosted by the Kodiaks on March 1 at University of Lethbridge 1^st Choice Savings Centre indoor track. The season will then culminate with the ACAC Championships March 15-16 back in Edmonton.

This is the 10^th year of indoor track in the ACAC and over that time the Kodiaks men’s team has captured four championship banners, including the last two in a row, the most of any school in the conference.

“We’ve got a really strong team on the men’s side so hopefully we can go for the threepeat,” said Kodiak indoor track head coach Simon Schaerz. “We have a handful of returnees, but we’ve lost a lot of our top athletes from last year. We do have a lot of really good rookies, but so far they’re untested.”

Leading the men’s charge to the podium will be Owen Stewart (third year, Business Administration – Accounting, Lethbridge).

“Owen is a key returnee, he’s in our last year with us,” said Schaerz. “Conner Van Den Hoek (second year, Business Management, Fort Macleod) as well, those are the biggest names to watch for.

“We also have Ethan Grasmeyer (second year, Natural Resource Compliance, Smithers, B.C.) who’s in the long-distance events, the 3K and 1,500 metres. He’s really improved and we’re looking forward to see how he does this year.”

On the women’s side, the Kodiaks are led by returnees Rayanne Hoeflicher (fourth year, Nursing Bachelors Degree, Middle Lake, Sask.) and Hannah Smith (third year, Exercise Science, Raymond).

“Rayanne would be our biggest returnee, as well as Hannah, who’s in her last year with us now,” said Schaerz. “We have a whole bunch of new athletes as well including the Pilling sisters, Hallee (second year, Exercise Science, Cardston) and Hannah (first year, Academic Upgrading, Cardston). 

“Then we have Paighton Kumson (second year, Correctional Studies, Edmonton), who also plays basketball (for the Kodiaks). We also have Hana Oikawa from Lethbridge and we’re excited to watch her. It will be her first true track event as she did primarily jumps in high school. She should be quick, especially in the 60.”

Indoor track is split into three groups. There’s the sprint group which focuses on the 60- and 300-metre events as well as the four-by-200-metre relay. The mid-distance group competes in the 600- and 1,000-metre events while the long-distance group competes in the 1,500 and 3,000 metres.

“With those groups we tend to be well balanced,” said Schaerz. “Certainly every once in a while you have an all-star, then they tend to do one set of events, but I think we are very well balanced for us to win a championship, especially on the men’s side.”

Schaerz added it’s uncertain which will be the schools to beat heading into the season.

“Right now we’re in the period of the great unknown,” he said. “Based on what happened in cross-country we expect SAIT on the men’s side to be very strong and we expect Red Deer on the women’s side to be strong. Those will probably be our main competitors.”

Helping Schaerz get the Kodiaks to the podium are a group of talented assistant coaches.

Aaron Hernandez was a nationally ranked jumper who coaches both the U of L and Lethbridge Polytechnic indoor track teams. Dylan Brown is a former U Sports cross-country rookie of the year who is now a professor at the U of L and helps coach the Kodiak women’s distance athletes, while Taryn Hayward competed in the NCAA.

“Taryn was also a jumper and she’s fit in really well,” said Schaerz. “She’s taken our women’s program last year from well back to the podium.”

Gunnarr Gibb is Kodiaks indoor track alumni and multi event record holder for the Kodiaks men’s team. He now coaches Hunter Graves (second year, General Arts and Science, Raymond) who competes in the 300m wheelchair event.

Rounding out the Kodiak staff is Ricardo Quesada, who is the team’s strength and conditioning coach.