New leadership:

An alumnus is leading the Cedar Grove-Belgium’s boys’ track and field team this season.

Eric Teunissen, a member of the class of 1998 who holds three school records, succeeds Brandon Langer.

Teunissen’s wife Amy is coaching the girls’ team, marking the first time in years the Lady Rockets have had a female leader.

Amy is from Valders, where she specialized in hurdles and high jump and competed at state.

The Teunissens coached track and field together at Sheboygan North from 2006 to 2011, with Eric as an assistant specializing in distance and Amy as an assistant and head coach. Amy had previously been the head coach in Sheboygan Falls.

Eric Teunissen qualified for the state meet all four years in high school and still holds school records in the 800 run, 1,600 relay and the 1,600, but he said he’s not sure for how long.

Star distance runner Stephen Lavey could knock Teunissen’s name from the 1,600 books.

“He’ll break it. It’s a matter of when,” Teunissen said.

Lavey, a senior, got the season off to a hot start by winning two events at the Nelson-Daniels Classic at Whitewater last Friday. He won the 1,600 run in  4:31.83 and the 3,200 in 10:08.58.

The Rockets scored 10 points and finished 17th out of 22 teams.

“It’s a big meet to go to if it’s your first meet. It’s got some of the top kids competing in the state,” Teunissen said. “They did pretty well for the atmosphere they competed in.”

Lavey leads a group of distance runners, a strength of the Rockets’ track and field teams for years. “It’s a good group. They’re all coming off of cross country,” Teunissen said.

But these runners aren’t limited to the long races. “They can pretty much do anything,” Teunissen said.

Teunissen inherited a small team with 14 boys, including only two seniors, Lavey and Isaiah Yinko.

While a conference title is out of reach with so few athletes, Teunissen said he hopes to qualify a few of them for state, including the returning 400 relay.

The girls’ team is even smaller and has no seniors. Five juniors lead the eight-member roster.

The girls didn’t score any points in the Nelson-Daniels Classic. Their highest finisher was junior Karen Ibarra, who took 13th in the 400 dash (1:10.63).

The next meet for the Rockets will be  April 3 at Oostburg.