Urness returns to where it all began

Nathan Urness didn’t exactly plan it this way, but he’s back coaching at his alma mater.

Urness, a 2000 Cedar Grove-Belgium High School grad who was a football player and thrower for the Rockets, is leading the track and field programs at the school.

He succeeds Lindsey Abraham, who moved to Illinois after coaching one season due to her husband’s job promotion.

Urness, the son of art teaching legend and studio owner Don, grew up playing football and joined track and field to help prep for each fall.

“I was a big kid. It was a good opportunity for me to lift weights and keep in shape,” he said.

He learned to love his new sport as well.

“It’s kind of a family. You get a lot of those people who are really into it. You hang out in a big group and cheer,” he said.

Urness started teaching technical education at Cedar Grove-Belgium this year and likes seeing students in and out of the classroom.

“I like the different experiences of knowing kids coaching as well as teaching,” he said.

Urness, who has a degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stout, had coached and taught at Random Lake for a couple of years, and did the same at Cassville High for a few years before that.

It was at Cassville where he was asked if he was interested in coaching track.

“I said ‘Yeah, I want to coach. I’d be 100% interested in that,’” he said.

Urness said he likes art as well “but not to the degree” his father does.

He lives in Cedar Grove with his wife, 8-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter.

Boys’ and girls’ teams show promise

Urness leads a Rockets’ boys’ team that returns three of its four runners from the 400 relay that took sixth in state last season, just high enough to earn a medal.

Gabe Egan, Joseph Carrasquillo Santiago and Caleb Beightol are back. Owen Williams graduated.

The girls’ state-qualifying 3,200 relay team is back. Lyndsay Sass, Faith Konzak, Elise Brill and Hadley Heimerman were all underclassmen last year.

“They’re just all very good runners. I can only see them getting better this year,” Urness said.

“We’ve got some strong groups coming back. The boys are looking pretty talented.”

The Rockets have about 23 boys in the program, including newcomer Sam Peiffer, a star wide receiver and basketball player who should contribute in sprints, relays and high jump.

Beightol will contribute in sprints, and freshman Ethan Minick could make some noise in the long jump and in sprints.

“We’re excited about seeing where that goes through the season,” Urness said.

With a team of 23 — nearly half freshmen who will be expected to contribute — challenging for a Big East Conference crown will be difficult.

“It depends on where we can fill spaces,” Urness said. “At the very least, we should disrupt the conference outlook.”

The girls’ team only has seven members. Beyond the state qualifiers are a sophomore and two juniors.

At the season-opening Nelson Daniels Classic in Whitewater, the boys scored 17 points on Saturday and finished in 14th place. Jefferson won with 53 points.

Beightol was second in the 55-meter dash in 6.7 seconds.

“I knew he was fast, but the 55 is such a different beast that I wasn’t sure how he’d do there. He really surprised me,” Urness said.

The 3,200 relay of Cole Ketterhagen, Michael Kuerschner, Alex Nett and James Velzke was second in 9:21.51.

Peiffer was eighth in high jump, clearing 5 feet, 6 inches, in the first time he tried the event.

“I think he’s just going to get better at that,” Urness said.

Minick totaled 19-3.75 in long jump, good for 11th place.

“Over 19 feet as a freshman, I think that’s pretty impressive long jumping for his first time out. That’s a couple of feet above seniors from bigger schools,” Urness said.

The girls scored 13 points and finished 13th in the 19-team meet on Friday. Stoughton won with 64 points.

The 3,200 relay of Sass, Konzak, Brill and Heimerman was second in 11:07.25.

Brill was fifth in the 800 in 2:44. Sass was eighth in the 1,600 in 6:20.23 and Konzak was ninth in 6:20.77.

The Rockets are on spring break next week and host a quadrangular meet on Tuesday, April 5.