Dallastown Track and Field
Some people may think that the Track and Field team at Dallastown did not start before 1930 but it did. Also, the Track and Field Team at Dallastown did not become coed until the early 1970's. Three people who were very involved with Track and Field over the past thirty years were interviewed. They are Mr. Ray Geesey, Mr. Tim Barshinger, and Mr. Tim Barkdoll. Coach Geesey and Coach Barshinger were not only members of the Track Team but later became the Head Coach. Mr. Barkdoll has not yet been a coach here because he is in the Navy.
When asked about the coaches that he had when he was in school and a member of the team, Coach Barshinger remembered Coach Geesey, Coach Noll, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Smith and Mr. Stepka, some of whom are still at Dallastown. Coach Barshinger said that Mr. Stepka "is just down at Susquehannock" and is their track and field coach there. He also is excited about being the new Head Coach of Dallastown's Track and Field Team or as he said, "It's kind of neat in some respect too,... just that Coach Geesey was my coach and now I'm in his shoes. I think that that's kind of neat! Sort of the passing of the torch. Coach Geesey's head coach had been Mr. Beck. He did the same thing that I am doing in that he had been on of Coach Beck's athletes and then he came back and took the torch from him and I had been on of Coach Geesey's atletes and now I am doing the same thing so it's kind of neat."
When asked if they though that the team had changed since they were members, Coach Geesey felt that "there had been some major changes, mostly in the talent." He felt that "a lot of athletes today are physically able to do more things over all, not that there weren't some outstanding athletes then who did some great things, but the major change is that there are more talented kids and that a lot of that has to be with them being physically strong." Coach Barshinger felt that "it has changed in the respect that kids are asked to do a little more these days than they were" when he was a team member which was only 7-8 years ago. He feels that "athletes used to be solely one thing and in the spring, they would just do track or just do basketball but now we have kids who come to track practice and then go play soccer in the evening so they are involved a lot more than they used to be." "Obviously, the people and the faces change" but Mr. Barkdoll felt that the most significant change for Dallastown was the change in the type of track that they ran on. "I was the last year of the cinder track... they got the new one right after I graduated." Mr. Barkdoll also "thinks that Dallastown has a really good track program that has a long tradition and they never have a problem with having people come out (for the team.)"
When asked how events have changed, Mr. Barkdoll said that the "biggest change in the complexion of the high school track in York Country has been that everybody now has all-weather tracks (instead of cinder tracks). Coach Geesey felt that "the first thing that changed was that we went from all of the events (measured) in yards to all of the running events (measured) in meters. They have added "the hurdle races we now run... and some different relays." One other change according to Coach Geesey is that "the broad jump is now called the long jump." Coach Barshinger stated that "the girl's pole vault is new and that this will be the first year that it's an official sporting event."
Each of the interviewees had an interesting story that they remembered either from their days as athletes temselves or from their time as a coach. Coach Geesey told the story of "a young man in the early 1980's who was running junior high track. He was a little, short guy who had real big, thick glasses and when we ran junior high races, he'd run the mile and he'd always be the last guy and he'd always come running just about every time real hard to the finish line so throughout junior high, 7th, 8th, and 9th grade, he never won a race. In 9th grade, he placed second or third because he was getting better. He went out for cross country and made cross country and he continued to run and he worked real hard. He would go to the weight room and lift, he'd run every day and get going and by the time he was a Senior, he won the State Indoor two mile Championship. And then, he went and won the State Outdoor 3200 meter Championship, set a school record of 9 minutes and 13 seconds which was an excellent time and went on to the U.S. Naval Academy and, at one time, was ranked 25th in the world at 5000 meters. He is now a successful officer in the Navy. He is going back to school to get his degree in education and he would like to come back to York County to coach track." coach Geesey said that "encouraging yourself and encouraging the other young people in junior high who aren't doing as well as they would like to, that there is always a change if you just keep working real hard - Mr. Barkdoll is a good example of that." Coach Barshinger recalled when he ran a race "the 3200 relay, that had made a big difference for me... at the Invitational of my senior year, Spring of '92, that we were in the relay and it was a situation where it came down to the wire and I was the anchor leg and we ended up winning and it was really neat!" Mr. Barkdoll told the story of how Coach Geesey told him the incorrect record time and how he ran to beat the record and thought he missed it by two seconds but actually beat the record by four seconds, "so I got the record by like 4 seconds but that was his big joke on me."
This shows that there are some good and bad changes but mainly the team is still the same. It is nice ti know that those who eventually got to be the champions started off on the wrong foot and closer to the bottom than the top. A lot can be learned by listening to those who have experienced the earlier times in the sport.
