Jill Rensink has reached the finish line as well.
Following the best cross country and track seasons in program history, the Bloomington South head coach announced she is stepping down, as is her husband, Jay, who coached South’s jumpers.
Rensink was an assistant for several years with the track program, working with boys and girls, sprinters and mid-distance runners. She took over as girls’ head coach, cross country coach in 2020 when Sam Ginther resigned, and then took over the girls’ track team in 2021 when Tom Stokes left in July of 2020.
“I came from a track background in Canada and came down here on scholarship,” Rensink said. “My primary event was the 800, so helping with the 400 was within my wheelhouse. I was comfortable with that.
“That allowed me to work more with the sprint group down to the 100, and that was a great learning experience and allowed me to dig a little bit deeper into different types of training.”
Some of South’s all-time best have run under her watch, from Amiyah Davis and Lily Myers to Ellie Barada, Violet Hall, Adriene Shaevitz, the Martoglio twins and Lexi Kollbaum. Together, they rewrote much of the Panthers’ record book.
But coaching is also about those who are not record-breakers but are still important to team goals as well.
“The past six years have been a lot of fun and challenging,” Rensink said. “We got really lucky to have six years of continuous inflow of kids with talent. And trying to figure out how to train them properly has been a lot of fun.
“I think with any coach, the better the team, the more challenging it is to meet everybody’s needs and keep them progressing at the right rate and keep them healthy. You can’t just look at your good kids, but the lineup as a whole when you get to bigger meets and the team has a chance to do things. Jay was always talking about how it’s a huge circus juggling lineups that kids could handle.”
Working with 43-year coaching veteran Larry Williams and his wife, Missy, was a blessing.
“Larry has been a wonderful mentor,” Rensink said. “When I first stepped into the cross-country position, he was showing me the ropes and all the administrative stuff and walking me through that.
“Missy coached for 25 years, so her experience, expertise and knowledge and she was such a great sounding board and support person. I was able to bounce a lot off her. And Larry continues to be supportive and helpful over the years. I’m also grateful I got to work with Tom Stokes as well. They have very different approaches in how to coach, so to have that experience and be a sponge and gain as much knowledge as I could.
“Even just in that area, Justin (Helmer) and Charlie (Warthan) at North. It’s such a great group of coaches in the area who were all wonderful inspirations to me.”
North track is also resetting with Warthan and Rick Rumple, the Cougars’ long-time jumps coach and former Owen Valley coach, both retiring. Rumple will continue to run the Indiana Track Club.
Bloomington football staffs set
Bloomington North football coach Andy Harding has his new staff put together, and it includes several familiar faces.
Jason Hankins is back as defensive coordinator, while Reece Lozano also returns, but has been elevated to offensive coordinator. Brad Engel returns as defensive line coach, and Paul Prather will coach defensive backs, with Sam Werczynski taking the head coaching job at Paoli.
New names include former Ft. Wayne area standout Ebon Person, who will work with defensive ends. Former Brown County head coach Colton Sample is the new offensive line coach/JV head coach. Two former Edgewood standouts are on staff: Kyle Goble, who will also work with the O-line and is the freshman head coach, and Quintin Fortier, the wide receivers coach. Former Cougar Nate Hankins will assist with the D-line.
At South, the Panthers will have a new offensive coordinator, with Mo Moriarity not returning; they hired former Cougar coach Jesse Spurgeon as the new OC. Kenny Davis has moved back to Alabama, so head coach Gabe Johnson, who runs the defense, will pick up coaching safeties.
Strength coach Thomas Henderson will work with receivers. There are two new freshman coaches in Jason Gardner, a member of South’s 1993 state championship team, who is on board after retiring from a career in the Air Force, and Isaac Cruz, a former standout at Ft. Wayne Snider. It gives the Panthers six at the freshman level to work with an incoming group of 35.
More openings
North athletic director Andy Hodson is currently in the middle of interviewing and going over applications for the boys’ basketball and assistant AD positions, and it will be the MCCSC board meeting on July 28 when a hire can be officially announced.
Chad Smith has stepped down as boys cross country coach at Owen Valley and is joining Troy Burgess’ staff with the football team. Brian Greene and Chase Hiland were also named assistant coaches.
Lighthouse Christian and Eastern Greene are both looking for assistant coaches in volleyball.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington South girls track coach Jill Rensink resigns
Reporting by Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times | USA TODAY Network
