The Langford Area track squad is scheduled to open its spring campaign at the Ipswich Early Bird Meet on Tuesday.
Second-year coach Brian Schuring, who is assisted by Bryce Peterson, had eight boys and 12 girls report for the team when practice began a couple of weeks ago and he is anxious to see where things stand for his charges in the opener.
“Our goal in that first meet is just to kind of see where we’re at,” said Schuring. “Our focus right now is getting ourselves in shape and trying to get some good base workouts in before we start working on individual events. We don’t have a lot of numbers but have some experience.”
Senior letterwinners Kassen Keough and Julian Rodriguez head the boys roster, along with returning junior letterwinners Johnny Behning and Skyler Godel. Sophomore Hunter Aden and freshmen Carter Glines, Eli Samson, and Keegan Woltjer round out the roster.
Returning letterwinner Paytyn Marlow is the only senior on the girls’ squad. Other returning letterwinners are juniors Lizzie Gustafson, Emily Olson, and Brooke Dwight; freshman Sophia Rodriguez; and eighth graders Bailey Dwight and Josie Jensen. Other team members include juniors Brynn Samson and Alex Darling, sophomores Cami Craig and Audrina Bastian; and freshman Aubrey Craig.
Six thinclads are back that qualified for the state meet last season. The 400-meter relay quartet of Marlow, Brooke and Bailey Dwight, and Gustafson broke a 32-year-old school record at the state meet (52.58) and are hoping to better that mark again. Marlow also qualified in the 100 meter dash and long jump and Olson was a triple jump qualifier. Julian Rodriguez was the only boys qualifier returning in the 110 hurdles.
“Hopefully we can get more qualifiers for the state meet this year and qualify in more events,” noted Schuring. “It looks like we’ll be able to put together some good girls 800 and medley relay teams to go along with the 400. Hopefully we’ll be able to scrape together some boys relays but with our numbers we’ll probably be looking at more individual events.
“We have a group of hard workers and some good young talent coming up,” concluded Schuring. “The kids have been working hard and I’m looking forward to a good year.”
