Track and field warm up for March 24 home meet

The Wolves will be completing in their first outdoor track and field this weekend in Lyman, which leads to a meet March 24 at Wolves Stadium.

According to head coach Dan Hansen, the full team likely won’t be available during those early meets.

With other activities like basketball running into the practice period, some athletes are unable to get the required number of practices logged before being cleared to compete.

With a group of 53 athletes with the team, Hansen said the last two weeks of practice have been fruitful for the group, though he’s still learning about which athletes would be best suited for the various events. Hansen said he’s still moving kids around and thinks the first few meets will be a “shot in the dark” as far as where they’re best suited to compete.

However, they’re giving it their all in practice.

“They’re training hard, so it will pay off in the end,” Hansen said.

Hansen’s goals as coach are to help his athletes improve their times, distances and heights throughout the season. He said the coronavirus pandemic was a hindrance because of the lost 2020 season impacting regular track competitors, though he said the indoor season in the winter did help. However, like the soccer teams, Hansen said he faces situations where he has sophomores who last competed in track in eighth grade, creating a gap year for a majority of the competitors.