“On Your Marks, Get Set, Start Track Season!”
After a long five-day spring break for Leigh and a four-day spring break for Clarkson, the high school students from both schools came back ready to start the 2017 track season.
Track practice started on March 7, with 31 students showing up to fill the gym completely—17 from Clarkson and 15 from Leigh.
Seniors on this year’s team include Bradley Bunner, Luiz Mayorga, Jeremy Pacas, and Shelby Paprocki.
The junior track class consists of Jacob Gall, Hector Mendoza, Jason Ober, Anthony Bruhn, Alex Machmueller, and Sydney Folken.
This year’s sophomores consist of Kaegan Held, Cort Pokorney, Hannah Kasik, Beth Wiese, Sara McEvoy, Halee Steffensmeier, Shyla Shaw, Cheyenne Brabec, Kiara Brabec, and John Langhorst.
Rounding out the team are freshmen Dillan Knapp, Colby Harney, Emma Labenz, Taya Gross, Reagan Settje, Ashlynn Novotny, Kim Stodola, Brittney Urbanek, Cassie Brabec, Taylor Larson, Abbi Brabec, and Sawyer Kappel.
Along with the students, there are also six coaches helping out this year. Lee Schneider and Jeff Bachman are the throwing coaches. Adam Van Buren and Jim Clarkson are the sprint coaches, along with Jim Clarkson also being the weight trainer. Briana Wietfeld is the long distance coach, and Kim Heimann is in charge of the hurdles.
“I am beyond excited for this year!” Coach Adam Van Buren said. “We have already gotten a week of practice under our belts and we are showing a lot of promise. We just have to stay focused and be ready to work day in and day out. Hopefully we can have some returners to the state meet in May!“
The Clarkson-Leigh track team competes for the first time on March 28 in Stanton.
As sophomore Halee Steffensmeier from Clarkson trains for her first track meet, she says, “I think this year is going to be really fun. I’m glad I’m not a newbie anymore and I’m excited to get better! My goal is to make it down to Burke again, because last year was a really cool experience! Everyone seems really pumped up and we’re all ready to have a great year!”
Good luck to the Patriot Track athletes this season!