PCS preseason track meet Thursday
Perkins County Track Coach Shayne Hite will get a feel for his teams with a preseason meet on their home track Thursday.
The Plainsmen will host Chase County and South Platte at the meet which begins at 2:30 p.m.
Hite has 23 boys and 13 girls out for this year’s spring campaign.
He noted it’s a bit strange for both the kids and coaches after missing last year’s track season due to COVID-19.
The teams were preparing for their preseason meet when in-person school was called off, along with all sports and extra-curricular activities.
That will make it interesting to see where times and marks will be, compared to two years ago.
He said the cancellation of last season cost some seniors shots at setting some new school records. “I feel bad for them,” he said.
On the boy’s side, the roster includes just two seniors along with 10 juniors, four sophomores and seven freshman.
He expects the 10 juniors to carry the scoring and leadership load for the team, with all of them returning letter winners.
He wants to develop some overall team depth with the sophomores and freshmen is looking for some of them to step up and fill in some gaps in events.
With the addition of the seven freshmen this season, Hite’s looking for some quick development that will lead to points in some events.
On the girls’ team, Hite has three seniors, four juniors, two sophomores and nine freshman.
He’s looking to the nine returning letter winners for their leadership and for much of the scoring.
He said some of those freshmen will be able to contribute to the scoring right away.
Without a lot of depth, he said they don’t have the numbers necessary to win meets but will definitely be able to score more points this season.
With no season last year, he said it’s been hard to set some individual and team goals.
He’s anxious to get the kids back into competition to see how they will fare.
The only other meet the Plainsmen will host this year will be the SPVA meet April 30.
Hite said with the Easter schedule, it caused some conflicts in dates.
Normally the E. Lee Todd Invitational would be held early in the season. However, some Easter scheduling conflicts would have cut the field down to just three teams.
As a result, the team will be competing in the Ed Moore Invitational in Ogallala April 1.
The E. Lee Todd meet will resume again next year with its regular field of teams.
Assisting Hite this season will be Tristan Stephenson, Steve Snyder and Deanne Bishop.
The athletes out this year’s track season are as follows:
Boys
Seniors—Irvin Reyes, Bryder Hickey.
Juniors—Hayden Foster Jeb Kohl, Erik Snyder, Chase Johnson, Austin Meyer, Colton Pouk, Triston Hite, Ashton Meyer, Hunter Garner, Huntin Taylor.
Sophomores—Antonio Lyon, Ethan Sihm, Casey Uehling, Casey Hanson.
Freshmen—Henry Taylor, Blake Garner, Nolan Foster, Juan Perez, Wyatt Quinn, Mason Toner, Trevor Cornelius.
Girls
Seniors—Dani Burge, Rylee Huff, Hannah Kempf.
Juniors—Meghan Bishop, Hallie Fisher, Autumn Anderson, Kylie Tucker.
Sophomores—Meredith Gloy, Mallory McClenahan. Freshmen—Caitlyn Dolezal, Selah Richter-Martiniz, Maggie Fisher, Ava Reese, Kailee Potts, Katie Cook, Ella Uehling, Kaitlin Meyer.
Meets
March 25—PCS Pre-Season
April 1—Ed. Moore Invitational, Ogallala
April 12—Storm Twilight, Chappell
April 17—Sutherland Invitational
April 20—Imperial Invitational
April 24—Panther Invitational, Hershey
April 26—McCook JV
April 30—SPVA, Grant
May 4—Best of the Midwest, Sutherland
May 7—DCS Twilight, Benkelman
May 13—District. C-9, Sutherland
May 21, 22—State Meet, Omaha Burke