Local high school track teams are tuning up for the new spring season.
Iola, Humboldt, Marmaton Valley, Crest and Southern Coffey County will open their respective campaigns in the coming days.
Iola
The Mustangs lost one of their all-time great track stars to graduation in Brett Willis, but feature a talented core of runners, including last year’s state qualifiers Jesse Taylor, Eli Adams and Karingten Hall.
Iola’s distance runners will lead the pack at meets.
Seniors Travis Wanker and Jake Skahan also return after helping Iola take second in the Pioneer League meet 4×800 meter relay race.
Other runners to look out for this season will be seniors Justin McCullough and Kyler Mittelmeier and Jessica Kroenke, juniors Rebekah Coltrane and Keira Fawson and sophomore Cole Moyer. Kroenke just missed state last year and impressed in the pole vault.
Iola opens the season March 30 at Labette County.
Humboldt
The Cubs bring a load of 12 senior athletes into the new spring season. It’s an experienced bunch with more veteran girl runners than boys. Maddox Johnson returns for his senior season after reaching state last year in the discus, javelin and shot put.
Karley Wools will spearhead the track team on the girls side along with juniors Kennisyn Hottenstein and Kinley Tucker. Hottenstein and Tucker both just barely missed qualifying for state last year.
Humboldt will specialize in the long distance running and throwing events. Head coach Eric Carlson also coaches the cross country team and recruited a number of distance runners from that team.
The first meet of the season is at Lyndon on March 31.
Marmaton Valley
The Wildcats return four runners from the Class 1A state meet last season in Janae and Jaedon Granere, Kaitlyn Drake and Piper Barney. Janae Granere and Barney each medaled in the long-jump and triple-jump while Jaedon Granere excelled in the running.
Head coach Steve Smith’s team won the Three Rivers League a year ago and believes he can do it again with a fairly field-dominant team. Lots of Marmaton Valley’s girls compete in the field sports while the boys are expecting to do well in the distance running.
Zach Allee, Bryce Ensminger and Evan Kent also will lead the boys side for the Wildcats with a number of new boys joining the team this year, something head coach Smith feels good about. Elizabeth Lewis and Lesleigh Cary will also be ones to watch out for on the girls side.
Marmaton Valley begins the season Tuesday at Uniontown.
Crest
The Lancers are led by first-year track coach Kaitlyn Cummings, who has coached Crest’s cross country team for a while now.
