For the time being it looks like the Langford Area track season is on hold.
Coach Taylor Reints’ squad was scheduled to open its spring campaign at Ipswich on Tuesday, but Mother Nature has not been cooperative and several feet of snow still needs to melt before outdoor meets in northeast South Dakota will be possible. Langford Area is also scheduled to compete in Groton on April 11 and in Britton on April 18 and at this time those meets are also questionable.
“This is really nothing new,” said Reints, who is assisted by Pat Sayler. “We’ve adapted and do our normal circuits inside and get outside whenever we can. We really can’t stretch our legs too much in our smaller new gym so we run outside pretty much no matter what the weather is. We try to get out on the highways or a gravel road that is kind of melted off, and our track athletes definitely have to be dedicated.”
The LA thinclads are struggling with numbers this spring with only about 10 high school athletes reporting for preseason practices (nine boys and one girl) and about 20 junior high participants.
Jesse Keough is the lone returning senior. He qualified for state a year ago in the 300 hurdles, finishing 22nd, and also teamed up with Kalen Godel, Ben Suther, and Ben Gustafson to place 20th in the medley relay. Godel, a junior, was the Lions top state placer last spring, taking 12th in the 1600-meter run and 14th in the 800-meter event.
“We’re hoping to field one or two boys relays and Kalen and Jesse will also focus on their individual events,” said Reints. “We have some throwers but don’t have a lot of runners. “Right now freshman Paytyn Marlow is our only high school girl and we are hoping we can recruit a few others to be able to field some relay teams.”
Reints doesn’t know what Mother Nature has in mind for this track season but his focus is for his squad to just keep getting better.
“Who knows when we will get a meet in so we just try to do what we can in practice. The kids set individual goals every year and everybody focuses on getting a little bit better every day.”
