It’s been two years since we’ve had a spring sports season in the Cowboy State. Last year, practice was underway for the spring sports season before COVID reared its ugly head and shut things down. Now, one year removed from a pandemic the sun is starting to shine a little bit brighter. Last week was the first allowable week for spring sports practice and with it came high school athletes in abundance. I was fortunate enough to catch up with Head Coach of the Cody Track teams Bret Engdahl, earlier this week. Coach Engdahl on what it means to be back in action for the spring of 2021.
“Oh it’s awesome. The kids are excited. A lot of them just missed it like crazy. I think our numbers show that our kids are excited about it. About 70, half-and-half. So really excited. They’re out here in, I don’t know what is it? 40 degrees and working. So we’re pretty happy about that.”
Cody Track is a part of Class 4A and Coach Engdahl goes on to talk about what the team is working on early this season. From conditioning to the fundamentals.
“Yeah, getting in shape. Speed and mechanics and just really coaching that stuff up. Then back to the basics if you’re a field event. The ones we have in indoor, the only one we add is discuss but, you know, we kind of all start from the ground up again and go back to those basic fundamentals you have to do to be successful. Kind of build on that all year.”
Unlike Indoor track, outdoor might be a little easier to qualify for state due to pre-qualification marks which allows the athletes to have a mark to shoot for and if they don’t get their they have to be in the top eight in the region for their particular event. Coach Engdahl on some expectations for this years group and who maybe stands out.
“You’d have to say girls Pole Vault, after their showing at indoor. They’re all back. They’re doing good things and out there working hard. So I would expect them to have a good showing at state. As far as the rest of them, we have lots of hopeful things but a lot of these kids haven’t done Track in two years. We’re just looking forward to that first meet, see where we stand and then watch them progress over the year. That’s the coolest thing about track is every week if you get a little bit better, the works paying off and that’s pretty exciting.”
And lastly Coach lays out some of the names to watch for this year.
“Lake Harrison and Holly we’re really excited about, Holly Spiering. They’ve done great things indoor but outdoor blends to their trainning a little better for some of their events. We’re out on the track, have a little more distance to do some things. Just everybody in that aspect is pretty exciting. Then on the boys side. We’re excited to have Nic (Talich) back. He was back last year, then our season was cut short, but he was a 40 foot triple jumper. Then baby brother, that’s a foot taller than him, Luke will be fun to watch and Jackson Schroeder. I know I’m going to forget people that are working hard but in the end, we are excited about all of them. They’re ready to go and get better.
The Cody High School Track teams get their 2021 season underway at home on March 27th, hosting the Yellowstone Sports Medicine Invite. Stay tuned to the Big Horn Radio Network for more on Cody Track.
