By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
Regional track meets are officially underway across the state of Kansas, and like many other state hopefuls, the Southeast of Saline Trojans will look to qualify as many athletes as possible in Nickerson on Friday.
Several individuals have put together very impressive campaigns on the girl's side while the boys have dominated as a team, winning six of their seven meets while never finishing behind another 3A school.
“I was very pleased with how both teams performed,” SES head coach Wade Caselman said. “We had a lot of veterans on the boy's side and we had a lot of younger kids on both teams this year who really stepped up and improved a lot. We’ve got some freshmen who are going to be competing for spots at state and it’s been really fun to watch them make that progress throughout the season.”
Some of those young surprises include Malachi Hopkins, Jacob Bircher, Brayden Walker, Christina Wingo, Elliana Smith, and Breckyn Alderson, who have each made major contributions to their respective teams.
Those newcomers have slotted in perfectly alongside seasoned veterans like Michael Murray, Nakari Morrical-Palmer, Levi Allen, Damion Jackson, and Nate Friesen on the boy's side, and Ashley Prochazka, Cali Augustine, and Abby Commerford on the girl's side.
For the Lady Trojans, the focus at this year’s Nickerson regional will be on qualifying as many of those stars as possible, to give them a chance to shine in Wichita next week.
“They’re going to have to run really well to get out of a loaded regional in Nickerson,” Caselman said. “Everyone has been focused this week and everyone’s rested and ready to go. We’re hoping for the best for them.”
On the other side of things, if the Trojans can survive a loaded regional, they just might earn an opportunity to defend their back-to-back state titles in Class 3A next week.
“We would love to three-peat on the boy’s side but our regional is stacked both in the sprints and in the distance races,” he said. “We’re trying to qualify as many people as we can and this week that has to be our focus. Times and distances don’t matter this week, it’s all about being in that top four and punching your ticket to state.”
Prelims in Nickerson are already underway, for results and continuing coverage of track at state next week stay tuned to the Salina Post.