By: Mallory Kroencke 

Reporter 

Boys track is half-way through, and the athletes have made great progression since the beginning of the season.

Blue Springs South track athletes seem to improve every year over the course of the season, and that’s no different this season.

Senior Rickey Nichols was thrilled about how the track team is turning out after all their hard work.

“It’s going better than it has in a while I feel. Everything is starting to come together. All of our times are getting faster and faster as the meets come,” Nichols said.

Head Coach Troy Harding is also excited about how the boys are doing in the season so far.

“All our big and important meets are still down the road, so our guys are progressing nicely and I’m really excited to see where they can get by the end of the year,”  Harding said.

Sophomore sprinter and jumper DJ Frost is having a great year and is ready to see where he ends up by the end of the year.

“The season is going great, and the team is doing a lot better than we did last year because we are set up with more confidence,” Frost said.

The team’s last meet was last Saturday in Jefferson City at the Capital City relays, where the whole team brought their best.

“It went well; a lot of room for improvement but we know what we are capable of. There was a lot of good talent there and that pushed us to be better. Our times keep getting faster and faster, and our team is starting to get to where we want it to be,” Nichols said.

As they have passed the halfway point in the season, the team has some of the biggest meets of the season coming up.

“We will be competing at the KU relays this weekend, which is a very big meet where all the top kids from the midwest will be at. This meet is going to be a good measuring stick for our guys and usually whatever place you can finish there you can finish in our state meets,” Harding said.

Being a largely individualized sport, Harding acknowledges the team goals but emphasizes the personal goals surrounding the team.

“We have a lot of individual goals but we have team goals as well like finishing in the top two in our conference district and a team placing in the state meet, but we are more focused on our individual goals, because if they achieve their goals then our team will achieve the team goals as well,” Harding said.

The team has raised their expectations going into the final weeks of the season.

“Our goal is to be number one by the time state comes, I would think that’s what we all want.” Nichols said.

Following the KU relays today and tomorrow, the track team will compete at Fort Osage and Blue Springs on Tuesday, April 26 and Friday, April 29. The conference championship meet will take place on Friday, May 6 at Ray-Pec.