(Oakland) Riverside boys track coach Alex Oliver is excited to have 30 athletes to work with this spring.
Coach Oliver outlines some of the key pieces coming back to the team. “Ben Schroder was a state qualifier in cross country, so we’re looking for good things out of him in the distance area. Then we have some guys that have had some other accomplishments in football, basketball, or wrestling with Brogan Allenworth, Drake Woods, Austin Kremkoski, Rhett Bentley, and freshman Grady Jeppesen.”
Of course a lot of teams were disappointed they didn’t get to compete last year, but Riverside especially feels like they could’ve taken a big step forward if they’d been allowed to have a season. “We got going in the right direction. Quite a few kids were going to give track a try and then our season got cut short. Now it’s really just re-focusing some of those efforts. Kids are getting faster and stronger.”
Field events are an area coach Oliver is looking forward to seeing some development in. “Field events have definitely been a focus for us so far. I’m looking forward to good things out of Brogan Allensworth and Austin Kremkoski in the jumps. For our throwers we have Nate Messerschmidt as a returning shot put thrower and we have some guys trying discus for the first time that I think are going to have some success with it.”
Oliver says no one on the team has been a state track qualifier so one of their big goals is to get to Des Moines at the end of the year.
