(Avoca) The AHSTW boys are one of several area track teams scheduled to start their season Tuesday at Audubon.
Head coach Jackson Renberg chimes in on what he wants to get out of their opener. “We are going to treat the Audubon meet as a meet where we can see where we are at and look at times. I’m going to put a lot of kids in open events and see where there times are. You can never replicate that adrenaline that they get in a meet during practice so I’m looking forward to that.”
The majority of the roster is made up of sophomores and there’s some talent in that class. “Guys that might help us out I think Kyle Sternberg in the 400 and maybe 200. He showed a lot of promise last year. He’s a basketball player that has a really solid work ethic. He’s been focusing on getting better and also can help us out in the high jump. Cole Scheffler has grown a lot. Speed wise he has come a long ways since last year. I think he was going to help us last year, but he’s really going to help us this year. He’s looked good in the relays. We have a foreign exchange student named Jonas Reider and we are very fortunate to have him. He’s a great kid, great worker. He’s never done track before so everything is new.”
Upperclassmen are very sparse for the Vikings. Junior JJ Madsen is one of the only ones with actual high school experience. “He was a conference champ in the 4X100 and 4X200 two years ago in that group with Drake Partridge, Korbin Martin, and Joey Cunningham. He also was a state qualifier in that 4X100 and 4X200.”
David Johnson is a rare senior. “He’s a great leader, extremely hard worker, and he’s going to help us out a lot with the opens and the relays.”
Aidan Martin, Ryan Wedemeyer, Mitchell Kloewer, and Gavin Newcomb are some others that coach Renberg looks to contribute. He says they put a lot of practice emphasis on proper form during their early season practices.
