Karl Hedlund
Talon staff writer
At the end of last year’s track and field season, many thought that Minnehaha Academy’s future track teams would not be as competitive in the conference after graduating former stars like Phil White and Jake Brown, who finished third at last season’s state meet in the 3200 meter.
However, both the boys and girls track teams have put in a lot of hard work during the off-season to make it possible to have a successful upcoming 2011 season with great returning runners like senior John Bedingham.
The boys team is coached by middle school gym teacher Steve Ramgren. He has selected three senior captains for this year – John Bedingham, Matt Ferris and Kwesi Hinson.
The girls team, coached by Christian Zimmerman, has four senior captains -Katie Hauge, Emily Bertram, Siri McCord and Ava Heinrich who began leading captains’ practices on February 1.
“For most days of captain’s practices, the sprinters ran from North Campus down to South Campus,” said sophomore sprinter Jackie Bedingham. “But on some days we had designated game days where we played fun games like capture the flag around the school.”
In addition to captains’ practices there was also a large group of athletes who have been participating in winter training and a special indoor meet to prepare for regular season practices, which began the week of March 14.
The first meet for both the boys and girls team is on April 12, at St. Croix Lutheran School. They will be competing against St. Croix Lutheran as well as Concordia.
“I can’t wait for the meets this season,” said freshmen sprinter Pauline Ojambo. “The practices and training are all conditioning, but when you get to the meets its just so much fun.”