Leadership, training and work ethic is key to this year’s track season

Somehow, someway the Wausa boys track team will figure it out this spring.

If figuring it out means what they have been able to do early on, then that could only pay big dividends in late May.

The Vikings saw last weekend’s Knox County Invitational postponed for a week, but that might have been at the benefit of their opponents who have seen Wausa do wonders with a 10-man unit with multiple finishes in the upper reaches of invitational standings.

Athletic director and head boys coach Greg Conn said the girls at the school currently outnumber the boys as is the fickle nature of school enrollment.

“We have always had anywhere from 15-18 boys in the past,” Conn said. “So far this season, this group of boys have been a very competitive group and a hard working bunch of kids. Their work ethic has been awesome and they really push each other during workouts and this is what has been carrying us and will continue to carry us throughout the season.”

Conn cites the leadership within the roster.

“We have one senior, Steel Claussen who has been what I consider the work horse of the group in terms of he will do anything you ask,” Conn said. “He may not be the fastest sprinter that we have but he has gotten quicker because of his competitiveness and his work ethic. He leads by example and wants to win.

“Our Juniors, Jarrett Andersen, Tyler Baue, Brandon Kristensen, and Devon Rosberg are competing in only their second season. Jarrett has placed in our first two outings in the shot put and will continue to improve as the season goes on to reach his goals. Tyler has been a great surprise in the hurdles as he has really jumped up his game in both the 300s and 110HH. He has placed in the top three in our last meet and has been very aggressive in attacking the hurdles.”

And it doesn’t end there as Kristensen has been strong in the triple jump and 400 placing well in both meets and has been a very strong leg in the 4x400 relay.

Rosberg has been a solid fixture thus far placing in the open 800 and the 4x100.

Then the younger athletes have also chipped in with sophomores Jaxon Claussen, Addison Smith, and Josh Wattier having a solid start to the season.

“Jaxon has gone 6-3 in the high jump and 40-1 in the triple jump,” Conn said. “Addison has run 5:07 in the 1,600 and 10:56 in the 3,200 and is just beginning to find his groove in both of these events.

“Josh has been kind of our utility guy in that we put him in our 4x100 and 4x400 relays and he has given us great effort in both of these events along with strong performances in the 200 meters. This is great core group of sophomores that have provided solid leadership as well in just their first year of competition.”

The Vikings may be short in numbers, but the depth from old to young is apparent as freshmen Cade Wakeley and Henry Kumm do more than just make up the numbers.

“Henry has been sidelined with a quad injury and has not been able to compete but will be ready to go here shortly so we look forward to see what he can do,” Conn said. “Cade is part of our two man distance core. At our last meet at Plainview, Cade was just out of the money for a medal but more importantly, he really competed well in both the 1,600 and 3,200 and put himself in a position to be a medalist.”

For now Conn will enjoy the benefits of working with this small, but talented group and will worry later about how to build the numbers back.

“It’s too early to tell as far as possible numbers for next year because we are just getting started,” Conn said. “Our focus is on the here and now because we have two classes who now have just two competitions under their belt. Lots of pieces to fit into a big puzzle at this stage and hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will be able to put the pieces in the right places.”

Smith has the simple solution to why this team is overcoming its shortfalls as a roster.

“We just train hard and then do our best in the meets and it’s been turning out well for us,” Smith said. “It’s the ideal that we have such few guys and how we’ve done with that, we want to keep doing that and do the best we can with the amount of people we have.”

“I just want to be good at my long-distance events and other guys have their specialties. We just have our own events that we excel at.”

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