With a couple weeks out for outdoor competition, the Wakefield girls and boys track & field team will get an early start to their season indoors in late March.
Spring sports practices first began on March 3 as teams have been battling what Mother Nature has thrown their way.
Mike Hassler will be entering his 26th overall year coaching track & field with 2025 being his 18th in Wakefield. He said the group has been getting their base and working on the track muscles.
“It’s a whole different set of muscles from any other sport,” said Hassler. “You usually don’t push yourself for as long as a duration at higher speeds. So, a lot of soreness working that out and just trying to find where kids fit.”
Coach Hassler also spent some time at Emerson-Hubbard and in Clearwater.
Assistant coaches will be Austin Galles (sprints/jumps), Timarie Hansen (hurdles), Iris Borg (distance) and Chris Pieper (throws).
Both squads are sitting around 25 each with the girls seniors being McKinnley Mogus and Alli Brown along with boys seniors of Jesse Lundahl, Adrian Flores and Timothy Kaufman.
Sophomore Boston Brown qualified in the triple jump at state last year and will be impact in hurdles and long jump. Other top Trojan girls include Alli Brown scoring points in multiple events and sophomore Montse Avila for pole vault.
Junior Cael Johnson (two-time state qualifier in 110/300 hurdles) is the trop returner on the boys team bringing back a bronze medal in the 300-meter hurdles last year (finished seventh his freshman season) and qualified in the 110-meter high hurdles as well as Lundahl being a first-time qualifier in the discus at state. Junior Mason Lamprecht and Kaufman also qualified in long jump at state.
Competitive toughness has been highlighted early in the season for Wakefield girls and boys tack & field.
“Learning to dig when a race gets a little bit tougher and pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone,” Hassler added. “Just competing and fighting for every tenth of a second in a race or every inch out there.”
The Wakefield Track & Field program will be returning to the Wayne State College High School indoor classic. Competition is set for Saturday, March 22 at 10 a.m. from the Wildcat Dome.
Outdoor high school competition will follow on Tuesday, April 1 during the West Point-Beemer Invite.
Coach Hassler mentioned the staff is working on finding spots to pair the right individuals with the right events.
“Freshmen coming in and sophomores that have maybe hit a growth spurt so you got to shuffle some kids around,” Hassler mentioned. “We always just tell our kids it’s our job to put you in the best position to compete and get better. So, that’s what we’ll be looking to do the first month of the season.”
Wakefield is also excited to host their Second annual Wakefield Invite on Tuesday, April 22. The track meet was postponed due to weather last year and was a smaller meet but have since added a few more teams and look forward to showing off their facility.
