After the track teams exciting trip to Tennessee for Spring Break, and the following weekend meet at Wartburg, the outdoor season is off to a strong start.

“We seem to be ahead of the game since we have concentrated on our heavy training. It is important to keep the ball rolling in the right direction,” said Head Coach Tim Byers.

The Wartburg meet on March 16 proved to be very successful for the Storm. At the end of the weekend the team took home three first place finishes and four second place finishes.

According to Byers, the team is gelling well.

“I see a lot of team unity in practice and in meets, which is great. Every one cheers each other on and gives their support,” said Byers.

On the women’s side, senior Becky Jolly is an athlete to watch. In the first two events of 100-meter hurdles, she placed first in both.

On the men’s side, junior Zach Allison is standing out in the 400m.

“We hope for our runners to complete this event around 50 seconds, but Zach accelerated with a time of 49.66 seconds, which we were extremely happy with,” said Byers.

Other results from the Wartburg Invitational include senior Buffy Irwin’s second place in the women’s javelin throw with a distance of 33.60m and freshman Ross Parker’s third place finish in men’s shot put with a distance of 13.51m.

Senior Lucas Carder also came in third in Men’s long jump with a jump of 6.31m and placed first in the high jump with a jump of 1.95m.

The men and women will proceed to the Truman State Open meet in which they will be competing against division One and Division Two runners.

“We tell our kids to just worry about themselves, we stress the fact of not being intimidated,” said Byers. “We’ve run against the best all year and these meets make us better, along with showing us where we are and need to be.”

The next meet after Truman State will be the William Jewell Open in Liberty, Mo., on April 6.