Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn has entered the 2024 track and field season with a fairly young girls squad. There are eight freshmen on the team along with five sophomores. The top returners from last season are seniors Jocelyn Abonce, Lexi Croatt and Alexis Grover and juniors Megan Otto and Eliza Tewes. Abonce and Croatt are distance runners while Grover and Tewes compete in the throwing events and Otto is a high jumper and sprinter.
The squad includes sophomores Payton Diehm, Clara Funk, Pam Mutombo, Evelyn Steffen and Hannah Tessum and freshmen Jessica Diaz, Kynlee Dolphin, Mia Harders-Morfitt, Madi Lauer, Kate McDaniel, Dalicia Nelson, Ava Shriver and Cammy Wilson.
HMS head coach Kirsten Taylor said the overall youth of the team has factored into the preparation and approach to the season. “With our squad being so young, it is good for even our upperclassmen to go back to the basics with some aspects of our training fundamentals,” she explained. “Coaching a young team can be positive because we are able to break bad habits fast. These athletes have been very flexible in trying new events for our program.” Taylor is being assisted this year by Julia Storm.
The head coach spotlighted some prospects from among her younger athletes. “Camryn Wilson is a nice addition to our throwers,” noted Taylor. “Kynlee Dolphin and Madi Lauer add depth to our sprinters. Jessica Diaz will help us out in the hurdles.”
The weather earlier in March was cooperative as the Hawks work to improve. “We have been taking advantage of the nice weather we have had this early in the season on the track,” said the coach. “Our team has been able to do workouts and drills that we were unable to implement into our calendar until April last year. This will help us with our times and distances tremendously.”
The HMS schedule this season provides various levels of competition, according to Taylor. “We attend a combination of larger and smaller hosted meets this season,” she said. “We see schools that are both bigger and smaller than us. We are back down into the 1A classification this year, which helps us compete with more like-sized schools at state qualifying. We struggled last season competing in 2A.”
The coach mentioned a couple of goals for the 2024 track and field campaign. “For our returners, our goal will definitely be to decrease season average times in their respective events,” said Taylor. “Scoring more points at conference and state qualifying is one of our top priorities.”