Boys’ head coach excited about state of Longhorn track program

Thanks to COVID-19 canceling last year’s track season, Chase County track coaches are welcoming two grades that don’t have any high school track experience.
“It has been a little chaotic getting back into the swing of track after basically two full years,” CCS boys’ track coach Carl Zuege said, but added his team has done a great job coming in and getting to work.
The track season also got off to a late start for members of the boys’ basketball after their trip to the state tournament.
“So, we are still kind of getting to know everyone’s skill set and work ethic,” Zuege said.
Once that’s taken care of, coaches will get team members slotted into the events where they can have the best chance at success and the greatest ability to help the Longhorns, he added.
“I have been very pleased with how our young guys have come in and gone right to work. That understanding of what it takes to come in and compete at a high level is a credit to our junior high coaches and to the strength of our overall program,” Zuege said.
The boys’ team has 39 athletes out, including eight seniors and eight juniors who return as letterwinners. Seven sophomores and 16 freshmen also reported for the season.
Zuege said CCS will be led by several of the returning seniors, including three 2019 state qualifiers in Chase Rowley, Cedric Maxwell and Clay Meeske.
CCS coaches are excited about the state of the school’s junior high and high school programs thanks to high participation numbers.
Zuege said coaches counted between 165 and 170 kids participating in track from grades 7-12.
“The benefits of this sport are huge, and our school and community have been unbelievably supportive of our track program,” Zuege said.
The recent success of both programs, especially the CCS girls, along with the great support is contributing to the great numbers, he added, before crediting junior high coaches Nathan Gaswick and Jerel Fortkamp, along with the rest of the junior high staff for doing an outstanding job getting kids out and excited about track.
The season’s first meet will be Thursday this week at the Perkins County preseason triangular where CCS and the Plainsmen will be joined by South Platte.
Zuege said, though everyone may not feel fully prepared, they are looking forward to their first meet.
The early triangular works out well with no team scoring and unlimited entries in each event.
“Therefore we can try some things out and just get those first meet nerves out of the way. Perkins County always does a great job running meets, so it is a great early opportunity for our kids,” Zuege said.
With the season stretching out ahead of them, Zuege said his team’s greatest strengths appear to be sprints, middle distance, short relays and the pole vault, while the team is very young in the throws, distance races, hurdles and jumps.
While CCS has relied on throws and hurdles for points in the past, Zuege said that may not be the case this year.
“However, I think we have some guys in those events who can eventually be even better than the guys we have had in the past. So, it will be a lot of fun watching this team grow throughout the year,” Zuege said.