In his first year coaching the Eureka Springs track teams, Coach Ryan Sanchez faces some big challenges in rebuilding the program.
“We’ve got good numbers on the junior high teams,” Sanchez said. Boys’ and girls’ teams at the senior high level have only a few members, but junior high teams started their season Tuesday with 10 boys and 14 girls. The coach said he sees the future of the track program here. “We’ll mostly have to create a program from the ground up,” he said.
The senior high season begins with a meet on Thursday at Green Forest, with multiple schools attending, including Berryville. The meet begins with field events at 3:30 p.m. Both the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams extended their seasons into the playoffs, and that left only one full week of practice before the start of track season. “We were already behind when basketball ended,” Sanchez said.
“When I was in school here, we had one coach for cross country in the fall and track in the spring,” he said. That continuity helped the kids keep up with their individual off-season training.
On top of the short pre-season practice period, Sanchez said the schedule will keep the team in competitions a couple of days each week, limiting in-season practice time.
The boys’ team includes Hunter Nystrom and Isaac Wyatt. Hannah Jewell, Gracie Lester and Shelby Little make up the girls’ team. Each of them will compete in multiple events.