It had been 668 days between the last meet of the 2019 season and the first meet of the 2021 season for the West Central Trojan track team. The Trojans were able to get back to competition on March 23rd. If how they performed at the Lancer High School Opener is any indication, the Trojans will have a very strong team this year.
Girls Head Coach Janel Merkwan said, “Our girls team is very deep this year, and we have a lot of talent, both young and old. I am very excited to see what we put together as team this year. I expect our girls to battle with the best. West Central has so many strong female athletes, which is evident when you see how they have competed all year in their other sports, and I am happy to have them back on the track and see them working towards their goals. These young ladies are competitors and I would put our girls up against any team in the state is most any sport!”
The Trojans are led by a group of senior girls that have been with the program for four-to-six years. Those ladies include: Abbie Cain and Sayda Rolfson who are looking at finishing off their successful six year distance careers at West Central, Aysia Hall and Josie Koch who are looking at being in the top 10 in the state in their respective throwing events, Shaw Nelson who is coming off an ACL injury from this fall and is ready to get back out in competition and finish her senior year with a bang, Paige Pilker who is hopping for chance at contending in the high jump, Averi Schmeichel who is already a multi-event state track champion looking to defend some titles before she heads off to run D1 track at USD, Shelby Sherard who is looking at trying some shorter distances this season for some more experience, and Jada VanOverbeke who is a all state soccer player that has been a strong leg on the state placing sprint relays for the last five years.
The boys team will be led by seven seniors this year. Those seniors are Barden Traub-Jensen, Justin Schumacher, Caleb Schulte, Jacob Nelson, Josh Livermore, Derek Eidsness, and Isaiah Colon. The Trojans will also look to underclassmen Wyatt Nielsen (Sophomore), Layton Johnson (Freshman), Dylan Stromer (Sophomore), Ben Strunk (Freshman), Tommy Berg (Junior), Jude Jarding (Freshman), Erik Setten (Sophomore), and Dylan Sherard (Sophomore) who all had top eight finishes at the opening track meet on March 23rd.
The Trojans will be hosting the West Central Early Bird meet on Tuesday, April 6th.