The Alliance High School track season started on February 28. The head coach, Nate Lanik, says coaching the kids is great and having assistant coaches makes his job easier. He mentioned, “In terms of what it is like to coach them, it is basically focusing on what the kids can do where they are at and then how they can make them better.”
The other coaches do a great job with the team members. The assistant coaches include Coach Bloyd, who teaches shot put and discus, Angie Hiemstra who coaches long-distance (one-mile and two-mile runs), Chris Seebohm, who coaches long jump, triple jump, and running hurdles, Coach Brennen, who coaches the sprint runs (100 meters and 200 meters), Coach Nelson trains the pole vault runners, and Coach Pilfold who coaches the middle distance runs (400 meters and 800 meters). Coach Lanik says, “As the head coach, my job is basically all the relays, and then I took on the high jump this year. Which I am learning as I go.”
Lanik started out as an assistant coach for the Alliance High School Track team. He is currently the head coach and has been for seven years. Lanik first started coaching for many sports teams when he was a sophomore in college at 19. His coaching career went on as the years went by. Lanik took over as head coach when the old head coach, Coach Kramer, got a new job offer in eastern Nebraska. Coach Lanik learned a lot from Kramer and stated that he was a very good guy.
Lanik states, “The team is doing so far so good. It’s tough not getting outside. We live in Nebraska so the weather is unique.” The weather can cause less practice, but the team does their best practicing indoors. There are many students participating in track this year. Lanik states, “I can’t tell you the exact number [off the] top of my head, but I think we have 25 girls and then about 23 boys.”
The first meet is the Chadron State College Indoor meet on Saturday, March 19 and the first outdoor meet is on March 26, in Sydney Nebraska. Coach Lanik states, “The indoor meet is a little different than the outdoor meets, [with] different events. We don’t get to throw discus.” Therefore, the indoor meets for the team can be difficult.
Preparation builds up to the next meet. Lanik says, “The team focuses mainly on technique and doing things correctly and not necessarily their time on our distances right away.”
Because of this, the team has been learning new things and focusing on technique before their first meets. The SPUD wishes the team luck for the new track season!