Hopes high for Saratoga track

Last year, the Saratoga Panthers track and field team had nearly 40 athlete competing in various events. This year, that number is down to 29, which is still a formidable number, especially when considering that many of the returning athletes have competed in the past. There are still open slots, however, left by students who graduated.

"We lost a couple of key ones from last year. We lost Ashlynn (Johnson), off the girls, which she did a lot of relays and events and Ben Fairbanks covered a lot of ground for us in the relays. So, we'll have to replace those two and that's going to be pretty difficult," said Rex Hohnholt, head coach of Saratoga track.

Despite the loss of student athletes like Johnson, Fairbanks and Gage Bartlett, Hohnholt is confident that Saratoga track will have a successful season.

"We have a lot of returning point scorers from last year. In fact, most of our point scorers,' Hohnholt said. "We're seeing some really good things. Kids look a lot strong, working harder than they have in the past. We're in a good position right now, other than we aren't getting on the track here."

As Wyoming weather tends to do, the recent blizzard has prevented the track and field athletes from actually getting on the track and field. Once they do, hopes are high. Last year, both Saratoga teams were close to placing at state.

"We were both right there on the cusp of placing at state last year, so our goal definitely needs to be to be up on the podium and I think we got the kids who can do that. We've got a lot of depth, a lot of talented kids returning," said Hohnholt.

While they missed the Wind River Invite on March 16, Saratoga will be heading up to the Natrona Invite in Casper on March 22 where they will finally get a chance to see what the season will hold for them.