This year’s Bomber Girls Track team has proved to be a local force. Coach Brett Zimmerman stands proudly by his team which he thinks has “by far the best team effort…” he’s ever had. This years team has time and time again competed with the far larger schools of Byron and Pine Island for the whole year and made a statement at Sub-sections by placing second and only down by fifty points to Byron compared to the 90 some points last year.

The team has a multitude of players advancing to sections: 14 girls moved on with 11 Section event entries; notables being Kat Hoffman and Dani Hansen who each moved on in three events and Emma Thomley who made it to Sections in all four of her events. Having this many move on “in this section” is a tribute to the team’s heart and desire to compete and while some may end up falling short of the state tournament, these girls’ prowess cannot be denied. Kalissa Banks, who made it to section in both long and triple jump, may even break the school record of 32’ 2.75’’. She only has 6 inches to go and very much so has a shot.

All in all, this year’s Bomber Girls Track Team has been lights out, meet after meet, and while a team of this caliber may not come again soon, Zimmerman won’t be surprised if the team is even better in three years once this year’s “stellar freshmen” become seniors and the bar will again be set higher, as it was this year by this team. But for now, all the current finalists can do to better themselves is to focus on what they already have make sure their techniques are flawless. These girls have won the battle, but there are two more yet to be won and each girl will put their all in winning them, just as they have all season long.

Chance was the achilles heel for the Bomber Boys Track Team this year. Some of the boys team shined brightly when called upon, others regretfully fell short for frustrating reasons. It first started with Senior Evan Heather who, one week before sub-sections, got his personal best in the pole vault before severely spraining his ankle on the last jump for a second personal best. Heather is now in a boot and still supports the team, but alas he could not participate in the meet where he easily could have advanced.

The next issue occurred during the sub-section meet. The boy’s 4×2 team was in second when the last hand-off the race was made to early and did not reach the exchange-zone. The team was disqualified after getting their best time of the year. The last disappointment was with Senior Max Reuger. Reuger made it to the finals in the discus throw but couldn’t make his personal best and fell short of the top three, the standard for who advances to sections. However through these shortfalls there are a few diamonds in the rough. Seniors Gabe Hall, Kyler Banks, and Zach Siebenaler all made it in the shot put, triple jump, and high jump respectively. Hall and Banks made personal bests at sub-sections and Banks is now only six inches off breaking the school record of forty-two feet, eleven and three-quarters inches for the triple jump. Siebenaler made the section standard of five feet, nine inches for high jump and moved on as well.

As for what these advancers can do Coach Ben Schopp believes that the best for them now is to “…brush up on their technique…” and not try anything fancy or new. As for the season as a whole, Schopp couldn’t have been happier, “they went right to the limit” of what they could do and ran themselves into the ground to get to the position they were in. Schopp does feel for the 4×2 team and their seemingly flawless run wiped away, but he also knows that focusing on the present is what’s best and he’s still got three finalists to mentor in hopes for redemption (both Banks and Siebenaler were in the 4×2) and move on to state.