Both the ADM boys and girls track and field teams head to Huxley Saturday for the Raccoon River Conference meet at Ballard High School, with events set to begin at 10 a.m.
The girls will look to defend their conference title, which they narrowly won over Boone last season. This year’s meet figures to be not much different, as both teams are again in good position to contend for the championship.
ADM’s strongest unit is undoubtedly its sprinters, though head coach Bart Mueller noted that group isn’t as deep as Boone’s. He said performing well in middle and long distance events, both individually and in relays, will be critical to repeating as conference champions.
Mueller said Boone has the deeper squad overall and will be tough to overcome, but that if certain events fall in to place, ADM is more than capable of beating the Toreadors.
Not that his confident bunch of athletes are even thinking that way.
“The good thing about them is them is they don’t analyze things as much as I do,” Mueller said. “I probably look at Boone and notice how tough they are a lot more than them; they don’t worry about as much, it’s just like another meet, ‘Hey, it’s another conference meet, we win these things.’ So I think confidence-wise they’ll give it a shot. They’re not going to be scared or intimated. They’ll come in pretty light. We’ll have a good time.
“That’s the focus tomorrow, they’ll encourage each other and have a good time. It’s the conference meet, and we’re thankfully we get to run and compete, and at least we’re in the hunt. And that’ll be exciting.”
In the sprinting department, senior Kari Dufoe has returned to form after a pair of leg injuries knocked her out of a week’s competition and limited her the following week in mid-April. Dufoe is again running in the 100, 200 and 400 meter dashes at meets, most recently winning all three events Tuesday night at the Nevada Invite.
Mueller said the next step in Dufoe’s recovery is to regain her stamina in the 200 and 400, which will come with time. Dufoe’s focus remains getting ready for the state meet, so Mueller continues to closely monitor the senior’s practice routine.
“She’s running strong. We’re watching it, probably being pretty careful,” Mueller said. “I sent her to the pool [Thursday] night and got her off the track. But she’s running the full events [Saturday]; we’re not holding her back in the meets. Training we’re probably cutting back a little bit just to keep her healthy for state, but she’s going strong now and she’s going to have a strong finish to the season.”