While it has been unusually warm for February weather in central Iowa recently, there have been and will be some very cold days ahead and for Iowa high school track teams.

The cold weather forces a few obstacles in the way teams train and prepare for the start of the season and often times, coaches have to either work around the cold or find creative ways to overcome it.

For head coach Greg Thompson and the Panorama Panther track teams, they are taking the cold head on and are approaching it not from a physical standpoint, but rather from a mental one.

“We kind of approach it from a mental side of it because those early outdoor meets are always going to be cold. We try to get them mentally prepared and talk about those outdoor meets when the sun goes down, it gets pretty cold just like it is right now so we’re going to get used to running outside. That’s the way we approach it,” explained coach Thompson.

The first meet of the season belongs to the Panther boys track team when they partake in the Cental College meet on Friday March 17th beginning at 2:00 pm. Meanwhile the Lady Panther track and field team will follow right behind when they take their shots at the Central College meet on Saturday March 18th, beginning at 10:00 am.