Track & field practices these days are being held outside for the Greene County High School teams even though the indoor season doesn’t begin until next week. The weather has been mild enough to allow outdoor workouts, which isn’t the case every year.

Girls’ head coach Derek Merk talked with Raccoon Valley Radio about the advantages to being on the Linduska Field track as opposed to inside the high school hallways. “We’re able to run some different workouts that we wouldn’t be able to do in the halls. It helps attitudes as well being out in the sunshine and fresh air. The previous couple of years we were stuck inside for about three weeks and it’s difficult to keep the attitudes up when that happens.”

The coach added being on the all-weather surface outside helps prevent injuries. “My first two years here, shin splints was a complaint by about three-fourths of the team from running inside on those hard hallways. Honestly, I don’t know that I’ve heard even one of the girls complain about that so far this season, so that’s another advantage of being outdoors.”

The Rams compete inside the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls on March 9 for girls and March 10 for boys to get the indoor season underway.