Monday marks the start of the final outdoor track and field season for five seniors a part of this springs Adel-Desoto-Minburn Tigers girls squad.The quintet of Katie Hoy, Keaton Kester, Ellie Mueller, Kaylyn Nordman, and Sami Schepers sat down with Raccoon Valley Radio Wednesday afternoon to talk about their experiences in track and their hopes and aspirations for the upcoming competition year. The group spoke highly of the positive practice atmosphere developed by previous senior classes before them, and Schepers says it something that’s become standard at ADM. “We want a really positive environment, lots of encouragement,” Schepers said, “It is mentally hard to deal with track because it takes a lot of stamina and endurance, so I think encouragement is one of the main things that keeps us going.”

Mueller adds many of the athletes on the team have high goals not only on the track but in the classroom. “We all got individual sheets where we could write down our individuals goals on what we want our times to be by the end of the year.” Mueller said, “Also on that sheet, we also had academic goals; we also want to be hard working in the classroom, not just in our sport. As a team, we value academics a lot.”

The five seniors are among the 31 athletes out for girls track and field at ADM. The squad will open the season at the Earlham Early Bird Invitational, competing against athletes from Des Moines East, Iowa Christian Academy, Panorama, Saydel Community Schools, Van Meter, and West Central Valley.