Greene County’s track & field Media Day on Monday was held outdoors at Linduska Field in Jefferson under nearly ideal weather conditions. Perhaps that’s a sign of good weather for the upcoming season, which can be hard to come by in Iowa this time of year.

Coach Derek Merk has over 30 girls out for the sport and boys’ head coach Chad Morton’s team has more than 40 participants. Morton told Raccoon Valley Radio the higher the number of kids out, the better chance of scoring points. “Track & field is a little like wrestling in that if you can’t fill the events, you won’t score points in a meet. If a wrestling team forfeits weight classes, it makes it that much harder to win.”

Both Greene County squads expect to fill all or nearly all 19 events on the track and in the field this season. The girls return the only State Meet place winner from last season in senior Olivia Shannon, seventh in the Class 2A 200 meter dash in 2022. Natalie and Katrina Heupel, plus Bella Schroeder were on State qualifying relays with Shannon last season and all are back. The boys also have talent, but no returning State qualifiers.

Monday, March 27 is when the Rams are scheduled to open the outdoor season at the Greene County Early Bird Coed Meet at Linduska Field.