All of Guthrie County’s high schools will have athletes competing at the state track & field meet, which begins tomorrow at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. While Guthrie Center, West Central Valley, Coon Rapids-Bayard and Adair-Casey will all have individual athletes competing, the Panorama boy’s and girl’s track teams won their state qualifying meet at Treynor and will have the honor of competing as a whole team. Panorama head track coach Greg Thompson says his teams were ecstatic after securing those victories. “We spent a good 20 or 30 minutes taking pictures and celebrating afterwards, cleaning up camp. Then we boarded the bus home and they ran so hard they were all exhausted.”

Guthrie Center’s head girls track coach Dave Spratte says senior leadership will play a part in victory for his qualifying athletes. “I have a good leader in Sydney Danker and Rachel (Rumelhart) has been down there before. We do have Mady Smith and Jen Foentes who anchor our 4×100, and Leighan Laughery who will be making their first appearances down there. I always tell the kids, ‘you deserve to be here, you’re one of the best in the state at what you’re doing.”

Stay tuned to Raccoon Valley Radio and like our Facebook page at ‘Raccoon Valley Radio’ for live event updates during the state meet, Thursday through Saturday. You can find a complete list of Guthrie County’s qualifying athletes at the following links: https://raccoonvalleyradio.com/2015/05/class-2a-girls-and-boys-state-track-field-qualifiers-from-area-are-told/ https://raccoonvalleyradio.com/2015/05/area-state-track-field-qualifiers-in-class-1a-are-announced/