Eaton girls tied for first and boys placed fourth at the Fightin’ Red Invitational track meet on Saturday April 6. Their season started off with a cancelled track meet taking an opportunity away from all the athletes’ end goal. Even though Eaton is down a meet, that has not stopped the team as it strives to qualify for state. At Saturday’s invite 41 Eaton athletes placed in the top ten and improved their performance and times placing them higher in all of 3A. The athletes ranked in the top 18 of each event by May 13 will qualify for state May 16-18. As of April 16, Eaton has qualified in 12 events for the girls and three for the boys.

Along with the weather, the track team has had to adjust to a few new additions to the coaching staff. Along with a new head coach Jaryn Guerra, the team gained a new throwing coach; Kerri Ruff, and a new distance coach; Aaron Alarcon. Both coaches has been a huge key to Eaton’s success this year. Senior Lainee Hauer said, “I really like coach A. He pushes people to be their best in a positive way, and he coaches everyone no matter who they are and no matter what their abilities are. He cares for each and every one of our goals.”

The track team travels to Roosevelt Saturday April 20 in hopes of qualifying more athletes for state in four weeks.