HC Boys’ Track Giving Younger Athletes Opportunities to Compete

Harlan Community's Erik Heslink (4-30-26)

HC Boys’ Track Giving Younger Athletes Opportunities to Compete -

(4-30-26) – It was a scaled-back lineup but the Cyclone boys’ track team still did well to earn 46 pts on the evening at the Underwood Co-Ed Thursday.

For Harlan Community Boys’ Track Coach Sam Brummer, getting some of his younger athletes an opportunity to show what they can do is important.

“You want to reward them and give them opportunities to show out and showcase their abilities and I thought overall we did a really good job of that. We had a lot of kids step up and try some new events and kind of hone in on some things that I think will pay dividends here in the future.”

Kreed Boggess earned a 5th place finish in the 400m with a time of 57.81 seconds. Brummer also likes the season that’s being put together by Boggess and feels he will be helpful to his team moving forward.

“He's ran some 800m’s, he's ran some 200m’s. He's kind of our Swiss Army knife, jack of all trades. We can plug him in into a lot of different relays to fill holes on a given night and he's willing and able to do all of those.”

Eric Heslink had 6th place finishes in the 800m (2:11.25) and the 400m (59.35). Having run mostly distant events in his young career, Heslink has adjusted his training for shorter distances and building greater speed.

“Gotta do more sprints, like right before the race, and work on block work, and I think that this will help me out to become a better runner.”

Brummer agrees and knows how improvements by Heslink with his speed in shorter distances will help his running ability and his team in relay events.

“It's all about speed and it doesn't matter if it's the 100m or the 2-mile. You look at some of the times that are being posted, you don't make it around the track just based off endurance. You have to have speed to go with that endurance.”

For Heslink, he’s enjoyed the growth he’s gained through this season.

“This season's been, it's been a while and I've loved it. It's been amazing. I just want to finish strong and enjoy the rest of it.”

Heslink and his Cyclone boys’ track teammates will conclude their regular season at the Bruce Henderson Invite in Atlantic on Monday.

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