Andale track and field is known as one of the best teams in Kansas 4A.  Andale track has 18 state titles combined, nine titles for the boys and nine titles for the girls.  With this being said you’re probably wondering how in the world does Andale seem to never run out of talent?  The answer lies in the phrase “Train them young,” as youth track is one contributor to Andale’s success.

Andale’s youth track team ranges from Pre-K to 6th grade.  The program was started by Stephanie Spexarth and Shawn Bretthauer.  The program was started to let kids from 6th grade and down test the waters of track and field and if they like it or not.

Currently, the program has approximately 180 kids out and competing. With the lack of enough coaches to manage that many kids, parents step in to organise the chaos.  Parents take turns and volunteer their time to help the coaches each week.  The average practice is usually a 90 minute practice, starting off with a 30 minute dynamic warm up and stretches.  Then for the first 30 minutes the older kids will start running events and younger kids will start with field events and vise versa.

The youth track program not only helps kids develop their fundamentals for their events, but also helps them get a feel for how track meets work.  By learning young they can walk into any meet and know what a first call means.  By also going to meets the also get a taste of competition and how to be competitive.  In the long run the youth track program helps Andale continue to be one of the best track programs in the state of Kansas.