The Belmond-Klemme boys soccer team fell 5-1 at home to Ballard in its season opener Tuesday. After leading 1-0 at halftime, the Bombers put the game out of reach with four second half goals. At 0-1, the Broncos will return to action Thursday by hosting Garner Hayfield Ventura.
The boys track and field had their outdoor season-opening meet at Nevada on Tuesday cancelled due to weather and will have a week before their next meet at Eagle Grove on April 8.
Head Coach Shannon Muhlenbruch on recovery for meets and managing conditioning.
“If we create depth, we can move kids around. Kids that run 800s might run 200s or they might run a 1,600. What we try to do most of the time after a meet, once we get in the season, it’s a lot of light jogs, maybe little sprints to get your legs loosened back up,” says Muhlenbruch. “Our philosophy has always been that the first part of the season, the first six weeks is where we get in shape, up to the indoor meet and the first outdoor meet. After that, your conditioning’s got to be somewhat there because I can’t get you in condition the last two weeks of the season. If you don’t have it by then, you’re probably in trouble.”
Muhlenbruch on teamwork between the boys and girls programs and the mental side of the sport.
“We’ve put a big emphasis on the hurdles this year and I’m very lucky for the girls track coach Justin Meyer, we kind of split some things up. I take his jumpers, he takes my hurdlers because he ran college track and hurdles and I long jumped in college so I work with those things. That’s the nice part of our staff on girls and boys, we get along and we help each other. It’s about the success of the program as a whole. I firmly believe track is more mental sometimes than it is physical. If you’re fast, you’re fast. We have some talent, but they make themselves better because they’ve got a big heart that beats and they got a gut that doesn’t want to lose. I want competitive kids.”
The Bronco boys return Braden Dougherty as a state qualifier in the high jump. Dougherty had a top jump of 5-10 during the indoor season. The Broncos also had top 15 finishes in 4x200m (13th), 4x400m (12th) and the 4x800m (12th).
