ROCK SPRINGS — With the indoor track and field season already underway, Rock Springs High School head coach Casey Walker said early competition has reinforced confidence in both the team’s preparation and its long-term direction.
Rock Springs opened the season earlier this month and, according to Walker, the most notable takeaway from the first meet was how many athletes were already performing at a high level.
“The number of athletes who either set a new lifetime personal record in an event or came close to or tied a personal record,” Walker said. “For a first meet of the year it is kind of unusual. I think this speaks to the work they have done in the weight room and the offseason with our open track nights and camps they attended.”
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Walker said those results aligned with what he had seen in practice, though the meet still exceeded expectations.
“This group has been game to what we have given them in practice. Even with that I was pleasantly surprised,” Walker said. “First meets you never really know how the freshman are going to respond and sometimes the older athletes put too much pressure on themselves. Both groups showed a lot of maturity and competitiveness, technique was where it should be. Now we have to trust the process and keep getting better.”
Early strengths emerged across multiple event groups, particularly in the jumps.
“I really liked what I saw out of our jumpers at this meet,” Walker said. “Brianna Dale set a new girls indoor record for PV with a jump at 10’2, there were also a lot of PRs out of that group on both girls and boys side. In Long Jump and Triple jump we placed athletes in the top 8 on both the boys and girls side.”
Walker also pointed to the distance runners’ performance under challenging conditions.
“Our distance crew placed two boys in the 800 after a very short turnaround after running the mile as well,” he said. “We have a good core of upper classman in all event groups and some nice young athletes to help them. It is going to be interesting to see the developement.”
Several performances confirmed progress Walker hoped to see coming into the season.
“As I said before, when you have kids getting new lifetime PRs in the first meet of the season I think you are headed in the right direction,” he said. “We are still in early season shape and as that progresses I expect that will continue to show up in the marks.”
Indoor competition also serves as an evaluation tool, especially for athletes still finding their best events.
“We use indoor for kids to try some things they maybe haven’t done before,” Walker said. “Utah runs meets with field events on Friday and running on Saturday so this allows us to be able to put kids in events they may not be able to do at a single day meet due to scheduling and recovery needed. We want kids to be successful and find events they can compete in.”
As the season continues, Walker said relay development is a primary focus.
“We have to look at our relays,” he said. “It seems we are one leg short of being very competitive in most of them. We will be running some kids in different open events this weekend to get times to help give us a better picture.”
Balancing evaluation with competitiveness is part of the early-season approach.
“Track is a beautiful thing in that it’s all about data,” Walker said. “I look at the meet schedule for events for the first three meets and try to balance out getting what we need to see vs what we know we have. We have a pretty good idea with my upperclassmen but the freshman and sophomores will surprise you and we want to give them a chance to show us that.”
Walker said indoor track plays a key role in preparing athletes for the outdoor season, particularly given Rock Springs’ lack of an indoor facility.
“For our athletes it’s a chance to work on technique and build a base,” he said. “Without having an indoor facility we run halls, LJ into porta pits etc. Once we hit outdoor and have full use of the 400m track it changes our conditioning and prep work considerably.”
Rather than emphasizing early marks, Walker wants athletes focused on improvement.
“I want them to focus on the process and not marks,” he said. “They will see improvement each week if they do that and it is easier to focus mentally on. It can be hard for them as high school kids aren’t know for their patience but this group has really bought into just controlling what they can and going out and competing.”
Looking ahead, Walker said culture and leadership are just as important as physical progress.
“I want to see continued growth in our leadership and development of a culture,” he said. “It is a focus for all of us this year. The physical aspects will come but having a place you love to be and people you love to do it with makes it so much easier to do.”
This year’s roster is the largest Walker has coached at Rock Springs. The team includes 15 seniors, 18 juniors, 23 sophomores and 26 freshmen.
“This is the largest number we have had out since I became the head coach,” he said. “Last year we had 65. Most years, we are mid 60s to lower 70s. We didn’t have a lot of seniors last year so we return a lot of athletes.”
Travel is one of the biggest differences between indoor and outdoor seasons.
“Competition surfaces can vary so we are always aware of what footwear is needed etc but the biggest thing for us is the travel,” Walker said. “Almost every meet we compete at we go down the night before to places like Pocatello and Idaho State, Ogdon and Weber State.”
Walker credited his staff, parents and community support for making that possible.
“My staff is really good at not just the coaching aspect but helping me with all the travel logistics as well as my parent committee,” he said. “We fundraise to pay for the kids’ meals on the road and their lunch at meets. I am grateful for all the amazing people and businesses that support us in what we do.”
