Track and field athletes from all over the state will showcase their talents at this year’s West Texas AAU Regional Meet.
This week’s meet will take place from Thursday to Saturday at Ratliff Stadium. Thursday’s events will begin at 8 a.m. and continue throughout the day.
Friday and Saturday’s events will start at 7:30 a.m. The top six running individual finishers as well as the top six field finishers and top six relay teams will qualify for the AAU Junior Olympic Games which will take place from July 24- Aug. 1 in Greensboro, N.C.
“It’s exciting to have the opportunity for these kids to run and compete,” West Texas Track Club coach Eugene Neboh said. “It’s great to see them put their hard work to use. I think the kids are very excited about it. We have a lot more kids competing this year so it’s good to see the summer track program grow. It’s a good time right now for track.”
This year, Neboh says his club has about 220 people competing which includes the Tiny Tots.
“I think the Tiny Tots has been fairly consistent,” Neboh said. “The growth has been in the older kids with the junior high and high school kids which is good to see. It’s one way for the kids to stay out of trouble.”
The West Texas Track Club members have been out practicing since April. The athletes have been practicing at Ratliff Stadium for over two weeks now.
The team is out practicing three days a week. Athletes from as far as the Texas panhandle, New Mexico as well as the Mmetroplex are expected to be competing at this week’s meet. “I expect there to be a lot of good competition,” Neboh said. “I expect it to be a good measuring stick for our kids. I expect us to compete and do well.”
Neboh says he’s liked how hard his athletes have been working so far.
“I would say right now, it’s still pretty early for us because we’ve had only one meet (this summer),” Neboh said. “But I’ve liked how hard they’ve worked. They’ve been showing the willingness to work hard and compete. They’ve stepped up to the challenge.”
Age divisions for individual events include 8U, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15-16 and 17-18.
