Area cross country and track and field high school athletes were looking for a way to stay in shape and get prepared for the high school track and field season and the best way to do that is join the Northeast Kansas Track Club which participates on the AAU circuit.

The Northeast Kansas Track Club as been a dominate one and recently competed at National and took home the teams third straight National Championship, finishing the national competition with 196 total medalists. The teams comprised of many Athletes all across Northeast Kansas and a few from other areas, but there are 13 athletes from the area schools of Hiawatha, Marysville, Axtell, Washington County, Centralia, Jefferson County North, Linn and Jeff West that are part of this years team.

Top performances were all over for the area athletes highlighted by many on the day at their respective age groups.

For the Hiawatha Redhawks it was Jordan Puvogel and Tyler Boeckman performing well at the competition as both competed at the 17-18 age group level. Puvogel took home a second place finish in the 3000m run as her best performance, while also finishing fifth in the 1500m and was on the eighth place team of the 4x400m relay which included Julia Klute of Centralia, Laramie Leakey of JCN and one other competition. Boeckman took home a national championship winning the 3000m run, while finishing second in the 1500m and sixth in the 800m run. Tyler also competed as part of the NEK Track Club's 17-18 4x400m relay team which place third.

The Axtell Eagles had three athletes compete at on the NEK Track Club squad at Nationals as Mariah Deters competed in the 13-14 age group and Susan Peschal competing in the 15-16 age group and Shane Torrey in the 17-18 age group. Deters competed in five different events in Nationals, winning two of them. Mariah captured the crown in the long jump and triple jump in the 13-14 age group, while placing second in the Triathlon and high jump, too and finally grabbed a seventh place in the 60m hurdles. Peschal took part in four events at Nationals with her best performance coming in the 1500m race walk which she placed second. Susan also took fourth in the 3000m run and fifth in the 1500m run, while also participating in the high jump. Rounding out the action for the Eagles competitors on the NEK Track Club team was Shane Torrey; Shane took home a second place finish in the 1500m race walk like his fellow Eagle in Susan, while also placing fifth in both the 1500m and 3000m runs.

Both the Jeff West Tigers and JCN Chargers had a tandem of girls compete on the NEK Track Club and perform at Nationals. For the Tigers it was Macy Tucker and Makenzie Tucker partaking in the events. Macy competed in the age group of 11-12 placing third in both of her events competing in the shot put and 1500m run walk. Makenzie competed at the 13-14 age group level partaking in four events, with her best performance coming in the 1500m run in which she placed second. She also took home a fourth in the triple jump, fifth in the triathlon and sixth in the high jump.

For the JCN Chargers, Hannah Twenhafel and Laramie Leakey both competed on the NEK Track team this year both at the 17-18 level. Laramie took home a fifth place finish in the 3000m run and ninth in the 1500m run, while also being part of the eight place 4x400m relay team but her best performance came in the 1500m run walk taking home second place. Hannah also came home with a second place finish which came in the triathlon, while also taking fourth in the shot put and fifth in the triple jump.

Centralia, Linn, Marysville and Washington County each had a competitor on the NEK Track Club team also this year. For the Panthers it was Julia Klute who took home a fifth place finish in the 1500m run walk, an eighth place in the shot put, fourth in the 3000m run and was part of the eighth place 4x400m relay team at the 17-18 age level.

For Linn, Acacia Thalmann competed at the age level of 17-18 and took third in the triathlon, sixth in the triple jump and fifteenth in the long jump. Marysville's, Zach Cook took home a third in the 17-18 year old shot put and sixth in the 1500m run walk at Nationals. Washington Counties, Dylan Hodgson prepares had the best Nationals of the area competitors and maybe all of the NEK Track Club competitors as he won the 800m, 1500m and 3000m crowns in the age group of 15-16, while also grabbing a second place tie finish in the 1500m run walk.

The area track and field athletes look to translate their success on the AAU level to success for their respective schools this coming spring.