South Hardin’s girls track team returns several key contributors from last season’s state qualifiers as the Tigers prepare for the 2025-26 season.
Last season, the Tiger girls qualified three relay teams for the state meet in the 4×100 meter, 4×200 meter and 4×400 meter relays, along with an 800 meter sprint medley relay. Ava Salvo also qualified individually in the 400 meter hurdles.
Makana Ayers, Katie Allison, Ayda Eller and Mary Engelson return this season from those state qualifying relay teams and the sprint medley relay. The Tigers will need to replace a key contributor, however, as Alli Sheldahl, a member of the 4×100 meter, 4×200 meter and sprint medley relay, graduated. Salvo, the team’s state qualifier in the 400 hurdles, also graduated.
With indoor meets already underway, Head Coach Zach Allison says those competitions provide a high level of competition and serve as a good early-season measuring stick for the team.
“What I love about the indoor meets is the one at UNI, the ISU, they’re really good competition,” says Allison. “At UNI, there’s 4A schools, 3A schools. The ISU indoor, it’s the best of the 2A that’s there. So, it’s really good just for my incoming freshmen to kind of see this good competition early. Because obviously you get outdoors, the competition is still good, but it’s not the same quality as it is at those meets. So it’s just a good chance for them to see that initially.”
On the boys side, South Hardin returns one state qualifier. Payton Welch is back after qualifying for the state meet in the long jump last season.
While the Tigers have a smaller roster this year, Head Coach Jared Kadolph says the group enters the season with a strong sense of focus.
“I think we’re gonna have a pretty focused team, a team that kind of knows they got goals,” says Kadolph. “I think we had a pretty disappointing district meet last year as far as how we performed. So a lot of them have that kind of coming back as far as they don’t want that to happen again. So maybe more focused than we’ve probably been in the past.”
The Tiger girls next compete at the Wartburg Invite on March 24, while the boys will compete at the Wartburg College High School Track and Field Invitational on March 25.
