Sports Calendar: March 27

Get excited, people! The spring season for Southwest Iowa, and Red Oak in particular, kicks off Tuesday with the Hawkeye Ten Southern Division meet.

The meet itself has been split into two locations. The boys' will be competing in Shenandoah, while the girls' will be at Clarinda.

With many athletes returning, both Red Oak teams are looking to improve their standing for the season and send more to the state meet in May. Last year, Blake Bergren and Andy Vial were the Red Oak representatives for the state meet.

At last year's Southern Division meet, the boys' placed second out of three teams competing, while the girls finished third out of four teams.

Caitlin Smith set the tone last year for the girls' with a win in the 100-meter dash. Meanwhile, the Jorgenson brothers, Chris and Alex, took the top two places in the 1600-meter race.

Both teams have no shortage of returners for the season. On the boys' end, they are Alex Jorgenson, Tanner Johnson, Nick Leinen, Evan Mellott and many more. For the girls, the returners include Blake Bergren, Erica Jackson, Gabi French, Maddy Mann and Josie Snyder.

This will be the only track meet for the week for Red Oak. Both teams will be in action next week. The boys will be in Glenwood  and the girls will travel to Clarinda next Tuesday.

Elsewhere, the Griswold boys track team will also begin their season Tuesday when they compete at Audubon. Some of the teams that will compete at Audubon are Woodbine, Missouri Valley, Riverside, EHK-Exira, Ar-We-Va, Guthrie Center and more.

We'll have much more on both track meets in next Tuesday's edition of the Red Oak Express.