Fall sports conditioning underway

    With school starting in a few weeks, practices and conditioning are getting underway for Chase County Schools (CCS) fall sports.
    Official practices can start for fall sports on Monday—that date is set by the Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA).
    Here’s a look at the four fall sports offered at CCS.
Football
In the second year of a two-year cycle, the Longhorns will continue to compete in Class C-1 this fall.
Head Coach Dan Lenners is looking forward to the season.
“It’s too early to tell how the season will go,” he said. “The kids that have come in this summer for lifting have worked really hard and that’s encouraging,” he added.
There are 31 on the roster for football this year, with nine seniors.
This week, the football team is doing conditioning in the mornings, “mostly lifting and running,” Lenners said.
Next week, they will practice every morning from 6-8 a.m.
The first game for the Longhorns will be on Aug. 30 at Gothenburg.
Softball
Numbers for the softball team are looking up this year, with a total of 19 girls on the roster.
Head Coach Denise Smith said she has three seniors, six juniors, four sophomores and six freshmen preparing for the fall season.
The team started conditioning this week in the mornings, with exercises at the pool and weight room.
During fair week, softball will have what Smith calls  PXL (practice extra long).
They will practice from 7-9 a.m. and again from 9:30-11 a.m. each morning next week.
“I’m looking forward to seeing their progress is and how they have developed after another year together,” Smith said.
The softball team has the earliest competition of all fall sports.
Their first game will be a triangular on Aug. 27 in Oxford with Southern Valley/Alma and Blue Hill.
Volleyball
Samantha Kennedy is starting her first season as head coach for high school volleyball.
The volleyball team is doing conditioning this week in the mornings from 7-8 a.m.
“We’re in the gym, the pool and the sand pit,” Kennedy said. “So far the girls have been working super hard.”
Kennedy has 22 girls out this season.
“I am looking forward to working with this group of girls,” she said. “We have a lot of talent coming back and a lot of young talent coming up.”
The first volleyball game will be Aug. 29 at Ogallala.
Cross country
The CCS cross country team also started conditioning this week.
“This week we’re doing voluntary conditioning,” Head Coach Carl Zuege said.
“With cross country though, conditioning is basically practice,”  he said.
The cross country team—consisting of four boys and nine girls—is meeting in the mornings this week and will have their first official practice on Monday.
Their first meet will be at Dundy Co. Stratton on Aug. 29.
This year, the Longhorn cross country team is competing in Class C, moving up from Class D last season.