Gary Heide Quotations

My focus is just to get the kids on the ice. Some play hockey on one end, and I let them free skate on the other end if they want to.

We can kick it from that distance. We just came up short.

He's got pretty good speed. If you see him run, you'll see he's a natural. He looks so good on a track, and he's never been on one before.

Kieran, again, did exceptional. As a matter of fact, he is definitely ahead of last year. For him, after he gets more conditioned and experienced, the leaps he makes are remarkable.

I think that was the highlight of the meet. He has missed state for three years. To get that pressure off for him is great.

Kyle Hendrickson is going to be a great surprise. When he ran the four-by-four and open 800, most kids just lose it the first time on a track. He looked strong in the final 200.

I see him possibly doing all four at state this year, but he can handle it.

We are going to stick with that and with the girls (1,600-meter relay). I'm excited about that group.

West Grand is a tough team. We knew that going in. We don't ever like to lose, but we did a lot of things right tonight. We're 2-1, and we have a big game coming up. The next one is always the biggest.

We went out on hard-packed snow the other day. Our first part of the season will be training. We are not trying to peak for any meet. In May, hopefully the warm weather and lower elevation will bring us to where we want to be.

They are ahead of schedule from last year by about 30 seconds.

It's a relay we know we can get to state. Kieran, in frigid cold weather, ran a 53.4 split, which just blew me away.

It was such a beautiful day. The 18 athletes who went had a great experience, since we hadn't seen a track yet. It was spring break, so 18 is about half of them, so that was great. We went down there a day early to practice.

It's a good starting point. It was her first run of the year. That home stretch was going to hurt anyway, let alone against the wind.

It will be a tight race at league.

I have seven or eight freshmen girls. All of them will contribute this year, and a couple might be surprises.

I knew we could come back. They did not give up. That last touchdown drive can be a springboard for us for the rest of the season.