Last year many Northland communities had feet of snow on the ground in mid-March. It’s a totally different look this year, with clear grounds and temps surpassing 60 degrees.

For the Proctor track and field team, it was a welcomed turn of events as they held their first practice of the season outdoors on Monday.

“Start of practice I’m looking at the weather and I’m seeing 60 degree temperatures. I’m like huh? 25 years I don’t think I’ve ever been on the track Day One,” head coach Nathan Johnson said. “So it was quite an adjustment. You had to look at our training, what are we doing and how do we make sure people don’t get hurt in the first day.”

“Last year the weather was definitely really hard. We had to run inside in the hallways, and that is bad on joints and shins and stuff. This is absolutely beautiful, could not ask for better weather,” said Carlie Blevins, a senior runner.

Head coach Nathan Johnson said they typically have to cancel four to five meets at the start of their season, and recently haven’t been able to compete until late April.

He added getting early outside practices especially aids participants in field events and hurdlers, like senior Cameron Pease.

“So usually we’re about a month behind a lot of southern schools in the state, just because we get more snow up here and it takes a while to get cleared off the track. But this year we’ll be on the same page as everyone else,” Pease explained. “So we should be able to perform pretty well. We had a lot of people get shin splints last year, just get injured. So this can be a lot healthier and just better for everyone.”

The first official day of competition for track and field teams in Minnesota is March 21.