The Girard Warriors Youth Track Club is a faith-based non-profit 501(c)(3) AAU sanctioned club that formed in 2016. The purpose of the track club is to introduce students to track and field, foster a love for the sport, promote healthy lifestyle choices, and build character.
The team is located in Girard but is open to athletes in the surrounding communities.
**For questions, please see the FAQ section at the bottom of this page.
Head Coach
Nate Clevenger is the head coach of the Girard Warriors Track Club. He attended Erie High School where he was a state champion in the triple jump, a track and basketball athlete at Pittsburg State University, and coached high school track for seven years before becoming a middle school track & field coach in 2003-2004. After the 2022 track season he was honored with the Kansas Coaches Association Middle School Girls Coach of the Year Award. He is a teacher at Girard Middle School and is an active member of Countryside Christian Church in Pittsburg. He is married to Maria, who is the Girard Warriors club manager. They have four children, Brett, (Chaz), Reese, and Quinn.
Throwing Coach
Andrew Burnett attended Erie High School before he threw javelin at Allen Co. Community College. He was an assistant coach with Coach Clevenger at St. Mary’s Colgan HS, working with several league champions and state qualifiers. He was also instrumental in the javelin and discus success of his sister in-law who set the Kansas state 4A javelin record, was an All-American AAU thrower and earned a scholarship to Oklahoma University. Andrew currently works full time in electronics engineering and has a BS degree from Pittsburg State University.
Jumping Coach
Morgan Samuels ran track and field at Girard High School and was a state medalist in the high jump, long jump & 4x400M relay. She was also on the women’s basketball and track teams at Ottawa University where she was a KCAC conference champion in the long jump. She recently earned her Occupational Therapy degree from the University of Kansas Medical Center. She and her husband, Preston Samuels, currently reside in Osawatomie, KS.
Pole Vault Coach
Laney Lawson ran track for 4 years at Southeast HS and qualified for state 3 times in long jump and triple jump. She also ran cross country for 2 years in high school. Laney has coached at Pittsburg Community Middle School, Pittsburg High School, and coaches cross country and track & field at Southeast High School and Middle School. She currently teaches low incidence special education at Pittsburg Community Middle School.
Distance Coach
Abby Onelio ran cross country and track at Girard High School. She was a state champion in cross country and a multiple state medalist in the 3200, 1600, 4×800 and 4×400. Abby competed briefly at Pitt State and coached both middle school and high school distance runners for several years in Ark City, Kansas. She is a teacher at Uniontown High School and has four children—Mia (21), Gabe (19), Natalia (17) and Eva (13)—with her husband, Robert Onelio.
Javelin Coach
Leah Smith grew up and attended schools in Girard her whole life. After high school she attended Pittsburg State University where she became an All American javelin thrower. After a number of years away, Coach Smith and her family moved back to Girard. At that time, she started helping coach throwers, mostly Javelin. Her giving of time and resources for the club have been instrumental in the clubs growth.
Cross Country Coach/Assistant Distance
After coaching Warriors cross country in the fall, Mia Onelio is going to be one of our distance coaches this season alongside her mom, Abby Onelio. She is a junior at Pitt State and is majoring in education. Mia just recently moved here from Arkansas City and ran cross country and track throughout middle and high school. She was honored all ACVTL league cross country and track and a 5A state qualifier. She is very excited to gain experience and get to know all of the kids throughout Warriors!
Assistant Coach
Brian Norton has been involved in the Warriors Track Club since the beginning in 2016. After never before being involved in track and field, Brian has worked extremely hard at learning the proper techniques for many of the events. He is an extremely hard worker and gives generously of his time.
Assistant Coach
Erin Knox attended Girard Schools where she was actively involved in many aspects of school life, including track and field. Coach Knox has had a couple of children over the last few years so her ability to help coach has been limited but she helps with our meets and any other way she can.
Club Manager
Maria Clevenger is the manager of the Warriors Track Club. However, she has been trying to manage Coach Clevenger for more than 20 years. Maria works hard to keep things organized and keep people informed. If you have questions about anything, feel free to ask her.
Nate Clevenger
Head Coach
nate@warriorstrackclub.org
Maria Clevenger
Club Manager
maria@warriorstrackclub.org
What is the best way to find out the most information about the club?
We have a meeting for parents the week before Spring Break. Attending this meeting does NOT commit you to the club. It’s simply a way for us to get lots of information to a lot of people at once while giving them an opportunity to ask questions. Our parent meeting is typically just for new families that haven’t previously been a part of the club, however, in 2020, our parent meeting will be for ALL families involved as we are making some changes as to the way things are done and it will effect all participants.
While the parents are inside meeting, the kids go outside to the track with a couple of coaches and some older kids to do a team warmup and try out some of the events. They have fun!
When is the club’s regular season?
We start after Spring Break and practice through June. If athletes qualify for the Junior Olympics, those athletes will continue to work with coaches until after the JO are over, which is late July/early August.
What is the commitment requirement for the team? Is it like other travel sports where you have to be at everything?
The short answer is that the commitment you have to the team is completely up to you as a family. The only requirements we have are that the athlete information form must be filled out for each athlete, the club fee must be paid for each athlete, and the medical release be signed and turned in for each athlete.
No one is required to be at practice and no one is required to attend meets. Most of our meets are more than a couple of hours away and while meets are good for the athletes, we totally understand that some families don’t want to attend. We actually have quite a few families that only attend practice when they can, and we’re totally okay with that.
What are the costs of the meets?
Meet costs range from $15-$30 per athlete.
Is there anything to do in the off-season?
While we don’t hold practices beyond our regular season, there are some meets in the off-season that athletes are welcome to attend. Most are for middle school and high school age athletes. The fee for those is whatever the meet fee is plus a club fee of $25 to cover the AAU membership that we require for insurance purposes. For more information on how to get signed up for those, please email nate@warriorstrackclub.org.
Spikes for indoor meets usually have to be 1/8 in or 1/4 in pyramid spikes. Athletes do have to have their spikes checked before each indoor meet.
We do also try to offer cross country in the fall if there is interest and we also host a cross country meet.
When can my child start?
Kids K-6th grade can start right after spring break. Athletes that compete at the middle school level can join after their school season is over, and likewise, high school athletes can join after their school season is over.