Sunday Edition: The Standard

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The old saying, “the standard is the standard” rings true in many athletic programs around the country and around the state of Nebraska.

It has come to mean just a little more in Benkelman, where track and field coach Mike Spargo has built a sort of small-town juggernaut with his DCS Tigers. Both of his Dundy County-Stratton teams won the Class D state championships last season in record-setting fashion.

And, they appear set to make just as much noise at Burke Stadium again in a few weeks when the 2026 event kicks off on May 22.

“We are really just trying to get through to our kids that they should be the best version of themselves everyday,” Spargo said. “If you have a good day, make the next one better. But, if you have a bad day make that one better, too.

“We just try to hold ourselves and our kids to be the best versions of themselves they can be. We even shorten it down to just ‘be you.’ You don’t have to be anybody different than yourself.”

Last spring in sweeping the Class D state titles, the Tiger boys scored 87 points and the girls scored 86 — both thought to be state meet records — and won 10 events between the two teams.

This spring has been much the same for DCS.

The brother-sister combo of Brock and Kennedy Bailey leads the class in both weight throws after they won each at the 2025 state meet. They are not just Class D leaders, but state leaders. Kennedy’s discus throw of 159-11 is seventh in the nation. Brock leads the state in the shot put with an early April throw of 63-10.

Senior boys Ethan Latta and Kevin Garcia-Guzman also have their sights on gold medals in Omaha.

Garcia-Guzman is second in the 110 hurdlers in Class D and leads the class in the 300 hurdlers with a time of 38.98 that he ripped off on Friday at the RPAC Championships. Latta leads Class D in the high jump (6-6) and both are on the 400 and 1,600 meter relay teams that will be gold medal contenders.

Garcia-Guzman, who finished second in both hurdle races last year, said getting to Omaha last year with his team has motivated them to repeat the feat this month.

“Last year was very cool,” he said. “You go through all the emotions of seeing all of your hard work pay off. And, at the beginning of this year we kind of set our standards for what we can do and what we want to do as a team. We just keep working at it and see what we can do.”

There is that word again. Standard.

“We want to go down there and score 100 points,” Garcia-Guzman added.

The sister combo of Clara and Abi Spargo — the coaches daughters — join Bailey to form a dynamic trio that can win the state title nearly on their own. Clara is a senior pledge to Northern Arizona, while Abi is a sophomore.

Clara has battled injuries this spring and has slowly worked herself back after winning four gold medals at last year’s meet in the 100, 200, 400 and the 400 relay. Clara and her coach have not settled on the district and state meet events just yet.

It’s been a near dream season for Clara Spargo and the entire school on the girls side of sports. After winning last year’s title — the first girls championship in school history — they added a D-2 semifinal appearance in volleyball, then finished 28-1 in basketball and the Class D-2 state champions.

“It has just been about a perfect year,” Clara Spargo said. “Even though I have battled injuries a little bit, I just feel like we have a bunch of girls that are willing to do anything to score points for our team this year. And, I think this year we can get some more girls at state to be a part of this which will be good for our program.”

Clara will try for a third straight Class D 400 meter title for sure and she’ll also focus on the 200 and the 400 relay; the last event could be the 100 or the 1,600 relay. Sister Abi, who leads the state in both the hurdle races and is on the 400 relay team could add the 400 (her current time leads the state) or that 1,600 relay.

The Tigers are that deep with talent that making a run with the relays seems inevitable. One thing is for sure, Coach Spargo will have input from his runners. It’s how he runs his program, to maximize the points they can score.

“You know, it’s really fun for us to do,” he said, “because we try to get the kids involved in the process. We try to give them a lot of opportunities. It’s why we let Ethan go long jump and have Kevin run the 100. We love to have their input and our coaches input.”

If they could add events, the Tigers may score even more. Latta set the school record in the long jump this season and Garcia-Guzman ran a sub-11 second 100 meter dash.

Yes, the standard is alive and well in Benkelman.

“If we pull attention away from it, and when we stop upholding ourselves to that standard then the standard is going to drop,” coach Spargo said.

Unfortunately for the rest of Class D track, that standard doesn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

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