JACKSON TWP — Seneca Valley junior Mike Kolor lies to himself every time he’s approaches the starting line before races.

Confidence isn’t always there.

But Kolor became a student of athlete’s mentalities and found ways to tell his mind otherwise.

Kolor does research on how people approach competing mentally.

Lying to yourself is something he picked up from women’s professional tennis player Serena Williams.

One time someone asked him before a speech why he was nervous if he practiced.

That’s something that’s helped his mentality.

When Kolor goes in search of information about other athletes, he’s not necessarily worried about physical training. He and his coaches have a solid training program.

“There are methods that are tried and tested,” Kolor said. “I want to see what the top runners and champion athletes are made of, see their mindset and look up their mentality.”

Kolor, who finished sixth at the indoor state meet in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4 minutes, 19.9 seconds, hopes to make a return to the Class AAA outdoor state meet.

He qualified in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter relay last season.

“He knows pretty much everybody in the country,” Seneca Valley track coach Ray Peaco said. “He’s a student of track and is an intelligent young man. He went out and researched times and distances for different people. He’s setting markers for himself.”

During the mile race at WPIALs last year, Kolor had to fight through when a torrential downpour started in the middle of the race.

The rain was bad enough it caused a 90-minute postponement — and eventual postponement of the year — but that didn’t help Kolor.

He still had to finish. Kolor slid across the finish line to take fourth and grab the last automatic bid.

“Mentally and physically, he’s really strong,” Peaco said. “He understands the training plan and what he needs to do. He’s a focused and driven young man.”

Kolor plans to keep fibbing as the season goes along.

He wants to see if he returns to the state meet how his mental toughness holds up.

“There are so many talented runners in the state, I want to compete my best with them and hold my own,” Kolor said. “I’d like to be in the front pack with 400 to go and see if I could get to the podium.”

Here’s a look at the rest of what Butler County track teams will return this season:

A-C Valley

Coach: Adam Swingle, second season.

Record: 0-7.

Returning state qualifiers: None.

Impact athletes: Anthony Painter, Sr., shot put; Cody Jones, Sr., 100/200 dash; John Anderson, Jr., middle-distance; Brady Terwillinger, Jr., discus; Jacob Kribel, Soph., 100/200; Jimmy Muller, Soph., distance.

Swingle says: “I expect to have more district qualifiers this year. We had two last year (Painter and Terwillger) and I expect to double that.”

Butler

Coach: Rick Schontz, 14th season.

Last year’s record: 7-2, WPIAL playoff qualifier.

Returning state qualifiers: Sr.Derek Gengler (shot put).

Impact athletes: Jake Anderson, Sr., high jump; Robert Burdine, Sr., sprints; Brandon Critchlow, Sr., 3,200 relay/800 run; Connor Frost, Sr., 400 run/1,600 relay; Patrick Fullerton, Sr., distance; Joe Greaves, Sr., jumps; Adam Knauer, Sr., distance; Christian McCandless, Sr., discus; Nikolai Peterson, Sr., pole vault; Josh Rader, Sr., distance; Zack Seger, Sr., shot put; Mike Snow, Sr., shot put; Tim Vernick, Sr., middle distance; Brock Genci, Jr., javelin; Lamont Hoy, Jr., sprints; Luke Kernic, Soph., sprints; Steven Deitmer, Soph., discus/shotput; Gabe Knoch, Soph., pole vault; Noah Beveridge, Fresh., distance; Jake Kradle, Fresh., discus.

Schontz says: “Our goal is to be section and WPIAL champs. Each meet will be tough. I think we have a good group of seniors that were good as juniors.”

Freeport

Coach: John Gaillot, fourth season.

Record: 6-1. Section runner-up.

Returning state qualifiers: None.

Impact athletes: Andrew Romanchak, Sr., jumps/400 relay; Brandon Hochbein, Jr., hurdles; Dylan Hochbein, Jr., hurdles; Bobby Jendrejewski, Jr., discus; Logan Thimons, Jr., discus; Jesse Hebert, Sr., pole vault.

Gaillot says: “We have the same expectations for this year that we have every year, to win the section. We want everyone to do the best they can and put the work in.”

Grove City

Coach: Ben English, first season.

Last year’s record: N/A.

Returning state qualifiers: Ryan Budnik, Sr., 3,200.

Impact athletes: Aaron Benka, Sr., distance; Dylan McConnell, Jr., 800; Steven Biddle, Sr., 400/800; Molek Walker, Fr., sprints; D’Andre Byers, Jr., sprints.

Black says: “We are very deep in distance runners. I think we will have a solid number of districts qualifiers.”

Karns City

Coach: Don Black, 30th season.

Last year’s record: 10-0, KSAC Champions.

Returning state qualifiers: Logan Moroney, Sr, 200; Tristan Rhoades, Sr., 400 relay; Chandler Turner, Soph., 400 relay, Collin Dunmyre, Jr., 400 relay.

Impact athletes: Maverick Kelsea, Jr., throws; Dalton Callihan, Sr., throws; Justin Beham, Sr., throws; Reese Barger, Jr., throws; Kyle Nolan, Jr. throws; Ethan Conto, Sr., hurdles; Kalen Powers, Soph., hurdles; Jim Thompson, Soph., hurdles; Cooper Shephard, Sr., hurdles; Derek McElravy, Sr., sprints; Seth Silverio, Jr., sprints; Tyler Dunn, Sr., jumps; Brendan Waltman, Sr., jumps; Colton Hawk, Sr., jumps; Conrad Snyder, Jr., distance; Spenser Myers, Soph., distance; Jace Ebbitt, Soph., distance; Bryce Ellenberger, Jr., distance.

Black says: “We’ve been undefeated for the past three years and we hope to do it again. We have a pretty veteran team.”

Knoch

Coach: Wess Brahler, 12th season.

Last year’s record: 10-3, 5-1. WPIAL playoff qualifier.

Returning state qualifiers: Jordan Geist (shot put, discus).

Impact athletes: Preston Carlsson, Sr., distance; Paul Kasunic, Sr., distance; Brandon Grumski, Jr., distance; Brennan McTighe, Jr., discus; Ben Lowery, Jr., pole vault/hurdles; Dominic Bozzo, Jr., hurdles; Max Freyermuth, Soph., middle distance; John Ezjak, Soph., middle distance; Jayden Renfrew, Soph., sprints/jumps; Dylan Plutyk, Soph., sprints/jumps.

Brahler says: “We’re a little young this year, but we have good senior leadership and 16 returning lettermen. We want to challenge for the section title and qualify for the WPIAL playoffs, which we’ve made five of the last six years. We also have a streak of going to state with an athlete for 12 years.”

Mars

Coach: Aaron Rekich, second season.

Last year’ s record: 7-0, WPIAL fourthplace.

Returning state qualifiers: Nate Bayuk, junior, 1,600 relay; Ori Rinaman, Sr., 1,600 relay; Jimmy Hibbard, Sr., 1,600 relay.

Impact athletes: Brandon Marchese, Sr., jumps; Ben Luce, Sr., 800; Brendan Knox, Sr., distance; Gabe Spurlock, Sr., throws; Nate Mrdjenovich, junior, distance.

Rekich says: “We want to build on next year. The more you focus on staying on top the better. Some teams get to the top and think they are the top dog We need to keep our heads on our shoulders and stay at ground level.”

Moniteau

Coach: Matt Stebbins, second season.

Last year’s record: 8-1.

Returning state qualifiers: Brendon Stamm, Sr., discus.

Impact athletes: Sean Hall, Sr., javelin; Austin Stoops, Sr., distance; Jake Fullerton, Sr., middle-distance; Shawn Giddings, Soph., triple jump; Dalton Anderson, Soph., high jump, 1600 relay.

Stebbins says: “We have a good number of kids out, we have 35-36 kids. We’re young, very young, but I’m excited to see what these kids can do. We have 22 freshman and sophomores out. I think they will surprise some people.”

Seneca Valley

Coach: Ray Peaco, sixth season.

Last year’s record: 5-2.

Returning state qualifiers: Bryce Benjamin, Sr., 3,200 relay; Tanner Quiggle, Sr., 3,200 relay; Mike Kolor, junior, 3,200 relay.

Impact athletes: Creamon Frazier, Sr., jumps; Justin Gados, junior, distance; Will Briscoe, sophomore, sprints.

Peaco says: “We have a lot of good athletes out for the team. There are some new faces I’m expecting to come along.”

Slippery Rock

Coach: Tom Meling, second season.

Last year’s record: 6-1, District 10 champions.

Returning state qualifiers: Brady Kadlubek, Sr., 3,200 relay; Mark Cessar, Sr., 3,200 relay; Shane Kirkwood, Sr., 3,200 relay; Josh Jones, Jr., 3,200 relay;

Impact athletes: Brett Urbanik, Jr., hurdles; Andrew Maxwell, Sr., 3,200.

Meling says: “We haven’t won the region since 2009, that’s our goal, it’s very competitive with Hickory. We’re hoping to get healthy, Camren Neal broke his leg during basketball season and is a month away from returning.”

Union

Coach: Jesse Pattison, first season.

Last year’s record: N/A.

Returning state qualifiers: none.

Impact athletes: Tyler Wiser, Sr, high jump; Tyler Murray, Jr., pole vault; Drew Marsh, Jr., sprint/jumps; Cole Morris, Jr., sprint/jumps; Dugan Gallagher, Jr., sprints/jumps.

Pattison says: “I tried to steal as many kids from football as I could. I got coach (Dave) Louder on board and I think it’s going to help with numbers. We’re up to 26 this year, we finished last season with around 10.”

Editor’s note: Information from Summit Academy was unavailable.