The Hill Country Comets Track Club is heading into their ninth season dominating the San Antonio AAU cross country and track and field community.
This club was founded by Jane and Stefan Blomqvist in 2014 in hopes to establish a legitimate track team for the kids in the local area as well as their two children, Ben and Noah.
The Blomqvists’ have been involved in track and field nearly their entire lives. Stefan competed on the Swedish National team up into his 40’s where his kids traveled alongside him to watch him compete. Ben and Noah began competing in track as soon as they could walk.
Residing in a small town just outside San Antonio, Stefan and Jane began taking Ben and Noah to the Free Spirits Track meets founded by Jesse Martinez. He has been hosting meets for six Mondays in the Summer for over 30 years. No pre-registration is required and each event costs around a dollar.
After a few years they evolved into the AAU scene, looking for higher levels of competition. They began taking their kids to meets to run as unattached until they got to the age where they wanted to be a part of a team.
Jane decided to put out a Facebook post asking if anyone in the area would be interested in joining a club track team if she started one, this was a dream for her and Stefan.
The community appreciated the idea and their first year in 2014, they had 25 athletes on the team.
One of their first athletes, Austin Zirkel, ended up winning multiple state titles, earned AAU and USATF All American Honors and went on to run for Sam Houston University. The comets have had many other athletes go on to compete in college with more on their way.
Stefan and Jane worked together to build a program consisting of around 250 athletes and more than 15 coaches in the summer program this coming year.
A huge part in the growth of the program was partnering with the Boerne Bullets city track team in 2016. The Boerne Bullets were a part of the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation.
One day Stefan decided he was going to call the longtime distance coach, Dave Fulkerson, to see how he felt about joining the teams. At the time, Boerne was looking for someone to take over the program.
The pair teamed up with local Boerne legend, Courtney Darter, where they were then basically handed the keys to the city.
Darter is a Boerne graduate who made her mark on the track during her time there. Once she partnered with the Blomqvists, the program grew immensely.
They began putting on track meets including nearby city teams and consisting of around 1,000 athletes.
The entire goal with founding this team was to give these kids the opportunity to compete in legit track meets with real marks and times.
Since the start of it all in 2016, multiple athletes have gone on to win multiple national and state titles as well as receiving scholarships to run in college.
The local community is invested in the program and former athletes often return to help coach or run local meets.
Stefan currently serves as the throws coach with a nationally elite group of athletes while running the team’s social media. Jane is a full time nurse, mom, coach of the multis and high jumpers and team administrator.
Due to the many hats she wears, Jane struggled to find a company that would dropship uniforms to her athletes. Once she discovered TrackBarn, she became fast friends with CEO, Carl McCargo, after he agreed to do anything she needed.
The Blomqvist family is actively paving the way for local San Antonio athletes who hope to find a successful career in collegiate athletics.
They provide them with necessary life lessons on how to have integrity, being a good teammate and realizing you earn what you work for.