The Blair Oaks girls cross country team finished in fifth place at last year's state meet, and head coach Marc Keys expects to only improve with six of seven girls returning.
"In order to do better and get better, we need our top runners to be all-state," Keys said.
Not only will they be looking to do so this season, but the Lady Falcons appear to be set up for the near future. Nicole Grefrath is the lone senior of the group that begins competition today at New Haven.
The Lady Falcons will likely be anchored by junior Taylor Scott, according to Keys. Scott finished in 36th place at state last season.
"Taylor is probably going to be our No. 1 based on what she did in track last year and what she's doing right now," Keys said. "She has a great supporting cast."
That cast includes senior Nicole Grefrath (47th at state) and junior Rachel Isenberg (61st), who dealt with injuries last year and is in "a lot better spot this year," according to Keys. Also contributing is sophomore Kacey Kerperin, who was the group's top-finisher at state last year (28th) as a freshman. Sophomore Kristi Wortmann (38th) also returns.
Freshman Louisa Stabenow is projected to round out the seven-member varsity team that has plans to place higher than fifth. They took a small step last season after finishing in sixth place in 2013.
The order in which the team will finish is to be determined.
"Pretty much everyone there is going to contribute and be a factor," Keys said. "They're a good group."
The top challenger for later in the season is defending state champion Fatima, which Keys thinks will be "as good, if not better" than last year. The Lady Falcons also will be on the lookout for Herculaneum, a team Keys believes could give Fatima a run for its money.
In all, the team brings back a total of 15 runners - eight boys, seven girls - a smaller group than in the past.
Last season the boys team had enough to fill a junior varsity team and the girls haven't ever fielded a JV team. The numbers aren't a concern, though.
"I think everyone that we have is competition-oriented," Keys said. "In some of the years we've had some participants, in a good way, that enjoy the people on the team, but don't really have aspirations of doing really well at it. That's not their motivation."
The boys hope to build off of senior Jason Otto's success, as he placed 10th at the state meet last year. Cole Brenneke, Bo Thomas and Clayton Lueckenotte also return as experienced runners.
"I think (Otto) is going to be a top-10 placer this year," Keys said. "He's got a little bit more of a supporting cast this year. We'll have three runners that are going to be close to state qualifiers and we have an impact freshman. I think that bodes well for the boys."
That freshman is Adam McCauley, who raised eyebrows in the preseason.
"He's been staying up with Jason and Cole (in practice)," Keys said. "Those are the top three and they've been hammering it out and sort of beating up on each other a bit.
"(McCauley) ran over the summer and ran well as an eighth grader, so he's got a background. I'm excited to see how he races."
Keys said the boys don't have as much experience, but they are "capable."
"Certainly Jason's going to do his thing, but it's just a matter of getting those other guys to work well together," Keys said.
Like most teams, staying healthy will be a priority for the Falcons and Lady Falcons.
"There's got to be a little luck involved, working as hard as you can without getting sick or getting hurt," Keys said. "And everyone deals with that. We've got nine or 10 weeks until the end of the season, and a lot of things can happen between now and then."
The race at New Haven consists of a 2.2-mile course, with 16 teams set for competition.
"It's almost like a Jamboree, which I like for us," Keys said. "We'll see some different schools toward St. Louis, some smaller schools and some bigger schools. We sort of start our season easy until we start to see the usual schools we see pretty much every meet of the year."
Blair Oaks elected to run at New Haven rather than the more popular option of the Jim Marshall Invitational. Keys offered a few reasons for the move.
"I thought we needed a something different that course is really difficult and some of our kids aren't ready for that in competing against larger schools," Keys said. "This fits the bill well. So it's not a small meet, but I like the shorter distance with it being warm. Just something different."
Race day has come, and Keys has his team geared up.
"It's all about (today)," Keys said. "We need to get a starting point and run against some other teams, maybe some we don't know beat some of them to reach that next level. It's difficult practicing for an entire month. We're just ready to go."