Kerri Morris is excited so far with the total number of athletes she has to coach.
The Calvary Lutheran boys and girls track and field teams have 35 athletes this season, more than a quarter of the school's 120 students. Morris has already noticed the competition that's being created.
"We had time trials this past week and this isn't something we've had to go through because I've usually had to encourage kids to just come out for the sport," said Morris, Calvary Lutheran's head coach. "And it has been pushing them and I think the kids maybe didn't realize that somebody else might take their relay spot or might be faster than them."
The Lions return all five all-state athletes from a season ago.
On the boys side, Luke Allen finished second in the Class 1 triple jump with a jump of 42 feet, 4.25 inches. Allen also qualified in the 100-meter dash.
"He's just a super athletic kid. I'm expecting him to have a real strong senior year in the jumps and the sprints," Morris said. "He's definitely the leader in the boys."
The boys' sprint and middle distance relays is where Morris said the Lions might be the strongest. She is also keeping an eye on a few of her throwers who she thinks can make "vast jumps."
Still, she's curious to see how they will place with the rest of the throwers from Class 1 District 5, which Calvary is new to this season.
On the girls side, Samantha Gunn was an all-state long jumper a season ago and has made it to the state meet each of the past three seasons. Gunn also competed in the 400-meter dash at state.
Emma Homfeldt was a qualifier in the 800-meters as a freshman, and was on a relay team that included Andrea Stanford and Olivia Bexton.
Like their boy teammates, the Lady Lions are expected to be the strongest in the sprint and middle distance relays. Morris also looks for a strong year from the Lady Lions' distance relay.
One freshman girl in particular Morris singled out who can help the Lady Lions right away is Sarah Johnson. She ran cross country in the fall and Morris said she is looking "really fast" in time trials.
On the boys side, Cal Kolzow and Reece Going are two distance runners Morris had in cross country who she is hoping can step up this spring. Kolzow ran in the state cross country meet last season.
As a team, Calvary's first goal is to win the CCAA conference championship. Last season the boys won the conference while the girls finished second.
Since Calvary has no track and field complex, the Lions in the past have had to conduct most of their practices in the parking lot at the high school and in the field behind the school. This season they've been able to get more time in at Jefferson City and Helias' complexes when the host schools are not using them.
"We've been out on the track a lot more," Morris said. "Jeff City is just fantastic to us in sharing their facilities, and Helias is as well. In the past we are always either in our parking lot or in our field. We've had a chance to get on our track a number of days already which is really huge for us."
Being a small school also means most of Calvary's track and field participants are two- and three-sport athletes. Morris did give some of those athletes - especially those who played basketball in the winter - some time off so they do not get burned out.
Still, she is happy she has so many multi-sport athletes on her teams.
"They are athletic in general kids," Morris said. "They're team leaders by nature."
Both Calvary teams open their seasons at 3 p.m. today at the Russellville Quad.