WARDSVILLE - The Blair Oaks Lady Falcons went to the Class 3 state track and field championships last year in four events. They returned home with all-state medals in all four events.
Blair Oaks girls coach Marc Keys would like the Lady Falcons to save their best for last again this season.
"That was exciting to have everyone perform better than what they had before," Keys said. " It was good to have smiles on faces."
Blair Oaks opens the season today by hosting the Blair Oaks Invitational at 4 p.m. at the Falcon Athletic Complex, their only home meet this season.
"It's sort of like a preseason Jamboree," Keys said. "We'll put kids in multiple events and find out things we didn't know from practice."
The Lady Falcons return three all-state medalists from last season, led by senior Emily Yaeger, who finished fourth in the 800-meter run and was on the third-place 4x800-meter relay.
"She worked hard over the winter to prepare for this year," Keys said. "She has some high goals and, even though we lost two graduating seniors on the 4x800, I think we have some athletes that will get in there. And I think our 4x400 is going to be strong with Emily in that."
Junior Kayla Jones returns on the 4x800 and will be a key component on the Lady Falcons' other relay teams.
"Our middle distance is strong, we have a good tradition there," Keys said.
Senior Grace Scott also returns as a top distance runner for the Lady Falcons after competing in the fall at the state cross country championships. Keys said she will also run in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs.
Junior Annette Peterson returns as an all-state medalist in the discus, finishing sixth at state last season. She will lead the group of throwers, which also includes Hannah Schroeder, who will throw the javelin for the Lady Falcons.
"She started javelin last year and did very well," Keys said of Schroeder. "I think she's going to take it up to a level where she can be competitive at state."
Junior Lanie Lowry will compete in the high jump and long jump this season, and Keys said the Lady Falcons are still working on the triple jump.
In the sprinting events, Keys will turn to a freshman class that accounts for 11 of the 24 athletes on the Lady Falcons' roster. Keys said Emily Sporleder posted solid times last season as an eighth-grader.
"We'll have to see how they compete," Keys said of his freshman class. "Some of them competed well in middle school. It'll be interesting to see what we can do in the sprint relays."
Rather than meet expectations, the Blair Oaks boys track and field team wants to exceed expectations after a disappointing finish last season produced only two state qualifiers and no all-state medalists.
"We've put a lot of miles in and they've done a lot of hard work," Holtmeyer said.
Senior Cole Brenneke is the Falcons' only returning state qualifier, finishing 15th in the 800 last May.
"Getting (to state) is not even the battle with him," Blair Oaks boys coach Nathan Holtmeyer said. "Our goal is to be on the podium and to be up high."
Holtmeyer said in addition to Brenneke, a number of seniors have stepped up this year, led by Justin Cobb, Chase Forck and Issac Prenger.
Today's meet will help sort out throwing events for the Falcons. Holtmeyer said seniors Tucker Downing and Josh Haxton are in the mix for sure, but aside from them, the other spots are still up for grabs.
"Throwers are all over the place," Holtmeyer said. " Honestly, for this first meet, it's kind of a crap-shoot on what we have, because we have a lot of juniors that came out this year who have never thrown."
Senior Josh Henson qualified for state two seasons ago in the javelin, when it was an exhibition event.
"He barely missed it in sectionals last year," Holtmeyer said. "We've done a lot of weight training since with him."
In other field events, Holtmeyer said Forck will compete in jumping events and junior Trinity Scott will compete in pole vault. Senior Hayden Irvin will be a high jumper for the Falcons.
Joining Brenneke in the distance events are junior Adam McCauley and freshman Josh Malone, as well as Cobb, who played offensive line in football. Holtmeyer said Cobb has lost 20 pounds and has worked his way onto the 4x800 relay.
Leading the sprinters are junior Marcus Edler and sophomore Kyler Griep.
Holtmeyer said he likes the balance of this year's roster of 25 athletes.
"In track, you have 19 events, and they just change so much as they go through," he said. "We're always going to start with our 4x800 and 4x400, that's what we based everything off of. We just spread out from there."
This year, Holtmeyer doesn't just want to take individuals to state.
"Our goal is to try to get all of our relays that we have competing through to state," he said. "From there, we'll see how the individuals go."