As has been the case for the past four years or so, the Douglas High track & field team comes into the season with a roster hovering right around 100 athletes.
For a program that just six years ago was rolling into the end of the season with less than 30 athletes, that's an incredible number.
The problem with such a large group, though, is it can be tough for a coach to tell what exactly they have in just two weeks of preparation for the season.
"We're right at 100 kids again and our largest class is freshmen," Douglas head boys' coach Jim Abbott said. "It just seemed to fall that way. We have a really good group of freshmen and sophomores, a lot of good athletes.
"Track is a sport where you just never know for sure what you have, or even what everyone else has until you've seen everyone in a competition setting a couple of times.
"Once we get a couple meets under our belt, that's when we start talking about things like defending a title."
That's right, the Douglas girls' squad won its first-ever regional team title last season. Repeating as regional champions though, is a largely unknown task.
"The good thing is we have a lot of girls coming back and we have a really talented group of freshmen coming in," Abbott said. "I think we are going to be able to fill in some important spots with the incoming class."
The boys' team will be led by a strong returning class of sprinters and jumpers and could be in for a breakout season.
"We've got a great group of freshman boys coming in too," Abbott said. "It'll be fun to see what they can do."
The Tigers got their first taste of competition Saturday at the Fallon conference meet.
The girls' kicked off their title defense by winning the four-team meet by 36 points over second-place Wooster.
The boys' team took a close second behind Fallon, sweeping the pole vault event, placing three in the top five in the discus and winning a number of races and events.
"There is just so much that can happen during the season," Abbott said. "These new kids, we have 12, 13 days with them before our first meet.
"We can't truly figure out where they fit best until the season progresses. We pick events early on for these kids, they'll pick events for themselves. There are years where it's not until the end of March that we figure out a kid should really be running the 400.
"A couple years ago, we had our regional championship 4x400 relay team and they just threw themselves together for the first time in mid-April. That's just kind of how it goes in track.
"We take time to get kids doing varying events and seeing where they are going to be at their best. A thrower can be a great sprinter, but you don't know til they get out there and try.
"There's a lot of experimentation that goes on during meets."
The Lady Tigers had a banner day on Saturday in the field events as Holly Downer won the long jump (16-4.75), freshman Aspen Abbott won the triple jump (31-6) and Amanda Brazeau won the pole vault (9-6).
Abbott was second in the long jump (14-10) and Kelsie Martinez was fourth (14-2). Susie White took fourth in the triple jump (29-8) and Lauren Babbitt took second in the high jump (4-6).
"As usual, we'll have a good group of jumpers, both in boys and girls," Jim Abbott said. "There is a lot ofg potential there. We have new kids too that we are still working into the routine. Jourdan Burke is a senior that looks really good for her first year in the high jump. She has a lot of spring in her leg.
"Amanda Brazeau is our top pole vaulter for the girls and she is coming in jumping higher than she finished last year, which is great. She posted a 10-2 at the Pole Vault Summitt in Reno this winter and she was doing 10-0 at the end of last season.
"On the boys' side, Nick Maestretti is going to be a really good high jumper."
Araceli Ceballos was second in the shot put Saturday with a throw of 25-1.
For as strong as the field events were, the Tigers were equally impressive in the running events as Alexyss Easlick won the 100 (13.2) and took second in the 200 (28.1) while Abbott won the 400 (66.1) and Brazeau won the 100 hurdles (17.1).
The 4x100 (53.9), 4x200 (1:58.5) and 4x400 (4:44.5) relay teams picked up victories as well.
Megan Filbin was second in the 300 hurdles (55.0) and Bre Chabot was fourth in the 800 with a time of 2:52.5.
Sadie Gastelum was second in the 3,200 with a time of 13:41.2.
Nick Maestretti won the pole vault with a vault of 12-0, followed by Justin Seyfried in second at 11-0 and Craig Stratton in third at 11-0.
Justin Dry won the discus with a throw of 113-8 while Paul Brown was fourth (100-6) and Garrett Tenney was fifth (97-3.5).
"We have a much bigger throwers group this year," Abbott said. "We got Brian Mello to come out and coach. He's a good coach, he's been in the basketball program for years and the kids know him and like him. We have a lot of depth in our throwing group."
Ryen Ake won the 300 hurdles was a time of 43.1 seconds and Andrew Cobourn won the 1,600 with a time of 4:53.9.
Scott Lococo won the 3,200 with a time of 10:48.9.
Johnny Pollack won the triple jump with a leap of 40-2.5 while Stratton was third at 36-0. Pollack also took second in the long jump with a jump of 19-10.
Maestretti was second in the high jump at 5-8 and Corbin Zumpft was third at 5-2.
Adrian Duenas was third in the 800 at 2:19 and Justin Uhart was fourth at 2:20.5.
Stratton was third in the 110 hurdles with a time of 18.6 seconds and Brown was third in the shot put with a throw of 36-6.
Another top returner for the Tigers is Cara Dunkelman, who posted a school record in the 800 (2:17.97) last year at the state championships. Abbott said she will be a key performer in the middle distances for Douglas.
Another athlete Abbott said he is hoping for big things from is freshman Connor Greth.
"That's a guy that can do multiple things for us and he's showing a lot of promise in a number of wide-ranging areas. We're kind of waiting to see where it pans out and where he excels the most."
Douglas hosts a conference meet Saturday at the high school starting at 9 a.m.
Joey Crandall can be reached at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
