The Aberdeen Central track and field squads may be on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to experience and expectations, but the excitement level is the same for both of the Golden Eagles teams this spring.

While the Central girls’ team was hit hard by graduation, the Central boys return the bulk of their squad from last season including a pair of individual state champions.

Seniors Sam Rohlfs and Josh Martin will lead a potent team that features talent and depth in a variety of events. Rohlfs won the long jump and triple jump at the State AA meet last year, while Martin won the 3,200-meter run.

“Obviously, Sam and Josh are going to get a lot of headlines this year and very well deserved. Those two work really hard at their craft,” said Central boys’ coach Greg Murley. “We’ve got a lot of events where we’re going to be excited about.”

One of the athletes that Murley pointed out was senior Jacob Merxbauer, who along with Rohlfs is a standout sprinter and jumper.

“Merx sometimes gets overlooked,” Murley said. “He’s a 44-foot triple jumper that’s probably going to go 45-feet this year and he doesn’t get a lot of attention, but he’s really, really good.”

Another Eagle that flew under the radar is Drew Salfrank who is expected to be one of the top 400-meter runners in the state this spring.

“Drew Salfrank in the state meet last year was 12^th (in the 400), but there’s nine seniors that graduated in that event,” Murley said. “We think Drew can do some really good things for us.”

Central also has athletes with the potential to do major things in nearly all of the other events including Aiden Heimann in the hurdles, Brady Rohrbach and Tayden Brownson in the throws, Isaac Ligon and Gabe Johnson in the pole vault, and a group of distance runners that includes Jacob Angerhofer, Tino Lopez, Christian Wells, David VanVeen and Anthony Miller, as well as all-purpose athlete Carter Dingman who can score on the track and also in the field.

Put it all together and it’s easy to see why Central will be favored to repeat as Eastern South Dakota Conference champion as well as a strong contender for a State AA championship.

“Everyone talks about the underdog. Well, I don’t want to be the underdog, because they normally lose, so we’re going to do everything we can not to be the underdog,” Murley said. “If we end up in that situation, we’re going to show up and make someone beat us. I’m pretty excited about it.”

Murley can appreciate the position his team is currently in, because he knows where it has come from in the past.

“I think when you get older as a coach it’s fun, because I remember the year where we scored one point in the last event of the state track meet to not get shutout,” he said. “When you have a team that you can go into a state track meet with where you think you can score 60, 70, 80, 90 points, that’s kind of fun.”

While the expectations may be different for the Central girls, their hard work and determination will be no different than their male counterparts.

The Golden Eagles will find their strength in the field events this season.

“I’m excited about this year’s team. Our strength is in our field events,” said Central girls’ coach Jim Appl. “We have depth in our field events and literally every field event we have at least one kid in there who we know can qualify in the state meet and in some we have two, three, four maybe even five that have a chance to qualify through there. That will be the strength of our team as we’re heading into the year.”

The Eagles will feature a blend of veterans and youth this spring.

Central is coming off strong efforts at state in a variety of relays, including a second place finish in the sprint medley. While Claire Schaunaman and Abby Witte are returning from that squad, Appl said he has a solid group of runners who can compete in those events, especially the sprint relays.

“We can go eight deep for kids that can run on our 4X1 and 4X2,” Appl said.

Central will be counting on athletes like sprinters Taryn Hettich, Lauren Joosten, Grace Rife, Arylie Waldo, Jayda Hammer, Eme Mounga and Anna Malchow, middle distance runners Alyssa Roehrich and Alivia Burgard, distance runner Kaylie Peldo, throwers Kiana Mounga, Grace Kuch, Taryn Hermansen, Taryn Nieman and Abby Berry, jumpers Ciara Frank and Johanna Jarrot, vaulters Madi Weig, Kiana Joerger and Ashlyn Beyer among others for major contributions this season.

Appl said that a good share of his athletes are younger, so the Eagles have a lot of potential ahead of them.

“We can’t be unrealistic,” Appl said of expectations. “We have to know what we’re capable of doing and set our goals for that because we are so young. And then later we can build on those in the years to come.”

For now, the Central girls are putting in the time and effort to get better each time out. That work ethic is expected to pay dividends.

“I’m just excited about the group of kids we’ve got working with us,” Appl said. “Our kids are working hard and our kids want to get better. Any time you have kids who want to get better, you have a chance. That’s what we have.”