IPSWICH – While the track and field season is just getting started, a familiar squad has bolted out of the blocks quickly.

The Ipswich boys, who tied for the Class B state championship last spring, can be found in numerous events in the state track and field leaders.

“We’ve just got unbelievable leadership,” said Ipswich coach Todd Thorson. “We’re younger than we’ve probably been in 10 years. They’ve showed up wanting to work hard.”

The Tigers are well represented in the leaders on the girls’ side as well.

Thorson said it takes an entire team effort from everyone involved in the program.

“I feel like our coaching staff has just been fantastic, too. I feel like we’ve really had good communication with each other. We’ve had solid plans,” Thorson said. “Combination of good kids and good weather and I’ve got great assistant coaches. I feel very blessed to have that trifecta going on at Ipswich right now.”

Ipswich has the fastest time in Class B boys right now in the 400-meter and 800-meter relays, with plenty of room for improvement, according to Thorson.

“I would say handoffs weren’t all that great,” Thorson said, “which we expected them to be that way.”

Kyle Hettich, a member of both of those relays, has had a notable start to the season and is second in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes.

“Kyle Hettich ran the second fastest time in school history in the 100 with zero wind at his back,” Thorson said.

Fellow relay members Rasmus Loken and Trevor Heinz are also among the leaders in open events. Loken has the top vault in Class B and is sixth in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, and Heinz is second in the long jump.

Casey Geditz and Brody Davis are also key members of the relays.

“We’re real fortunate,” Thorson said. “We’ve had some kids have really good off seasons in the weight room.”

On the girls’ side, Jalyssa Hutson is first in the pole vault with teammate Marley Guthmiller second. Madisyn Gellhaus is third in the 1,600-meter run after an eight-second personal record this spring.

While it has been an impressive start for the Tigers this season, Thorson is not about to get caught up in those accomplishments. Instead, he wants to focus on establishing a baseline for his athletes and then working to improve on that throughout the season.

“It’s all about improvement,” Thorson said. “Whether they’ve got a number one time in the state or the worst time in the state, it’s the exact same process. You evaluate what you did and how can I make it better?”

Thorson wants all the athletes on the roster to work on being the best version of themselves. That often means being willing to get out of their comfort zone.

“Focus on the process. Focus on enjoying the process,” Thorson said. “Are you going to enjoy working a little harder and getting outside your comfort zone, and understanding that to get better you’re going to have to hurt a little bit?”

Those words have resonated with the athletes.

“That’s kind of been the message,” Thorson said. “How we can help each other get better and how can we focus on improvement every single day?”

The recent cold, wet and windy weather has curtailed competition in recent days, but Thorson tries to keep things in perspective.

“It allows us to continue our base days and add to it, instead of race and recovery,” he said. “I try to not focus on the negative, no meets. I’m turning it into a positive.”

Thorson believes that work done on days where there are no meets will only help his athletes be able to perform up to their potential when action does resume.

“Some things that are very technical, whether it be the hurdles, or the handoffs, the technical things, we might be a little bit behind, and we usually are from the south schools,” Thorson said. “So, we’ll focus on getting better at what we can get better at, and when it’s time to race, we’ll take advantage of that opportunity and feel blessed that we get to compete.”

LEADING THE WAY: Chester Area’s Jovi Wolf is setting the pace when it comes to individual leaders so far this spring. The standout leads Class B in the 100-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter and long jump. Dylan Payer of Yankton tops three open events in Class AA including the 800, 1,600, and 3,200.

There are 13 other athletes who lead a pair of open events, including Kaleb Foltz of Tri-State in the Class A 400 and 800.

BY THE NUMBERS: The Sioux Falls Christian girls lead the most events to start out the season, topping seven events in Class A.

Other team leaders so far this spring are Rapid City Stevens in Class AA boys (five events), Spearfish in Class A girls (five events), Hot Springs and Sioux Falls Christian in Class A boys (three events each), Chester Area in Class B boys (four events), and Centerville and Burke in Class B girls (three events each).