MARYSVILLE — Although the Tomahawk girls track team returns 11 athletes from their district championship group last season, key personnel losses will challenge the team to repeat their success last year.

The girls return two state runners-up in senior Jenna Welsh, who took the silver in the javelin, and junior Alisha Oden, who discovered a talent for the 400 and finished second in the state finals after picking up the event only a few weeks earlier. In addition, senior hurdler Alexandra McDonald, sophomore sprinter Dacia Heckendorf and junior field specialists Sarah Clark and Cali Cull return from last year’s state meet.

But the team graduated senior girls Nicolette Runyan, a top sprinter during her time at M-P, and Haley Nemra, who followed three medals at state with an appearance in the Beijing Olympic games.

“Well you know, when you lose an Olympian your team is going to fall a little bit,” coach Randy Davis said. But the team hopes to bounce back quickly on the relay front, despite the girls’ involvement in the team’s relay success over the past several years.

As the team sets out to fill in the gaps left by departing seniors, Davis’ focus is to try athletes out in different events. Where they might land, or if there’s another great match a la Oden and the 400, remains to be seen.

“It’s too early to tell,” Davis said. “We have holes this year where we need to spread our great athletes out so they’re not clustered in one or two events. She probably never thought she’d be a 400 runner, but once you try it, you find out, ‘Hey, I might be really good in this.’”

Athletes who might pick up another event include Welsh, who threw shot and discus as well before transferring to Marysville last spring. As a volleyball player, she might find a good fit in jumping events too, her coach speculated. Several of the team’s state competitors could potentially pick up an extra event this year — Cull just missed qualifying in the long jump while McDonald could go in the 300 hurdles as well as the 100. Heckendorf, who competed on the 4×100 relay, could be competitive as an individual in the 100-meter dash, where she just missed out on district finals last spring.

The boys team, which returns four state athletes in seniors Andy Abadam and Travis Sanderson, junior Mark Pangilinan and sophomore J.J. Cartas, could pick up extra events from their veteran athletes as well. Abadam medaled in three events last year, the 100, 4×100 and long jump. But Pangilinan, a state hurdler and member of the 400 relay, has the speed to compete as an outright sprinter, competing in the 100 at district finals. Cartas, another relay runner, placed eighth in the 200 at district finals, where he could move up as well this spring.

This season could also smile on senior distance runner Ryan Lanphere, a veteran of the school’s cross country and track teams. Last spring, Lanphere finished sixth in the 800 finals and the 1,600, just a few places out of a state berth, while also competing in the 3,200 over the two-day meet. Davis likes the way the senior is training.

“He looks like he’s really ready to go this year,” Davis said.

The coach added that he’s not ready to prognosticate for this season though.

“What I see in the first few weeks is a lot of talent, a lot of extreme talent,” he said. “The problem in track and field is knowing how it’s all going to fall together. We line them up and go and develop as it goes along.”