The Aberdeen Christian track and field team will feature a little bit of everything this season.

While there is a mix of returning talent, the Knights will also look to replace key athletes from last year.

The Knights will once again be led by sophomore sprinter Shawnteah La Croix, who finished fourth in the 100-meter dash and third in the 200-meter dash at last year’s state meet.

Christian also returns all members of its 400-meter relay team that also competed at the state meet. That squad is comprised of sophomores La Croix, Ali Isakson, and Lauren Meyers, and freshman Payton Skarin.

The Knights no longer have Rachel Beaner and Katie Steger, who both competed in the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs at state a year ago.

Coach Sam Bjorkman has been impressed with the hard work the girls have put in during the offseason to prepare themselves for this season.

“Really great group of kids, and driven,” Bjorkman said. “The group of girls, in particular, that’s been working the last nine months (is) just so cool to see.”

Bjorkman saw several girls take the next steps in their track and field careers by putting in hours of offseason work, something he says is maturity blooming before everyone’s eyes.

“You can’t practice in the offseason, but there’s stuff you can give them to do; there’s workouts that can be done,” Bjorkman said. “(They’re) really just committing to it and making sure, no kidding, I get today’s workout in, and taking responsibility and ownership for that. That’s just kids maturing and just taking ownership of that process.”

On the boys’ side, Christian looks to replace Abe Kretchman, Andrew Brennan, and Jackson Isakson. Kretchman and Brennan were both state place winners in the long jump last season, while Kretchman also finished runner-up in the triple jump. Brennan joined the team this season as an assistant coach.

The Knights program also added assistant coach Sam Ellyson to the staff. Bjorkman is excited to see the impact that Ellyson and Brennan will bring to the team.

“Between the two of them, there’s the discipleship side, and then there’s the (athletic side),” Bjorkman said. “Andrew Brennan, three-sport varsity athlete, multiple state tournaments on the boys’ side. Pastor Sam, collegiate pole vaulter, collegiate football player at USF, so you have this intensity. The more of that that we can have on our team helping us, the better.”

The Knights will also be counting on several underclassmen who have little varsity experience such as sophomores Aiden Schaunaman, Dylan Opdahl, and Grady Jett, freshmen Brooks Jett, Ryder Shaving, Luke Kaiser, and Dylan Hofer, and eighth-grader Joseph Richards. Bjorkman said he has been looking to see what the team has coming back and what events the returning boys can have the most success, in the short term, as well as the long-term future.

“It’s always what do you have?” Bjorkman said. “You look at what you got, and you figure out where you can have the most success now, and then, as much as you have the ability to look into the future, where you could see that growing. So, on the boys’ side, that’s what we’re looking at.”

Bjorkman added that his main goal is to figure out what events his team does best and focus on those in the coming weeks.

“It’s just trying to figure out how you put the best team together, and there’s a lot of options, and we haven’t really settled in on what we’re going after hard, I would say,” Bjorkman said. “Hopefully in the next few weeks we’ll kind of clarify some of that.”

However, Bjorkman also added he wants the team to avoid chasing after events that do not end with positive results, hoping each athlete will have patience and find their niche by the end of the season.

“Hopefully, the kids will see it,” Bjorkman said, “and the coaches will be able to see where we need to dig in.”