The WACO Warriors are getting a new boys’ track and field season underway, and plenty of their best athletes from last year are back. Senior Louden Huisenga returns after finishing second in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference in the high jump and qualifying for the Class 1A state championships in that same event.

Huisenga also helped WACO make state in the shuttle hurdles relay and will be joined by fellow senior Gage Samo and sophomore Casey Coakley in chasing another silver medal at the conference meet, while Samo, senior Isaac Rich and sophomore Hayden Shelman look to get back to state and build on their runner-up finish at conference in the 4-by-100-meters.

Other athletes like junior Jude Dykstra will also be a factor in events like the distance races, with Dykstra already finishing ninth among Class 1A boys in the 1,600 meters at last week’s Iowa Association of Track Coaches Indoor State Championships.

But Warriors head coach Caylon DeVaul tells KCII Sports that, while they have a great team on paper, they’re not worrying just yet about the big picture.

“We don’t talk a whole lot about team placing,” DeVaul says. “We just kind of go about our business, and the rest will take care of itself.”

In addition to taking part in the IATC indoor state meet, WACO will compete later today at the University of Dubuque High School Boys Indoor Classic. The Warriors’ first outdoor meet of the track season will be next Thursday at the Steve Roth Relays in Washington.