"Every day everyone comes out to the track and goes to work, and you can either make work an enjoyable thing or you make it miserable," he said. "If you make it miserable, more than likely it'll be miserable for those around you -just like life itself."

This season, Thierolf and his assistant coaches have 51 athletes with which to share the message.

Thierolf, who coaches the sprinters and relay teams, is assisted by assistants Rex Wilson (throws), Deanna Thierolf (horizontal and vertical jumps), Jerry Smith (pole vault), Jim Darrow (discus), Steve Janzen (throws) and Bill Darrow (hurdles).

Participating in the Mid-Central Activities Association for the first time, Thierolf said the competition the new league provides will give the season a different look.

"It's obviously going to be a whole lot tougher than what we've had in the past," he said. "But we've met a lot of these teams in the past anyway, so it won't be a huge shock. But the competition should make us better in the long haul."

Thierolf returns just one state qualifier among his 51 hopefuls: Casey Nelson, who cleared 14 feet in state competition.

"He's very competitive in everything he does and works extremely hard to make himself better," Thierolf said. "He's one of those kids who stays after practice and puts in extra work to become successful.

"I think when others see him working as hard as he does, it makes them want to work harder as well."

Thierolf said most of the boys' events are looking competitive.

In the sprints, Ben Leppke (11.8 seconds, a personal best) and Kyle Hett (12.0) lead the way in the 100 meters. Adam Heerey is a first-year participant.

Hett also runs the 200 meters (24.5) along with Heerey, Austin Hager and Emmanuel Jackson.

"We have some depth in the sprints that we haven't had in quite a while," Thierolf said.

The 400-meter field will be filled by Nelson (54.3), Russell Ploutz (56.0), Jeff Richmond, Jeremy Vondenkamp and Jason Hett.

"We're really pleased with those three events," Thierolf said. "Obviously, we'd like to get a little faster but we're working hard to get to that point."

In the distance races, Luke Bowers heads the pack in the 800 meters (2:12) along with Brandon Watson (2:15).

Running the 1,600 meters will be Jason Hett (4:40), Bowers (4:55) and Daniel Goentzel. Goentzel also will run the 3,200 meters (11:10.8) as will Charlie Holub.

Thierolf said the 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams will be pieced together based on individual times in early meets.

"We think we're going to be pretty competitive, though," he said.

In the 110- and 300-meter hurdles, Vondenkamp, John Barr, Riley Ross and Josh Shanklin hope to make waves.

"Vondenkamp has made tremendous improvement since last year," Thierolf said. "Barr and Ross will also do a good job."

Competing in the pole vault will be Nelson (14-0), Ploutz (10-0) and Jackson (9-6).

Thierolf said the future looks bright in the jumps. Leppke leads the way in the long jump (18-8) along with Ploutz (18-7) and Jackson, while Leppke (40-8), Ploutz (39-7) and Adam Trapp will compete in triple jump.

"Ben and Russell are headed for great things," Thierolf said. "They've really gotten better."

Jeff Richmond, Trapp and Josh Smith (5-8) will be high jumping.

"We hope Josh has recovered from his shoulder injury," Thierolf said.

In the throws, Adam Depler leads the way in the shot put (45-6), and will be joined by Shawn Britton (40-3) and Drew Looper (40-0).

Dale Vogel (136-1), Depler (118-9) and Kyle Hett (115-7) will throw the discus while Looper (138-9), Michael Brookens (134-6) and Britton (110-2) will throw the javelin.

"Overall, I think our boys are pretty solid," Thierolf said. "We have a whole crew of kids that I think will be really good for us."

For the girls, depth is a concern.

"We have a little less depth than we've had in the past," he said. "We're just kind of thin, but we have some girls that I think are going to compete hard."

Running the sprints will be Erin Carr in both the 100 meters (13.2) and 200 meters (27.8). Jayde Hess and Kalaya Jackson will also run the 100 and Sabine Teichert and Sasha Mikheyeva will run the 200.

Emily Svoboda (1:09.6) and Anika Wagner will run the 400.

In the distance events, Katie Hett (2:54.8) and Wagner will run the 800, Danielle Cope (5:54.8) and Alycia Pontious will run the 1,600 and Cope also will run the 3,200 (13:27.4).

The 4x100 and 4x800 relays will be filled from a pool of Tedra Eis, Jayde Hess, Kalaya Jackson, Sabine Teichert, Erin Carr, Alissa Vogel, Danielle Cope and Katie Hett.

Alissa Vogel (54.5) will compete in the 300-meter hurdles, Erin Richmond (8-0) will pole vault, and Erin Carr (14-2), Eis (13-8) and Jackson will long jump. Eis (30-4) also will triple jump.

"I think the throws will be our strength on the girls' team," Thierolf said.

Throwing the shot put will be Emalee Versch (32-4), Adrienne Chamberland (27-5) and Erika Riggs. Toni Gordon (115-8), Chamberland (90-4) and Leann Thomas will throw the discus and Erin Richmond (105-5), Versch and Chamberland the javelin.

"I like this group of kids," Thierolf said. "We're having great days of practices. I think as coaches, we're a little more focused on what we're trying to accomplish. The kids also seem to feel more comfortable."

This early, it's hard to gauge the team's improvement.

"First and foremost as coaches, we look for kids that are competitive, because that's really the only way to gauge how you're doing," he added. "You have to be able to compete hard and I think we're getting these kids to that point."

Thierolf said team goals for the season are to challenge for titles at the MCAA meet and regionals, and place high at state.

"One thing about this new league, if we compete well enough to win the title, we're going to be competitive at the state level," he said. "It's going to push us all year, and that will simply make us better at what we do.

"As we look back, if we can say we did as well as we possibly could do, then we'll have been successful," he said. "I like coaching this group because they work hard and seldom complain.

"But," he said with a smile, "we wouldn't listen to them even if they did complain."