When the Marshalltown girls’ track and field unit visits Boone High School for a season-opening invitational Thursday afternoon, it will be with a smaller group than head coach Chad Pietig has had in the past few years.

A small group of regular returners and a number of young newcomers will make up the 2023 track and field squad, with an all-new group of throwers and jumpers as well.

Among the main returners are Micah Blevins and Lydia Blevins, as well as Grace Rasmussen, Leticia Herrera, Maeve Janssen and fellow seniors Amiaha Weatherly and Kaisa Stanley.

Micah and Rasmussen were members of a state-meet qualifying 4×800-meter relay group two years running, while Lydia was an alternate for the group. The middle distance runners will be a strength for the Bobcats and their experience will be very important for the rest of the group and has been already, Pietig said.

“They’re kind of setting the tone for us in practice and they’re being great role models,” Pietig said. “The sprinters were watching their workout and made the comment, ‘Man, they do a lot.’

“We were able to point out, ‘That’s how you make it to state two years in a row, is doing a lot.’ And that kind of motivated the sprinters to get after it some more.”

Marshalltown has been taking advantage of decent spring weather in the preseason by getting in a lot of time on the track at Leonard Cole Field, trying to get as acquainted to the weather as they can before renovations will render the field and track unusable until the fall.

According to Pietig, there has been good work done inside but the work the Bobcats are able to complete outside is crucial, particularly for inexperienced runners learning to complete relay exchanges properly.

Short-distance runners are entering the year without much varsity experience, but Pietig said the group has the right mentality to learn and grow as the year goes on. Meets such as the Boone Invitational will serve as valuable experience.

“We’ll take advantage of all those experiences to point those [learning opportunities] out,” Pietig said. “Everything else is really unknown, and we’ll have to be patient and take our time with figuring out who can do what and which combinations work. It’s just where we are this year.”

Marshalltown’s visit to Boone will feature teams like Collins-Maxwell, Boone, Newton, Fort Dodge and Waukee Northwest. Running and field events begin Thursday at 4:30 p.m.