Occasionally there will be six or seven, maybe five. But three?

That’s the magic, albeit small number the Chieftains are working with but Weller said the qualities of Roni Grizzle, Chrissie Jeannin and Megan Puhr make up for the small quantity.

“The three seniors we have are outstanding. They’ve been here all four years now, and all three have placed at state,” Weller said. “They never miss practice, their attitude is really good and they’re everything you want in senior leadership.”

With Grizzle able to score in any throwing event, Jeannin a state medalist in the javelin and Puhr experienced in relay runs, the biggest challenge for these three will be splitting up leadership duties. With so many girls on the roster, Grizzle said, it can be hard to get around to all of them.

“It’s difficult to do it because there’s a whole bunch of different events and we’re not around everybody all the time,” she said, adding that they do what they can by cheering their teammates on and providing a good example at practice.

The trio of seniors also will be counted on to score points for the Chieftains this year because the team lost their biggest point-producers from last season — Roxi Grizzle, Tracie Hileman and Christy Weller — to the college ranks. After a very successful 2008, point production could be an area of concern this season.

“We have to step it up somewhere,” Puhr said.

Sprinters, hurdlers and distance runners should help, the seniors said, as well as throwers. Variety could be crucial.

“The coaches are pushing people to try more things,” Jeannin said.

Take Lauren Hall for example. Weller said she didn’t like running last year, then tried the pole vault and hated that. Finally, Hall settled on long distance and she finished seventh in the mile at the Kaw Valley League meet in 2008 with a time of 6:21.02. Now a junior, Hall is expected to contribute in the mile and fill a hole on the 4×800 team that featured Puhr and Andie Jeannin and finished third at state last year but lost two seniors.

The biggest challenge for the Chieftains will be finding the underclassmen to help team scoring. Weller said Sagan Scates and Lindsay Cox have been working hard and they could end up on relay teams, and Danielle Miller and Dominique Grizzle should contribute in throwing events.

The Tonganoxie season begins on Tuesday at the Lansing Invitational.