BRODHEAD — The Cardinals were fifth last season in the Rock Valley Conference meet on the boys side, and with a slew of athletes returning, they hope to finish even better in 2022.

Boys coach Nick Jarvis expects his team to compete for a conference championship, then send multiple events to the WIAA state meet in La Crosse. The team standing in the way of both goals might just be Jefferson, which “returns a great deal from a conference and state championship team.”

Senior jumper Josiah Engen is a conference champion and state qualifier. Sprinters Gage and Gunner Boegli, Syler Weeden, Brady Bruns and Blake Senobe are sectional qualifiers, whole Mario Reyes, Sabian Blang, Gavin Pinnow, Nathan Engen and Brittian Paulson run mid-distance, and Blake Matthys throws shot put. Also available is Leon Saunders, who missed 2021 due to a leg injury.

“We’ll be very fast in the 100- to 400-meter races, with a great deal of depth,” Jarvis said. Developing the mid-distance crew could make the team even stronger. Jarvis said arguably the biggest challenge will be finding points in the long-distance races.

On the girls side, state-qualifying distance runner Maddie McIntyre graduated and is now running for UW-La Crosse. However, sophomores Kalena Riemer (800-meter) and Addison Yates (high jump, long jump) both qualified for state as freshmen in 2021. In all, 19 letterwinners return for the Lady Cardinals.

New this season are three freshmen that head coach Curt Gratz thinks will make an impact.

“Freshman Stella Arn who had an excellent times in club track looks to make an immediate impact on the team, also freshman Madi Brown and Oliva Hartwig both had excellent cross country seasons and should contribute at a varsity level,” said Gratz, who is also the cross country coach.

Gratz said the team will need to improve on distance events, due in part to the loss of McIntyre. The Cardinals also need to develop depth in both the field and hurdle events that could offer more versatility and scoring opportunities.

“I hope we can perform well this year and make a run at the conference title.  Our goal for sure is to repeat as champions, but this year we will come in as the favorites which is always the harder position,” said Curt Gratz, Brodhead-Juda’s girls coach. “I think our depth will be one of our strengths.  We can field quality relays on the track and have some stand out athletes that will score in their individual events as well.”