After 31 years as a high school track coach, LeRoy Krall knows a thing or two about what it takes to be successful in the sport.

“This is a team on the rise,” Krall said. “If not this year, in the next couple of years, they will be front-runners in the conference if everything works out.”

Obviously, Krall wasn’t talking about his West Salem girls team, which will chase its fourth straight Coulee Conference team championship this spring.

Instead, he will was referring to the Panthers boys team, for which he works with the distance runners.

Krall’s optimism is shared by West Salem boys coach Corey Peterson.

“We are aiming high,” Peterson said. “I would hopefully aim for the top two in the conference.

“We have a young group of kids that have the potential and the talent. Things have to go our way, but that is how we feel about it.”

The talent begins with junior Ryan Welch, last year’s Coulee Conference boys track and field athlete of the year.

All Welch did was capture conference titles in the 110 and 300 hurdles, the triple jump and was third in the long jump. He also qualified for state in both hurdle events.

“He can do a lot of things,” Peterson said of Welch. “He can do both hurdles (events), the open sprints and the jumps. He has a lot of talent.”

But the Panthers, who finished third behind Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau and Arcadia at last year’s conference meet, are by no means a one-man show.

“We have a lot of individuals who will pitch in,” Peterson said.

Among th0se individuals is junior Spencer Brown, a hurdler who, unfortunately, often gets overlooked because of Welch’s accomplishments.

“He is a very good hurdler,” Peterson said. “He just happens to be on the same team as Ryan.”

Peterson is expecting sprinters Alex Koenen and Jordan Englerth to continue to improve on the strong showing they had last season in their freshman years.

Alex Peterson, who ran 2:03 split in the 800 as a freshman is also expected to continue to step up, as is junior Brandon Kendhammer, who leads a talented group of weightmen.

“Brandon just started out (the season) with 43-feet (in the shot put),” Peterson said. “With the potential we have between our junior and sophomore throwers, we have four kids that could potentially throw over 40 feet.

“We have never had that before.”

While some coach might not want to put pressure on their athletes too early in the season, Peterson said he and his team have been discussing their

possibilities since the first practice.

“I laid it out for them on Day 1,” the coach said. “We expect to be contending for the conference title. Last year, we were about 20 points short, but we have the talent to make that up.

“Of course, that doesn’t take into consideration improvements other teams have made. But we have lofty expectations and kids know what we are aiming for.

“We have set the bar high.”