With a brand new coaching staff and the loss of senior leaders such as Big 12 Conference Champion Rebecca Williams and All-Big 12 performer Sara Boisen, the ISU women’s track team will have to adapt to a great a deal of change this season.

The cupboard is not exactly bare, however, for new head coach Corey Ihmels.

“I think our leaders will emerge as the season progresses,” Ihmels said. “If you look on paper, [sophomore sprinter] Jenna Caffrey is returning, and she was at nationals as a true freshman. [Senior distance runner] Lisa Koll comes back, and she is a two-time All-American in cross country and she will continue to impress on the track. Those two kids are leaders, but we have a solid core of young ladies and those kids will emerge as we go.”

That core, along with Caffrey and Koll, includes sophomore sprinter Lashawn Wright, who will look to emerge as one of the team’s leaders as the season progresses. Last week at the Arkansas Invitational, Wright set a personal-best 24.91 in the 200-meter dash.

“All the upperclassmen are not just trying to do our own thing,” Wright said. “We are trying to show the freshmen that, in order to be the best, we have to work to get there.”

Ihmels is taking over this season as the director of both the men’s and women’s track and field squads, as well as the cross country teams. He was previously the head coach of the men’s cross country team and an assistant handling the distance runners for the men’s track team.

“The transition for myself has been difficult, but I think the rewards of what we can accomplish is going to be worth it,” Ihmels said. “Any time you change a situation, it’s difficult for people to handle change – and it has been somewhat of a difficult transition for me and for everyone involved.”

Happily, that difficulty has not dampened Ihmels’ anticipation of the upcoming season.

“It’s just an exciting time for everyone involved and I look forward to these kids competing.”