The Chesterton boys track team is a big meet team.

The Trojans used that to finish fourth overall at the IHSAA State Finals last year and will spend the next two months trying to do it again.

“We have a lot of state qualifiers back,” Chesterton head coach Bryan Nallenweg said. “We have some top end kids that are really good. They have to carry us throughout the season. We’re hoping they will give us the same type of success we had last post-season.”

A quartet of seniors will look to spearhead the run including Braden Corzan, Jakob Kintzele, Ben Raffin and Louie Razo.

Corzan finished third in the 200 and sixth in the 100 last year and was part of the third place 4x100 relay.

“Braden is still one of the top kids in the area, the state,” Nallenweg said. “There isn’t anything he can’t run. We used him in the 4x8 during the winter even.”

Jakob Kintzele, who finished fifth in the 3,200 last year, is teamed with classmate Andrew Smenyak to form a talented 1-2 distance combo.

In the field events, Louie Razo was fourth in the long jump and Raffin was 14th in the pole vault. Razo was also a part of the 4x100 relay.

“With our top guys, we’ll have to figure what events to put them in,” Nallenweg said. “It will probably depend on where we need to score points in the dual meet season and then figure out what’s best for them to have a chance to get to State.

“We hope to get all those top guys down (to State) in an event or two and hopefully a relay.”

The Trojans will also need to have some kids fill in different spots to plug some holes.

“There are a lot of opportunities to have an impact on the boys side,” Nallenweg said.

In the throws, Chesterton will look to Charlie Bernth and Brandon Stroup in both the shot put and discus, while Alex Scott will also help in the discus.

“This year we have a chance to score more points in the throws than we have the last few years,” Nallenweg said.

In the sprints, the Trojans will look to Luke Villarreal, JP Osafo, Eric McLaughlin and Brian Zidarich (high jump).

“We need some sprinters to step up,” Nallenweg said. “We lost an awful lot through graduation. Brian Zidarich coming back should help us in a couple of areas too.”

The Trojans open the season tonight when they host Highland and Hammond beginning at 4:30 p.m.