What do you after the most successful season in school history?

Well, you try to do it again.

Coming off of last year’s sixth place finish at the IHSAA State Finals and an individual championship for Kelly Grassel, the Trojans started the 2012 season in the Viking Invitational on Tuesday at the Course at Aberdeen.

“We have high expectations for this year,” Chesterton coach Dale Hewitt said. “We’re still one of the better teams in the area, but the area and conference is much improved. Valpo, Crown Point and Lake Central are all going to be very good.

“There is no guarantee, so we’ll work on improving throughout the year.”

The Trojans opened play on Tuesday without their top two players in Grassel and senior classmate Marissa Kroeger. Grassel will miss most of the first week while playing in a national event, while Kroeger recovers from knee surgery last spring.

Clearly their returns to the course will be instrumental to the team’s success.

“I think winning (State) last year probably takes some pressure off of Kelly,” Hewitt said. “Pressure doesn’t seem to bother her. She’s played so much golf at such a high level.”

Kroeger is still finishing rehab, but has been cleared to hit balls a short distance and work on her short game as she prepares for her comeback.

“She’s working through the injury,” Hewitt said. “We’ll need her to be one of our key players. She’ll be ready when we need her.”

Senior Nicole Dutz played in the No. 1 spot on Tuesday and carded a team-best 88.

“The bright spot today was Nicole,” Hewitt said. “She played pretty well and scored on a tough course in tough conditions today.”

Junior Taryn Trusy, freshman Grace Davis, senior Jennifer Kattalia and sophomore Becca Schmiegel rounded out the Trojan lineup Tuesday.

“We didn’t have our 1-2 in the lineup today, but we had some kids get some tournament experience for us,” Hewitt said. “I really think Grace is going to be a good player for us when she gets more experience. She really hits the ball long.”

The rest of the Chesterton roster consists of Alyssa Huckaby, Ellie Donovan, Rachael Buschue, Becca Schmiegel, Rachel Enright, Hannah Brown and Kaitlynn Mears.

1. Penn 336, 2. Valparaiso 357, 3. Lake Central 376, 4. Crown Point 377, 5. Plymouth 395, 6. Northwood 398, 7. Munster 400, 8. Western 402, 9. Chesterton 403, 10. South Bend St. Joseph’s 411, 11. Kankakee Valley 446, 12. Portage 446, 13. Merrillville 514.

Penn -- Karie Bellville 73 (MEDALIST), Katie Willenbrink 84, Audrey Henderson 86, Madison Chesnutt 93.

Valparaiso -- Harley Dubsky 76, Jennifer Gough 86, Brooke Fullenkamp 94, Madison Macke 101.

Lake Central -- Kylie Shoemaker 83, Kiana Jongsma 91, Jamie Hintz 99, Amanda Blais 103.

Crown Point -- Tiffany Curtis 83, Alyssa Harvey 85, Lucia Bracco 91, Zoe Matthews 118.

Plymouth -- Emily Berger 92, Lauren Rearick 94, Heather Schrome 104, Morgan Oberley 105.

Northwood -- Heidi Morganthaler 85, Kate Adams 103, Rachel Beebe 103, Lizzie Richner 107.

Munster -- Rachel Jones 92, Hailey Estes 95, Jill Osterhus 105, Beckey Seligman 108.

Western -- Allison Lindley 79, Natalie Newin 99, Laura Christopher 108, Jen Hendershot 116.

Chesterton -- Nicole Dutz 88, Taryn Trusty 100, Grace Davis 103, Jen Kattalia 112.

South Bend St. Joseph’s -- Anna Wilcoxsen 76, Briana Hart 87, Lydia Lorenc 112, Isabel Miller 136.

Kankakee Valley -- Bethany Jansma 105, Tara Beere 110, Morgan Overstreet 114, Emily Tucker 117.

Portage -- Mackenzie Barcelli 101, Autumn Stevenson 108, Hailey Hodges 118, Gabby Ziulkowski 119.

Merrillville -- Maggie Connelly 85, Marissa Taylor 138, Jibria Ali 140, Maryam Ali 151.