In a sport such as track and field, where there are so many talented athletes and so many different events, one of the many challenges the city’s high school coaches face year in and year out is deciding who gets to appear in the preview picture at the beginning of the season.

Chalk one up for Lawrence High’s Jack Hood and Free State’s Steve Heffernan this season. Asked to send two athletes — one male and one female — to the preseason photo shoot, the coaches threw darts in selecting four athletes who were destined to qualify for the 2009 Class 6A state meet.

“We had a lot of senior boys to choose from and didn’t have a lot of senior girls to choose from,” Hood said. “I was really proud of Louisa (Hussein) for just finding a way to get to state.”

Hussien, who qualified for state in the high jump, joined LHS senior Ben Wilson (distance) and Free State seniors Colter Scott (shot put) and Kyra Kilwein (1,600) in turning photogenic smiles into spots at the final meet of the season.

For Scott, who qualified on his final attempt at last week’s regionals, the idea that he was standing next to three other future state qualifiers on that day three months ago was just one of the many things that made this year special.

“We all thought about it and kind of talked about it because we were all returning,” Scott said. “But it was just the beginning of the season, we were just getting started and still had a ways to go.”

The wait is over. Today, 15 Firebirds and 13 Lions will open competition at the state track meet at Wichita State University’s Cessna Stadium.

Free State’s Abby Hanson and Lawrence’s Caitlin Fisher have the distinction of being the first city athletes to compete at this year’s meet. They’ll both battle in the javelin, which gets under way at 1:15 today.

The Lions and Firebirds are slated to compete in 10 other events on the opening day of the two-day meet.

Whitney Demby will compete in the 100 hurdles and girls triple jump for the Lions, and Hood said he expects Demby’s trend to continue.

“She just keeps getting better,” Hood said. “When you talk to her, she’s just a happy-go-lucky kid. But she’s discovering something inside of her that she didn’t know she had, and you can really tell it means something to her. Next year, she’ll be the photo girl. She’s had that kind of a season.”

Senior thrower Chebon Dawes joins Demby, Wilson and Roy Wedge as the four LHS athletes competing in more than one event. Dawes is expected to challenge for the top spot in the shot put and discus. Wedge will run the individual 1,600 and 3,200 as well as one leg of the Lions’ 4×800 relay, which also includes Wilson, Calvin Morgan, Jon Gabler, Joe Springer and Kyler Thomann.

Rounding out the list of LHS athletes hoping to win hardware at state are: Chris Smith (javelin), Ryan Marienau (110 hurdles) and Will Pendleton (pole vault).

While their quest to win it all never changes, the Lions are realistically expecting to be in the top three teams. Their final event of the meet will be in the hands of Wilson, who will run the 800 at 4:35 p.m. Saturday.

“We’ll know exactly where we’re at after Ben runs the 800,” Hood said. “If we’re in the hunt, and he’s my last chance to score points, I like my chances. We’ve got a lot of kids who have bought in and are giving everything they’ve got. You just hope they have one more meet left in them.”

Like the Lions, the Firebirds have plenty of athletes who expect to medal.

Drue Davis will compete in the 100 and the pole vault; Zach Mehl will pole vault on the boys side; Keene Niemack will run the 400; JD Wiebe will run the 800; Kilwein will run the 1,600; and two relays — boys 4×400 (Niemack, Chase Hoag, Nash Riggins and John Loch) and girls 4×800 (Hailey Donley, Hayley Francis, Haley Harrington and Kilwein) — also will vie for medals.

“Now it’s mostly just about going out there and laying it all on the track and doing your best,” Wiebe said. “There’s nothing left to save up for at this point.”

Many of the Firebirds who made the trip south have been to state before. For them, this weekend is as much about team success as it is individual accomplishments.

“It’s state,” Davis said. “So, obviously, you want to do your best. But I just really hope the seniors do well. For most of them, this is their last track meet.”