The complexion of the Shorecrest girls track team changed drastically with the exit of last year’s standout senior class.

Instead of stockpiling points in the sprints and relays, the Scots will look to a burgeoning crew of jumpers to shoulder a sizable portion of the scoring load in 2004.

Shorecrest swept all of the points in the jumps at its season-opening meet last week. Freshman Molly Gibson took first in the long and triple jumps and junior Amy Farquhar won the high jump, an event she qualified for state in last season.

In junior Libby Reynolds and senior Mickey Pelland the Scots return half of their mile relay team that captured a Class 3A state title last season. The foursome’s winning time of 3:57.84 surpassed a 26-year-old school record.

Pelland also placed a close second at state in the 800-meter run and Reynolds set a school record of 59.32 seconds in the 400-meter dash at last year’s Northwest District 3A meet.

“Those two by themselves are going to score some significant points,” Scots coach Don Dalziel said. “Unfortunately they’re in events where you really can’t be a multiple-event athlete.”

Though the Scots graduated all of their top sprinters, they bring back sophomores Jessica Tapley and Kate Haller, junior Jeni Ayers and the rest of their youthful distance corps.

On the boys side, Shorecrest will rely on its jumpers and sprinters for most of its points.

Senior Shane Hoffman claimed a district long jump title and finished third in the triple jump in 2003. Sophomores Jesse Hoffman and Ikenna Acholonu and senior Kiahn Larry also excel in the jumps and Acholonu runs the hurdles as well.

Shorecrest returns three members of its state-qualifying 1,600-meter relay team in the Hoffmans and senior J.D. Gardner.

“We’re still trying to find out who that fourth person will be,” Dalziel said. “There’s a bunch of kids fighting for that spot.”

Freshman Kevin Ramos is making an impact in the sprints and seniors Luke Dickinson and Brian Carlton and sophomore Bo Rohrbach lead a distance team that didn’t suffer any significant losses to graduation.

With underclassmen making up the nucleus of both the boys and girls teams, 2004 will likely offer a preview of what could be in store for the Scots down the line.

“We’re looking for lots of improvement,” Dalziel said. “We don’t want to see a large attrition rate. Track and field tends to start off with big numbers and dwindles as the season goes on.

“One of our goals over the last few years has been to keep the kids turning out. That builds a strong program.”