Coach: Ted Genger

Last year: Finished 11th at the NWC Championships. Finished ninth at 3A Northwest District meet. Did not have any placers at the 3A State Championships.

Returning state participants: None

Others to watch: William Ferguson (sr. sprints), Shane Stockton (jr. throws), Ryan Pringle (so. sprints), Daniel Jones (so. sprints), Trevor Koehn (sr. jumps), Taylor Walton (sr. jumps), Josh Devenere (sr. distance), Jordan Baron (sr. distance), Kyle Maassen (jr. javelin), Connor Jungkuntz (sr. pole vault)

Outlook: Though the Golden Eagles don't have a returning state participant from last year, Ferguson went to state as a sophomore before injuring his hamstring at the NWC meet last spring. He's back, and Genger said Ferguson told him he's "ready to go." He joins a number of other Ferndale athletes looking to make it through to state this year. Among those is Jungkuntz, who will switch from the distance events to focusing solely on the pole vault despite placing eighth at the state cross country meet last fall. He cleared 11 feet, 6 inches last spring and is part of a large, talented group of vaulters. "Being the only 3A team in our conference, we feel like the awkward stepchild," Genger said. "We need to go to a sub-district meet to get qualified for district this year. ... It's going to be a weird year. We're hoping to compete well against the 2As, which are some of the best in the state when you're talking about the Sehomes and Lyndens and Bellingham and Squalicum. We're hoping to hang with them so that we can get a gauge on how we'll do against the 3As."

Reach DAVID RASBACH at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2271.