The first day of the 2015 Iowa state track and field meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines is finally here, and a number of ADM athletes will compete throughout the day Thursday.

ADM’s lone boys team representative, Jacob West, will help kick off the meet at 9 a.m. in the high jump finals. On the girls side, senior thrower Erica Baier will also get started right away with the girls discus finals, also at 9 a.m.

Here are the rest of ADM’s competitors throughout the day:

9:20 a.m. – Girls shuttle hurdle relay (preliminaries): Piper Freestone, Sami Schepers, Kylie Hauf, Maggi Bjustrom

10:45 a.m. – Girls 100m dash (preliminaries): Kari Dufoe

11:30 a.m. – Girls 4 x 800m relay (final): Jenny Wicks, Erin Person, Ellie Mueller, Brianna Mueller

12:50 p.m. – Girls 200m dash (preliminaries): Dufoe, Sydney Bertman.

Among that list of participants, only junior Brianna Mueller and the three freshmen, Schepers, Hauf and Ellie Mueller, are first-time qualifiers. In other words, ADM has a full supply of veteran runners ready to coach the state meet rookies through the stresses and anxieties of running on such a big stage.

ADM girls track head coach Bart Mueller said having those returning state-qualifying runners is extremely valuable for the first-time runners.

“I think just have them calm,” said Mueller of how specifically the veteran runners help the rookies. “They’re calm, and they’ll go down there and tell them the little things they have to do when they get ready. I think even when they’re down there, I just see them having confidence, and they show how to compete, how to warm up. And when [the first-time state meet athletes] have girls like that on the team I think it gives them confidence.”

Check out raccoonvalleyradio.com as we bring you updates on area athletes throughout all three days. You can also tune in to one of our three stations, 1310 AM KDLS, 98.9 FM KGRA and 107.9 KKRF, at 12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. for our sports update.