KADOKA - Sometimes hard decisions have to be made, even at the state track and field meet.

Kadoka Area track and field coach Robert Fugate will have to make some tough choices when his team arrives at the South Dakota High School Association Class B Track and Field Championship in Sioux Falls.

The Kougars, who took second at the Region 7B meet, qualified their 4x200, 4x400, 4x800 and 1,600 sprint relay teams. All four relay teams, Fugate said, qualified for the state meet using a combination of the same five seniors - Lukus Fite, Carter Uhlir, Keith Huffman, Royal Addison and Dustin Gunhammer.

The SDHSAA says one athlete can participate in four events at the state meet and the four relay team members have all qualified in individual events as well.

"We will have to decide who we will substitue for," Fugate said. "We are going to take a look. We haven't made up our minds."

Fugate said he has three juniors - Michael Herber, Karl Ireland and Tere VanderMay - who have participated on the Kougars' relay teams at some point this season.

"It will be a joint decision between the coach and athlete," Fugate said.

Kadoka Area's 4x800 has the best chance at a state title, Fugate said.

"Some teams have a little faster times in the 4x200 and the 4x400," Fugate said. "I think our best chance is in the 4x800. Our No. 1 objective is to win the 4x800 and then go from there."

The five seniors have been together, with Fugate as their coach, since the seventh grade, so they are looking to end their prep careers in style.

"They have gotten better as they have gone through the years," Fugate said.

The Kougars, in all, have nine athletes qualified for state, according to the SDHSAA Web site, a far cry from the 18 athletes Estelline will bring to Sioux Falls. Fugate said the Kougars did not have any field athletes qualify for state, which places a lot of pressure on his runners to produce points to keep pace with the larger track teams like Estelline.

"They are the one I would pick to win state. They are the one we are going to have to chase in our stronger relays," Fugate said.

"With no field events in the boys, if someone has some good field event athletes they are going to separate themselves from us."

Phillip head coach Jerry Rhodes said he is hoping his qualifiers exceed their personal bests and enjoy the experience of the state meet. The Scotties, who have never won a state track title, are taking three freshmen and a sophomore to the state meet.

"We are a young team with a lot of potential," Rhodes said. "If they keep improving, they will be contending in the future."

The Wall girls track team is sending five athletes to the meet after winning the Region 8B title.

"If the girls do what they did at regionals, we have a shot," Wall head coach Tom Calhoun said.

"The bunch I'm taking down, actually the whole track team, I'm very proud of all they have accomplished."

The Lady Eagles are sending freshman discus thrower Madison McLaughlin, who set, and then broke, her own freshman record in the event. McLaughlin is returning to state after an appearance there as an eighth-grader last year. Wall is also sending its 4x400-meter and 1,600 sprint medley relay teams.

"It will be pretty tough competition down there," Calhoun said.

The meet begins at 8:30 a.m. MDT today at Howard Wood Stadium in Sioux Falls and will conclude on Saturday.