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Dublin Coffman High School boys track and field coach Tyler Gantz believes he has plenty of good reasons to be optimistic.

In addition to returning one of the best distance and middle-distance units in the state, the Shamrocks, who will open Saturday in the Wildcat Premier at Hilliard Davidson, picked up several newcomers who are expected to make them stronger in sprints and field events.

"We have over 100 boys out, and we've never had this much flat-out talent before," Gantz said. "We've never been this deep or athletic. Our distance guys are studs and they will continue to be the strength of our team, but we have a lot of depth and potential in sprinting now, too."

Returning to run the distance middle-distance races are seniors Casey Hague, Nick Immell and Ian Stafford, junior Ryan Daulton and sophomore Jarred Phillips. Junior Kirk Wilkinson has moved to Texas.

"Our distance guys are used to winning," Gantz said. "We've got a lot of proven talent there."

The top sprinters are senior Steve Gardiner and juniors Matt Bonfini, Trey Fairchild, Matt Ross, Conner Smith and Jake Stoneburner.

"These guys are football and soccer players, but when I pass them in the halls, all they want to talk about is our 400-meter relay," Gantz said. "This is definitely the best group of sprinters we've had in my time here."

Senior Ryan McKee and junior Ga-yiu Lee are the top hurdlers and junior Mike Adams is the leader in the throws.

The top high-jumpers are juniors Dan Sullivan, Stoneburner and sophomore Matt Spohn. Smith is the best long-jumper.

"We have good potential across the board," Gantz said. "There are still some concerns, though. We can't pencil in points in every event yet. For example, we still don't have a true pole vaulter."

The Shamrocks were fourth (67) in the OCC-Buckeye Division meet last year behind Reynoldsburg (132), Davidson (128) and Thomas Worthington (99) and ahead of Westerville North (65) and Westland (32). Grove City and Upper Arlington have replaced Thomas and Westland in the OCC-Buckeye.

"All of them are large schools with a lot of athletes," Gantz said. "Depth is really important in the OCC meets, and I'd like to think that we can finish in the top half of our OCC meet with the depth that we have."

At the Division I district 1 meet, Coffman was fourth (64) behind champion Reynoldsburg (102). Winners were the 3,200 relay (8 minutes, 14.09 seconds) of Wilkinson, Hague, Immell and Daulton and Immell in the 800 (1:56.31).

At the regional, the Shamrocks tied Gahanna for 13th (20) behind champion Hilliard Darby (68). The 3,200 relay (7:57.62) and Immell in the 800 (1:56.96) both were second.

The Shamrocks didn't score at the state meet, which was won by Cleveland Glenville (51). Immell was eighth in the 800 (1:58.06) and the 3,200 relay was 12th (8:08.04).