The 2013-14 season for indoor track and field is similar to the previous ones in all the important ways for a young King’s Fork High School.

While the Bulldogs will continue to participate in Southeastern District meets, the Virginia High School League’s realignment significantly limits the field King’s Fork must face to win state championships.

“You can’t let that diminish your goals for your team,” KF coach Marvin Ricks said. “You’ve got to keep your standards up.”

Each athlete on the King’s Fork team is given the simple expectation of improving from one year to the next, though there’s a much bigger goal for the team as a whole.

“We want to be one of the best teams in the United States,” Ricks said.

That means focusing on producing lower times, rather than simply defeating other schools.

For example, King’s Fork’s girls’ and boy’s teams finished with a combined score of 49 in Thursday’s first district meet of the season. It put them in ninth place out of 10 schools competing, with several of their better athletes held out due to minor injuries.

But this was not a failure for Ricks, because a major goal of the meet was to give young athletes on the team exposure to what indoor track is about, preparing them for the future. Meanwhile, veteran team members could ease their way into a season that ideally peaks come championship time.

“We’re very, very, very young,” Ricks said. “We kind of have a peppering of seasoned athletes.”

King’s Fork lost only a couple of key contributors from last year, including sprinter Noah Johnson and pole vaulter Te’Shaibrah Myles, both of whom were state qualifiers.

Returning are two athletes who were with them at states and are now seniors, Gabrielle Snipes and Andrew Gould. Snipes qualified in the 55-meter dash, the long jump and the 4×200-meter relay, and Gould qualified in the 500-meter long sprint and the 4×200-meter relay.

Junior Hannah Hinson is already showing she will be a force in the shot put, placing second in Thursday’s meet with a 35-foot-2-inch throw.

Junior Courtney Ricks had some hamstring issues on Thursday, but showed a preview of her abilities by winning the 300-meter run with a time of 43.04.

“Our goals are pretty lofty this year for Courtney,” Ricks said of his daughter.

Marvin Ricks said he likes his teams to have the make-up of his current one, age-wise. The older athletes can model what the coaches are trying to teach the many younger participants who have not made a name for themselves yet.

Some of these model athletes include senior Danielle Hill, a long sprinter, and seniors Brandon Gipson and Darius Allen, who are experienced distance runners.

Ricks spoke to the most difficult task his athletes will have to accomplish this year to be successful.

“Challenging themselves is probably the hardest part of it, understanding that to be successful requires a lot of sacrifice and sometimes pain,” he said.

But he is confident he has participants ready to meet the challenge.

“I think we’re going to have a pretty good year,” Ricks said.

King’s Fork is currently competing in the Real Deal Invitational, which concludes today at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton.