The men’s and women’s track and field teams look very different this year from what fans may remember from years past. That is because most of the athletes on the rosters were not here prior to this year.

The men’s team features 18 freshmen and 31 underclassmen on the 42-man roster, while the women’s team features 25 freshmen and 39 underclassmen on its 51-girl roster.

But the youth is led by a strong core of upperclassman leadership.

“We have some outstanding seniors in a number of the events that the younger kids can look to,” coach Rollie Geiger said. “They’ve been through several conference championships in both indoor and outdoor, so certainly their leadership is important in the growth of the program.”

Senior thrower Jason Jones said each year a few talented seniors step up to lead the squad.

“When I came in there were two really talented upperclassmen ahead of me so they helped me out a lot,” Jones said. “So I got used to that being how it is.”

But even Jones has noticed a difference in work ethic in this incoming class from previous classes.

“To me it looks like they want to work a lot harder than maybe some people in the past,” Jones said. “People are putting the work in now so [the team] should be in a good position moving forward and in the future.”

And that work ethic will be necessary for the young athletes to succeed.

“The Atlantic Coast Conference is a high level conference in track and field,” Geiger said. “It’s very difficult for a freshman to come in and be competitive immediately within the conference.”

But many freshmen have been able to compete at a high level. Freshman sprinter Ben Major III grabbed a third place finish in the 200m at the Virginia Tech Elite Invitational over the weekend while freshmen sprinters Shawn Murray and Austin Jackson took fourth and fifth respectively in the 400m.

Major said that the large number of freshmen has helped him with his preparation for events.

“We have a lot of numbers so you have more people at practice, so you have a variety of runners,” Major said. “It’s easy to find someone that matches your running style and you can use them to push yourself at practice.”

Both coaches and athletes know the real test will come later in the season against ACC competition.

“The ACC is one of the toughest conferences so coming in I knew that you have to have one of the top times in the country if you want a seed in this conference,” Major said. “It’s a good thing for me because you can use it as motivation.”

Freshman jumper Karimah Shepherd said that these early season meets are just preparation for the conference meets.

“We take these other meets kind of like preparing for ACCs because they’re the most important ones,” Shepherd said. “[ACC meets] are big meets so we’re going to try our best to deliver.”

But with the high level of competition comes a lot of pressure on the young athletes.

“We’re all pretty nervous,” Shepherd said. “But with ACC’s around the corner I think we’ll all be prepared.”

The coaching staff, however, is doing its best to help ensure that nerves don’t negatively affect the team.

“We try to keep pressure off the athletes,” Geiger said. “What we do in all these competitions against the conference is just try to get them ready to compete on that weekend.”

Some of the athletes, like Major, thrive under the pressure.

“As a freshman coming into the ACC and North Carolina State University, which has a tradition of excellence in the track and field program, you can’t help but be nervous,” Major said. “Being nervous is also a good thing because it allows me to better look at the situation. Anytime I’m nervous I do my best.”

The ACC indoor championships begin Feb. 25 in Blacksburg, Va.