It’s a theme fairly common among small town track and field programs and other sports at the high school level.

Thing change, players graduate and move on.

And, hopefully, the next crop of standouts is on the way or already in position to take up the reigns.

Such is the case with the 14C conference when it comes to Springs sports, and sports in general.

There are some shoes, some big shoes to fill in the wake of the graduation of four area high school athletes who are now embarking on the next progression of their sports careers at the college level.

But right behind the four, is a foundation of youngsters willing and eager to step in and lace up the track shoes.

Gone from the fray this year are two young ladies and two young men who left their mark in the record books and lore of the 14C conference, and at higher levels of competition.

The two ladies, Hot Springs standout Katelyn Christensen and Superior’s Sorren Reese, went from head-to-head opponents, particularly in the javelin event, to teammates at Carroll College in Helena.

Reese, who won the state Class C javelin event and consistently racked up throws in the 127-foot range, is now a freshman for the Lady Saints, as she hopes to pick up where she left off success-wise in chucking the fiberglass spear.

Christensen is also a Lady Saint, and was also signed to throw the javelin after the back-and-forth battles she and Reese waged throughout the bulk of their high school track careers.

Both were also standouts on the volleyball and basketball courts, and Christensen is currently coming off a red-shirt year as a member of Carroll’s successful ladies’ basketball team.

Their departures leave some big voids to fill in terms of team scoring for the Lady Savage Heat and Lady Bobcats, but at least one young star on the rise is ready to step right in.

Superior senior Isabella Pereira, who had some epic battles with Christensen last year up to the state finals in the 100 meters sprint event, is back for her last year of high school track.

As was the case with Reese and Christensen, Pereira will also be moving on to the next level, having signed a track scholarship offer to compete at 100 meters for Whitworth College in Spokane.

Pereira will be among the heavily favored to win the 100 meters title this Spring.

On the boys side of the coin, the two track standouts from last year have also moved on to higher learning, with Noxon’s massive shot and discus thrower Cade VanVleet taking his talents to Montana Tech in Butte, while hurdling specialist Kyle Lawson graduated from Hot Springs last Spring and is now a member of the University of Montana-Western football team in Dillon.

VanVleet finished second in the state in the shot put this past year and will participate in the event for the OreDiggers this Spring.

Lawson signed a football scholarship and was a member of Western’s football team this past Fall where he played wide receiver.

Throughout the conference most schools report heavy crops of sophomores and other underclassmen have moved into the varsity fray in what promises to be a well-stocked sports cupboard for at least the next two years.

Schools like Noxon, where sophomore Ricky Williams excelled in the jumping events as a freshman last Spring, along with returning senior all-around athlete Emily Brown look to fill the gap left by the graduation of next level athletes like VanVleet.

Hot Springs and Superior, along with Thompson Falls and Plains from the Western 7B conference, appear to have stronger than usual sophomore and freshmen classes. Superior and St. Regis also have a strong group of eighth graders who have already demonstrated solid varsity abilities as they move up the ladder of competition.