Craig Musselwhite isn't new to the track and field scene by any means, but the Carrollton High School boys' coach is at a loss for his team even after Thursday's dual practice with LaGrange.

The Trojans have been hit hard by the 1-2 combination of weather and injuries early this season, and the three-time defending state champions are struggling to get a consistent, contending team together at the moment. Thursday night provided some time to compete, but didn't answer many questions.

"I don't know that you would even call it a meet. We didn't run our best kids and they didn't run all of theirs. We've got kids hurt and they've got some kids hurt, so basically a lot of our younger kids got to run [Thursday]," Musselwhite said. "Really, there wasn't a whole lot to talk about. All of a sudden, we've got a whole bunch of injuries and I'm really lost why we've got all these injuries right now."

Even with a tall task of repeating as state champions for a fourth season in a row and in a higher classification, things are getting tougher. With the weather already knocking out some meets this year, injuries have Carrollton even further behind where it wants to be at this point of the season.

"We can't do the training we need, we don't really know who's going to run a relay from one week to the next. Little frustrating right now," Musselwhite said. "We've only had, basically, two meets. We've missed some meets because of the weather and stuff like that. People haven't gotten a lot of meets in and when we have run, it's been cold. We don't really know. We can't get a grip on what the problem is."

Injuries are a constant in sports, but to have this many at the same time has Musselwhite asking questions and looking for answers.

"I'll put it like this. Twenty-two years I've been involved with track and field at Carrollton. I've never, ever, ever had this many injuries going on at the same time. They really just don't make sense," Musselwhite said. "That doesn't mean track season stops — we keep working. I've got a bunch of younger kids that are ready to roll. This might be the year we have to use the younger kids to move on."

The Trojans will try to get on the track on Saturday at Holy Innocents' in the Golden Bear Relays, but even that meet has weather and injury question marks.

"We've got to turn around in two days and compete," Musselwhite said. "I really don't know who's going to be on a relay for Saturday. That's not a good place to be three, four weeks out from the region meet. It's not a good place to be, but it's where we're at."