By Maggie Inglesby

Senior Alex Sawyer is off to a good start of the season getting a 16:23 and placing fourth overall out of nearly 300 runners in the first cross country meet of the year in Kerry, North Carolina. The boys’ team placed third overall and the girls’ team placed second out of 25 teams a couple of weeks ago.

As a captain of the team, along with seniors Foster Stravino and Jackson Cinnamond, Sawyer is very proud of how the team is shaping up. “For the first meet you don’t expect that many [personal records] to be broken,” said Sawyer “about three-fourths of the 10 guys that ran PRd.” 

Sawyer, who has been running on the team since his freshman year, is proud of all that the team has accomplished. “We are all training, we are all grinding, and we are all training really hard to get where we are and if we keep up with the same mentality that we have since July that will be great.”

The boys’ team has won regionals the past two years and is already looking to regionals this year. “Regionals should be in the bag and hopefully we can get a good placing at states,” said junior David DiNardo. 

The girls’ team also had a successful meet with several runners establishing personal records and the freshmen had good first races. “There are lots of new faces and lots of freshmen which is exciting especially for the future of the team,” said junior Madeline McKechnie. 

Freshman Peyton Culpepper had a race, getting around 21:30 for her first cross country 5k in competition. Seniors Sarah Kinka and Natalie Smith are the captains for the girls’ team this year

Both teams are off to a good start and neither teams have faced any serious injuries that will hinder them the rest of the season despite a few small injuries. 

McKechnie said, “we started off so well I’m excited to see how much better we get as the season goes on”