Cross country is now in season, and according to the runners, the competition is now on.

“Our season is going to be great,” Senior David Anamosa said. “We really have potential to make it to state as a team this year.”

Anamosa is optimistic to see what newcomers have to bring to the team, pointing out Keo Neshyba and Sam Wallace as some of the team’s top runners.

“Pablo Chavez recently came too, and he has the potential to be very good in a race. We just haven’t seen him race yet,” Anamosa said.

Senior Ashley Longoria is hoping the girls will win big this year and reach the team goal of winning district and advancing to regionals.

“Our team is trying to be really close this year and get along well. We hope it’s enough to make us a decade of district champions,” Longoria said.

The girls won their first meet at Cy-Ridge on. They hope to build momentum from their first win.

“We won this meet, and I think that overall our team did pretty well,” junior Sammie Kubiak said. “But I think we were all nervous for the first meet. Everyone’s times should keep improving as the season goes on.”

Kubiak feels confident in her team, hoping they’ll go to many more meets and competitions in the future.

“I think that our team this year is going to make it to regionals but it is going to be hard to compare to last year’s team because we lost our two fastest runners,” Kubiak said. “But I hope that when our team does peak, we will surprise ourselves.”