Cross Country is looking to have another great year for the Friars. The team is ready to go and has plenty of motivation for the competing season.

With big hopes in competing to win the league and state championships, and even taking some kids out to national level tournaments to compete, cross country has some lofty goals for the season.

“We have a lot of new faces this year,” Head Coach Mike Koenig said. “We are really excited for this season and what’s to come.”

Despite having a young team, this year’s Cross Country team has exciting potential. The varsity squad of seven features one senior, Anthony Papa, two juniors, Jack Guardiola and John Giordano, two sophomores, Collin Hess and Sam Bevevino, one freshman, Zach Brill, and an eighth grader, Drew Brill.

With a year under their belt, Koenig is confident that the new guys, will be ready for serious competition.

“Yeah, the team is young,” Koenig said, “but once some of these new guys get some experience under their belt, I think we’ll be in a good position.”

Even though most of the team is either young or new, there are still many experienced runners who are ready to go. Between the potential and the experience, the team has the key components to meet their goals.

Co-captain Cruz Sigala ’19 agrees with Koenig, saying he also has high hopes for the new members.

“[This season] is going pretty well so far,” Sigala said. “We have a lot of new kids and they all have great potential.”

Haverford, Germantown Academy, and Germantown Friends all have good teams, but Koenig has hopes to beat them in the state meet. Winning the state meet is a goal that he definitely thinks is possible, and the team will hope to strive towards that.

Other runners on the team also have high hopes for this year’s season, and see it as a great opportunity to build upon themselves. Even the less experienced guys are eager to compete.

“As a team I honestly expect us to win the Inter-Ac,” said senior Anthony Papa.

Along with the team hoping for collective success, members of the squad also set goals for themselves along the way.

Papa commented on the subject by saying, “Personally, my goal is to break the 18:30 mark and maybe even reach 18 minutes.”

Beyond the league, there may be plans to bring one or two runners to the Foot Locker Regional Competition. This is a much larger scale meet than states and presents an opportunity for some runners to get noticed on a collegiate level as well as preparing them for the toughest of competition. Runners on the team such as Zach Brill and Collin Hess were mentioned in talks of competing on a regional level.

Overall, the team looks to achieve great success again this year.

“I expect [the team] to have great success this year,” said Sigala, “especially after winning the league last year. We have a lot of good runners, and I’m hoping we will compete well.”

The team may consist of many new faces, but there are certainly some high hopes for the year. Koenig has a strong system and believes that by putting in the right amount of hard work and dedication, the Friars will excel this year and for years to come.