“We are a young team, but we are looking to be competitive as a whole,” stated Bosma.  “I’m hoping for a couple runners to get into the all-conference placing and look to place a couple in the section meet.  Even though many runners are new to cross country, they have the right mentality.  Most of the athletes new to our team joined because they want to become better athletes for other sports and to work on being competitive.  They are extremely coachable and want to learn strategy.  A lot of this year is going to be figuring out who to run with and working as a pack.  With so few runners having the experience of a varsity race, it will be interesting to see how they handle their nerves.  Thus, we will rely on veteran leadership to help out the younger athletes.”

That veteran leadership will come from Ashley Paulson (JR) on the girls’ side, and from Logan Froemming (SR), Donell Lee (SO) and Cohen Reiland (JR) on the boys’ side.  Sophomore August Bredberg also returns with varsity experience.

Bosma will be looking to juniors Kaleb Burkey, sophomores Ben Dusing, Darius Grussing, Logan Haseman and Justin Lederman, freshman Kenneth Spielmann, eighth-graders Connor Dillehat and Ben Myron, and seventh-graders Brock Bahls, Cole Johnson and Lochlan Stevens to step up and contribute on the boys’ team.  As for the girls’, Bosman sees senior Emma Erickson, junior Naomi Fournier, freshman Mary Fossell, eighth-grader Hope Rovang, and seventh-graders Lexie Bitzan, Chloe Erickson, Rita Fossell, Lauren Thoennes and Lily Volk as contributors at the varsity and JV levels.

“This team has shown up every morning with smiles on their faces ready to run,” noted Coach Bosma.  “This group is ready to start before practice is scheduled to begin.  The new energy is already a big push to make the team succeed this year.”

Bosma looks to Bertha-Hewitt, OTC and Parkers Prairie to be the Park Region Conference favorite in the boys’ division, with Pillager, Wadena-Deer Creek and OTC at the top of the conference in the girls’ division.  As for Section 6A, he sees West Central Area, Staples-Motley and Minnewaska Area as teams at the top.

“There are also many terrific individual runners in the section,” added Bosma.  “If anyone wants to make it to the State meet, they are going to need to be fast, as there will be some impressive times this year.”