Highland boys cross country will lean on leadership to push for a strong fall season.
Strong leadership and experience are factors the Highland boys cross country team hope will lead them to a strong campaign in 2023.
Leading the way for the HHS boys harriers will be senior Dallas Mancinas, juniors Avery Brock and Christian Knobloch and sophomore Aidan Roach.
“Four of our seven from last year are going to be returning (for us),” Highland coach Joe Shannon said.
Walker Nehrt, a freshman, is also making a bid to be in the top seven for tbe Bulldogs and junior Joseph Smart is expected to have a spot in the lineup for HHS.
“I know those two will be in the mix (for the top seven) but I don’t exactly know who our seventh will be,” Shannon said.
Smart, who normally is a soccer player by trade, will be doing cross country for the first time this fall. Joseph had him in track and I think he’s going to be in our top seven as well,” Shannon said.
Shannon is expecting good things from both Nehrt and Smart this season.
“Those two newcomers (Nerht and Smart), I expect they’re going to make an impact with us,” Shannon said.
Shannon believes strong leadership from Mancinas, Brock and Knobloch will help the team be better not only in the conference meet late this fall but also help the team’s drive to compete for a state meet berth in October.
”I believe we have some pretty solid leadership in Avery, Christian, and Dallas and having those three (back), especially Christian and I’ve seen Christian step up a lot more this summer than I have before,” Shannon said. “He and Avery are stepping up more in a leadership role as juniors and obviously having Dallas back will have a shot at being top 15 in most meets, we run in this year.”
On the girls side, Highland returns junior Hayden Frey, who advanced to state in the 800-meter run last spring as a sophomore. Also returning with Frey to the rotation is senior Tarryn Keeney, junior Ellie Seeger, junior Ava McPherson, and sophomore Vivian Marron.
A welcome addition back to the fold who was out last year will be junior Alyson Pace.
“We’re getting Alyson back on the team this year after she played on a different soccer team and as a freshman she was one our top three of four on the team, so having back on the team is going to make a huge difference,” Shannon said. “She’s in pretty solid shape.”
Junior Lola Schlarman will also add depth to the roster as well.
Three freshman will also push to get time in the top seven as Lila Rambitz, Rowan Passmore, and Ada Huelskamp are all primed to compete for spots.
“I think those three freshman girls, once they kind of figure out how to race three miles, they will be in the mix for the top six or seven,” Shannon said.
Frey missed out on a state berth by about 10 spots last year and Shannon expects her to have an even better chance to make the state cut this season.
Goals, season opener
In terms of team goals, the Bulldogs are looking to challenge Waterloo and be a top two team in the Mississippi Valley Conference race.
“We have a goal to be top two in the conference and Waterloo is a really tough team to beat so I think being top two in the conference is reasonable (for us),” Shannon said.
The HHS boys and girls harriers open up the 2023 season at 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 26, at Bethalto Twilight Invite at Bethalto Sports Complex.