“My favorite memory from cross country was at WPIAL just this year. Seeing the team interact and just the fact that we had full girls and boys teams entered was really awesome,” said Mr. Zachary Cavalier.

This year was Cavalier’s first as head coach of the cross country team. Seeing that Southmoreland had a full team for the first time in years was enough to trigger a surge of pride within him.

“My first official year as assistant coach was 2014,” said Mr. Cavalier, nicknamed “Cav” by his students and team members. “But in 2013 I was asked to attend a meet and fill in as coach because the previous coach, Mr. Gilpin was sick.”

Cavalier is also an assistant coach of the school track team and threw javelin, shot put and discus while he attended high school.

“I played football, baseball, wrestling and track in school. In track I mostly threw (implements), but occasionally I ran the 3200m just for fun,” said Mr. Cavalier.

This year’s cross country team was very closely bonded as most were returning members from last year. Mr. Cavalier appreciated having this relationship with the team as well as the dedication both returning and new members brought to the table.

“If you’ve met Cav you know he’s a really funny and really random person. We came up with the word ‘cavisms’ to describe some of the really weird and funny stuff he says,” said Abbie Kubasky, a junior member of the girls team.

Some of these infamous phrases include “run your face off,” which he said before most meets, as well as others.

“Cav is an interesting person,” said sophomore Allison Stout, “but I really enjoyed having him as a coach. He made it easy to want to come to meets and practices if only to support the team since I was injured this season.”

The success of this year’s team and growing numbers in cross country are enough to have Mr. Cavalier excited for next season to see even further improvement.

“We’re gonna have some big gaps to fill next year,” said Mr. Cavalier. “But I look forward to seeing the team grow and hopefully improve to meet our long term goals some day.”