Arguably, cross country requires the greatest physical capacity among general high school sports. This year appeared to be the first in Southmoreland history that there would be no boys team. But that changed recently to the delight of head coach Zack Cavalier.

“I was talking to a friend of mine who runs a boy scouts troop, and he is having trouble finding boys to join,” Cavalier said. “I don’t know if society is discouraging boys to not participate or if they are finding something else to join.”

According to Cavalier, the number of students participating in varsity sports in general has declined in the past few years.

“I didn’t run cross country because I liked football more,” he said.

Despite the roadblocks and the apparent lack of a team, seven boys ended up joining. The problems spelled out by Cavalier may continue to persist in future years, especially with the student board continuously shrinking as time goes on, but for this year, Southmoreland will enter the season with a full team.

The team includes Bret Huffman, Nick Sosko, Jason Szatkowski, Matt Yezek, Anthony Baird, Justin Haney, and Austin Keyser.