School is back and it’s officially cross country season. The York Boys Cross Country team has been practicing for almost a month now and are off to a solid start of the 2017 season.

The York boys are coming off a season in which they finished third in the West Suburban Conference, and 16th in the state. This year is one full of hope and high expectations, as it is the last season for seniors Charlie Kern, Jackson Bode, Sean MacGregor and many more. While the future is bright, York is hoping to make one big push at what would be their 29th state title this season.

“We’ve had a goal this year, our theme is ‘Give Me Five,’ so our goal is to try to be five percent better than we were last year, not 70, not 100, just five percent; something that’s manageable and if everybody can do that, that’s going to eventually lead to what’s the ultimate goal,” said Coach Charlie Kern. “If we are all as good as we can be, we’ll also be able to compete with just about anybody in the state of Illinois.”

According to Athletic.net, the York Boys Cross Country team is projected to finish tenth in state. That is bound to change however, as York has being doing a lot to prepare for other teams in their conference such as Downers Grove North, Lyons Township and Hinsdale Central.

“Downers Grove North,” said Coach Reed Sundberg when asked about York’s biggest competition this season. “I mean they’re ranked number one in the country by certain people so I think they’ll be our biggest competition. At the same time, if you look at what they’ve done and what we’ve done, we are right alongside them. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when we get to see each other for the first time.”

The West Suburban Conference meet is on Sat., Oct. 14, which is a while away. Up until that point, York has plenty to prepare for when it comes to their competition. Some of the bigger meets are the invitationals at Palatine, Sat., Sept. 23, and Joliet, Sat., Sept. 9.

“I always love the Palatine Invitational because you have great competition there,” said Coach Reed Sundberg. “It will be interesting to see what happens at this new meet in Joliet this Saturday. I’m not really sure what to expect from it. But I would say those are two pretty big meets that we’ll see. And then obviously the conference meet. When it comes down to it, there are multiple ranked teams in our conference alone. We have one of the strongest conferences in cross country in all of America. It should be pretty incredible.”

They’ve already won 28 state championship titles, and this team looks as hungry as ever. They all seem to have common goal in their heads: number 29.

“I think we have all the pieces to win a state title,” said Sundberg. “I’m superstitious so I’ll say that a lot can happen between now and the state meet. I think we have the talent and the pieces to put together a great team and have a team that will compete and maybe win a state championship.”

This is a program filled with pride and character. Each and every runner is expected to support one another. They constantly are picking each other up and making sure no one is left behind.

“They care about each other and are looking out for each other,” said Coach Kern. “If we do that, the running stuff takes care of itself. We’re going to be really good. I am super excited.”