The men’s cross country team continues to improve their performance from previous years and plans to continue with a great deal of success.

The team started the season with the Claymont Invitational which took place on August 25 in Uhrichsville. The team placed third overall and eleven of the runners received a medal for their performance. Junior Andy Feltman, who joined the team this year, achieved his personal record of seventeen minutes and twenty-two seconds and also made Revere’s all time top twenty list at the race. Senior Mark Bucciere also achieved his personal record of seventeen minutes and twenty-seven seconds at this race. More recently, the team ran the Pat Ritchie Invitational at Walsh Jesuit High School on September 8 and placed eleventh out of thirteen.

Head coach Mark Purdy described the team’s activities at practices, which vary depending on the day.

“Some days, we’ll just do a long run, and it might be nine or ten miles. . . . other days, we might be working on speed some and we’ll be doing some shorter repetitions at a much faster pace,” Purdy said.

Bucciere also commented on the team’s practice schedule.

“Towards the end of the week, we usually slow things down and do shorter runs to get ready for our race,” Bucciere said.

Feltman noted how his prior experience in track helps him during the cross country season.

“I’ve gotten a great period of training culminating this entire year because from the end of track season, me and a lot of the team have been training. We only took a little bit of a break and then got straight into cross country training as soon as school ended . . .we’re running everyday [to build] our endurance,” Feltman said.

Coach Purdy expressed his appreciation for the team’s overall dedication and motivation this season so far.

“This year’s team seems to have a nice attitude. They take the training seriously and they want to do well and I think if they keep working hard, we can show a lot of improvement over prior seasons,” Purdy said.

Bucciere expressed his thoughts on the team’s mentality as well.

“[Compared to previous years], everyone in general just works a lot harder and it’s more serious of a sport,” Bucciere said.

Purdy talked about his goals for the team this year, as well as what makes him proud of the runners on the team.

“[I hope to see] constant improvement week to week. Looking ahead, I think we could finish in the top three at our league meet. . . . Individually, I’d like to see one or more runners qualify for the regional meet. [Although] it’s a tough objective, I think we could send someone to the state meet also,” Purdy said.

“When I see any runner, [it] doesn’t have to be the number one runner or the very worst runner; it doesn’t matter. If I see them putting in some hard work and perservering when they’re hurting and things aren’t going well and they finish races despite that or they show improvement, that makes me very happy. . . . I would love to see our guys winning races; that would make me even happier but we can’t always expect that. It’s just seeing guys work hard and improve year to year or throughout the season; I think that’s what I would take most pride in,” Purdy said.

The team will race in the Suburban League championship at Silvercreek on October 11. Seniors on the team include Dan Anand, Mark Bucciere, Bradley Garrison, Karl Godard, Dylan Kostar, Jack Krew, Niko Manousos, Troy Pierson, Kyle Shin, Dom Tornichio, and George Seifert.