Ravenwood's boys cross country team has never had this much young talent. With senior Miles Ramer not competing, freshmen and sophomores accounted for the seven fastest times of the evening at Saturday Light Fever in Hendersonville. Co-captain AJ Algood led the way with a 16:54, a 56 second improvement from last year. Freshmen Kevin Rocha and Jacob Meucci were second and third, with sophomore Robert Hininger and freshman John Schaefer rounding out the scoring. Sophomore Caleb MacDonald and senior co-captain Grayson Elder were 6th and 7th as the Raptors finished 10th out of 34 schools. With Ramer, they likely would have finished 6th, but with such a young team, it is reasonable that they will improve considerably as the season marches on. 

In the JV race, newcomer Wesley Franklin finished third overall, recording the 7th fastest time for Ravenwood even though he wasn't in the varsity race. Junior Jack West, freshman Reid Johnson, senior Kyle Harkins, and sophomore Caleb Myers scored, leading the Raptors to a 3rd place finish. By the end of the night, the boys clocked 36 season bests and 23 PRs.

"This group is really fun to coach," says Coach Mueller. "We've changed up our training a lot, adding in a lot of ancillary stuff with the goal of improving strength and mobility and keeping everybody injury free. The guys have basically made our warm-up into a friendly competition. When it's time to run, they are ready to go as far or as fast as I ask them to. Their expectations for themselves are just as high as my expectations for them, so it's been easy and enjoyable working with them."

After three more weeks of training, the team will return to action at the Voyles Classic on September 9.