The Owatonna Boys Cross Country team is coming off a great season last year, winning the Big Nine Conference, and having two seniors qualify for the state meet. The Huskies look forward to repeating the big goals they accomplished last year, but have lots of work ahead with a young team with little experience to meet those goals.

The Huskies have started the year off very strong. Some highlights of the season include finishing first place in the Albert Lea Invitational, third  place in the Mayo Invitational meet and placing 51st out of 105 teams at the Griak Invitational. Head coach David Chatelaine said, “Our goals for the rest of the season are to steadily improve our condition, run faster times, catch front running Big 9 team Mankato East and win another Big 9 title. Another goal is to be the second best team in section 1AAA and qualify for the state meet.  Front running section 1AAA Lakeville North is one of the top teams in the state.  A stretch goal would be to catch them.” A big hole in this year’s roster is not stopping the passion of these runners to meet their expected goals for this season.

Owatonna’s Boys Cross Country roster only has two seniors this season Trevor Hiatt and David Smith, two returning runners and captains explain the expectations they have for the young and new runners filling the void of last year’s dominant team. Smith said, “We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores on varsity, which is kind of a new experience for a lot of us who have grown up in the team with a lot of upperclassmen dominating the team. So it’s kind of learning how to deal with some of the younger guys and get them involved as well.” While the Huskies are a young team, their goals for the end of the season are as big as ever. 

Boys cross country’s next home meet will be Tuesday, Oct. 18 at Brooktree Golf Course.