By Jack Haines
Op-Ed Editor

The Neshaminy boys’ cross country team is fielding its best varsity squad in recent years. But the Redskins haven’t gotten off to as good of a start as they would have hoped.

The team started off their season on Aug. 31 in Tamanend Park, Southampton, at the John Sharp Viking Cross Country Invitational. Although nearly everyone on the team ran a personal best for the course, they were still hoping for a better finish as a unit. Out of 15 teams, the squad finished 12th.
However, sophomore Eric Chapman ran an impressive time of 17:04, finishing in 21st place and earning a medal. Senior Seth Mazzeo was the second Redskin to cross the finish line, doing so in 17:52.

The next week at the Central Bucks East Invitational, the team did not come close to expectations, finishing 10th out of 13 teams. The team’s top five runners were spread out much more and did not place any runners in the top 25.

On Saturday, Sept. 15, the Redskins redeemed themselves with a better race at the Briarwood Invitational.

Although no one medaled, the team worked on having a closer spread between its first and fifth runners. The team accomplished this goal with senior Joe Sulon finishing first for the Redskins in 17:53, while the top five all finished close behind, ending with sophomore Nic Hoffman crossing the line in 18:55 for a spread of 1:02 seconds.

The cross country team is hoping to continue to improve. “We’re more of a tight and together team this year,” said Nic Hoffman, “ We all know everyone’s running the same race, doing the same work, and we respect each other a lot more because of that.”

The boys will compete in their first dual meet Wednesday, Sept. 19 at home against Bensalem, and the varsity squad will then travel to Hershey to compete in one of the most challenging meets of the schedule, the PIAA 6th Annual XC Foundation meet.

Although Neshaminy faces its toughest competition in quite some time, the team remains optimistic for a good season.