The Big Lake cross country teams are looking forward to a good season.

Both the boys and the girls have some good runners who can score points this year.

Boys CC

The boys are led by senior Jack Leuer, a standout who finished third at the state meet last season. Leuer has been one of the top runners for the last four years and is coming off a state title in the 800 meters.

The Hornets will miss Owen Layton who finished seventh at state last season. He holds the school record in the 1600 and 3200 meters. He graduated along with David Guyse, who was a mainstay on the team for the last few years.

But the Hornets have lots of talent returning. Gavin Flavin, Judd Layton and Trent Erickson traded with each other for the 3-4-5 positions last season.

“They ran  as a group last year and will be 2-3-4 this year,” says Coach Todd Trutna.

The question now is who will move up to the fifth scoring position. Trutna says so far it could be a battle between Theo Johnson, Max Baron, Gavin Vold and Eli Henning.

“Out of that group we’ll have our fifth runner,” he says.

The Hornets will have their work cut out for them in the conference and section, with Becker and Monticello looking strong again this year.

Girls CC

The girls are looking to youngster Greta Layton as the team leader this season. She qualified for the state meet as a seventh-grader last year and is expected to be one of the top runners this season.

The Hornets lost one of their best runners, Emilee Doperalski to graduation, who competed on cross-country since the eighth grade.

The team is low on numbers this season with five 11th and 12 graders.

“We’ve got a crew of seventh and eight-graders who came out for team,” says Trutna. “We’re rebuilding.”

The team is expecting Campbell Slattery to have a good  year after continuous improvement in distance events.

“She had great track season,” says Trutna.

Erin Kjellberg is also going to be in the mix. She has been a steady performer for the Hornets and will likely take the third spot.

“Then we see what happens,” says Trutna.”May be a couple of eighth-graders can move up to the fourth and fifth spot. If we get five steady individuals, we can score better than last year.”

The Hornets held time trials last week to evaluate the runners’ progress. They hosted an invitational meet Tuesday a Liberty Elementary School, results next week. Their next meet is Sept. 7 at Bertram Regional Park in Monticello.