Steven's preseason team review

From Steven:
We are currently ranked 2nd in the state, 2nd in the Northeast region (New England, NY and PA) and 19th in the nation. I feel that we are not there yet and have lot of work to reach those goals. But I do believe that we have the talent and desire to make those things happen.

I have been coaching at Newton South now for 20 years and I have seen a lot of new and exciting starts to the year and also to the cross country season. This ranks as one of the most exciting starts to our season and year. Our team this year may very well be the deepest team in school history and that is saying a lot as our 1998 JV team beat the Saratoga Springs JV team which was considered at the time the best JV team in the nation. We return All Americans Madeleine Reed, Kathy O' Keefe, Melanie Fineman and also Elizabeth May from our All State championship team of last year. They are joined by fellow team captains Sara Chari and Maddison Willert who were part of the All State team as alternates. We have so many promising new athletes that I will not list them to keep the pressure off of them and also to allow them to earn mention.
But the real story is that we have so many others that will contribute at a varsity level this season as well as having a great JV team. Most years picking the state meet team is pretty clear cut but for maybe one spot. This year we may have a dozen or more kids with a shot of making the state team. We have a lot of kids with limited experience who came in with little mileage, but have promising talent.
I have told our girs that the team that we returned is already among the top 5 best teams in the state history when you look at their best times. This is a very special team and they will make their mark. But what we may all remember about this season after it is done is about just how many kids did make their mark.

This will be a fun season!!!