The Wellsville-Middletown Tigers will have a small, but talented cross country team this fall.

The Tigers have just seven runners, but three of them have state meet experience. They are seniors Bethany Slovensky and Jenelle Boeckelman and junior Jonah Slovensky.

Bethany Slovensky is the only returning state qualifier from last year’s team. She turned in a strong junior season last fall, picking up four medals, earning her first all-Eastern Missouri Conference award and qualifying for state for the second time after placing 26th in districts. She was a state qualifier in her freshman year.

Jonah Slovensky is the top returning runner on the boys team. He finished with medals at the Var-Far and Linn meets. When he was a freshman, he helped the boys team place third at the Class 1 state meet.

Boeckelman competed at state in her freshman and sophomore seasons. Last year, her best finish was 11th at the Wellsville-Middletown Invitational and her best time was a 25:28 in her 23rd-place finish at the EMO meet.

Other returners are junior Gage Marshall and sophomore Zackery Vogel. Last year, Marshall earned a medal at the Linn Invitational and Vogel ran a season-best 24:28 in districts.

Freshmen Shane Joles and Aubrey Harmon are the newcomers this year. They competed with the W-M junior high team in 2022.

This fall, the Tigers will look to continue their streak of 29 consecutive years of having state qualifiers. Besides Bethany Slovensky, Kaleb Peak and Hunter Bickell also competed in Columbia. Peak graduated in May and Bickell transferred to Mexico.

W-M started its season on Sept. 5 at the Van-Far Invitational. The Tigers' next meet is the Linn Invitational on Sept. 9.