With six returning runners, the Wellsville-Middletown boys cross country team will look to finish its 2021 season with a big trip to the Class 1 state meet in Columbia this fall.

Seniors Layne Norris, Jason Hollensteiner, Keaton Mayes, Isaac Seabaugh and Lucas Peak and junior Kaleb Peak are back from last year’s boys team that finished in the top four in several meets and had a pair of state qualifiers.

“I will be very disappointed if our boys team does not finish the season at state,” W-M coach John Slovensky said. “Last year, if we would have been able to qualify for state, we would have been in eighth place. We should have been in the top half of the team standings. But we were in a district that was really tough.”

Norris is the only returning state qualifier from the boys team in 2020. He placed 38th at the state meet, the highest finish in program history. He also earned six medals.

“Layne had an absolutely fantastic cross country season last year,” Slovensky said.

Slovensky said he has high hopes for Seabaugh, who is coming off a strong track season last spring that included a sixth-place finish in the 800 at the state meet.

“Recently, we did an 800 for time just to get some times to run and run some workouts out here on the track,” Slovensky said. “He’s not far off from his pace from May. He ran a 2:13. I told him that’s the fastest 800 that anyone has ever run on this track.”

Rounding out the boys team are junior Jacob Mandrell, sophomore AJ Sherwood and freshmen Hunter Bickell and Jonah Slovensky.

The W-M girls team has just three runners, but all of them have state meet experience. They are junior Natalie Boeckelman and sophomores Bethany Slovensky and Jenelle Boeckelman.

Slovensky and Jenelle Boeckelman competed at state last year and Natalie Boeckelman participated the year before.

“It’s feasible that all three of them could be state qualifiers this year,” John Slovensky said.

The Tigers start their season on Sept. 7 at the Van-Far Invitational.