1. Morton
Head Coach/Coaches: Joe Zeller / Joel Zehr, Tristan Sturhahn
Last Year's Finish: State Meet- 5th place
Key Returners: Josh Weeks (Sr.), Yonas Wuthrich (Sr.), Christian Harris (Jr.), Layton Knoop (Sr.), Phillip Canopy (Jr.), Nicholas Delgado (Sr.), Paul Yontz (Jr.)
Key Newcomers: Boston Beyer (Jr.)
Outlook: The Potters have been in the trophy hunt now for the last few years. It has been four years now since Josh Weeks and Yonas Wuthrich entered this program as superstar freshmen. This will be their last season competing in the Morton uniform for xc.
Weeks returns after placing 10th at the state meet last fall. He will look for a similar result this season. Wuthrich was 22nd at the state meet. He will look to improve on that performance and hopefully be a top 15 runner in the classification. He had a great track season as he ran 4:29 in the 1600m.
Speaking of great track seasons, that includes Christian Harris who really emerged. The sophomore at the time ran a very impressive 4:30 in the 1600m. He has experience as the squad's fifth runner but will have a bigger role this season. He will be in the all-state hunt in November.
Layton Knoop showed off some speed during the track season but returns to the grass after a great junior campaign. He ran 15:59 and was 51st at the state meet. He was this squad's third runner and will be right with Harris this season.
Boston Beyer will run his first year of cross country after an impressive track season. He ran 4:37 in the 1600m and the question now will be can he carry it over to three miles? Morton has had a great history and will look to add another trophy to their trophy case.
Coach Zeller stated, "This is a senior-heavy group that is coming into this season highly motivated. The boys hope to race competitively throughout the season but know that their end goal lies in November. Personally, based on the conversations we have had and the work that I have seen from them this summer, I don't have any doubt they will accomplish each of the goals they set for themselves this year."