Boys Cross Country Preview...

The Shelby County Athletic League has been quite a powerhouse in boys cross country the last couple of seasons. In 2015 the league advanced three teams to the state meet for just the second time in history. The only other year that happened? 2014. This year the SCAL is loaded again with Anna and Ft. Loramie already garnering some major pre-season attention. Tradition-rich Russia returns a solid team, as does Botkins, who is riding a two year streak of state meet appearances. Houston and Jackson Center may surprise some folks with their emerging talent and Fairlawn gets an infusion of youth this year. With the Shelby County Preview getting set to open the season on Tuesday, below is my own preview and opinions on the SCAL teams.

Ft. Loramie's Tom Ballas won the County Preview back in 2014

Ft. Loramie

The Redskins made quite a statement last year winning the SCAL championship and finishing 5th at the state meet. Coach Dennis Prenger has all but one of those horses back, which should make Ft. Loramie fans awfully excited. Senior Tom Ballas and sophomores Joe Ballas and Jake Rethman are perhaps the best threesome in Southwest Ohio right now. There's also plenty of talent not far behind with senior Alan Holdheide and juniors Noah Siegel and Collin Luthman. I'm betting the Redskins win the Preview and a lot of other races this season as well.

Anna's Lucas Huber won the County Preview in 2015

Anna

If anyone can match Ft. Loramie's top three runners, it's likely Anna. Seniors Lucas Huber, Bradley Axe and Joel Gaier are back. Not far behind them are seniors Matthew Burden and Kyle Christman to give coach Dean Stewart the most veteran team in Shelby County. The Rockets future will be sophomore Cameron Bowersock who ran as the #7 man on varsity last year. Anna has the longest current SCAL streak of consecutive state appearance at three, and I'm confident they'll have no problem extending that to four.

Austin Fullenkamp was 2nd Team All-SCAL last year

Botkins

Look for Austin Fullenkamp to be a man on a mission. The junior this year was one of Botkins top runners all of last season, but finished an uncharacteristic 7th for the Trojans at the state meet. Coach Ryan Gutman returns a couple other experienced runners from that state team in junior Mathew Prout and senior Konnor Burmeister. Senior Alex Jutte ran for Botkins half of last season and will turn some heads with how much he's improved. I'm also predicting senior Jonathan Yenser will round out the Trojans top five.

Russia coach Doug Foster is back for his 11th season

Russia

Expectations are always sky high in the Russia boys program. That's what happens when you make nine consecutive trips to state from 2006-2014. Last year that streak was broken and you can bet it's motivation for coach Doug Foster's boys this year. Experienced runners returning include seniors Alex Seger and Ethan Monnier, junior Zachary Bell, and a pair of sophomores in Gavin George and Jordan Busse. I also predict an impact from last year's SCAL junior high champ Mason Dapore as he adjusts to the extra mile this season.

Tristin Freistuhler (left) could lead Houston this year

Houston

If Houston was listed on the stock market, I'd be buying. That's because I expect them to rise and exceed early expectations this season. Sophomores Tristin Freistuhler and Ethan Knouff lead a solid group that includes senior Devyn Ostrander, juniors Dakota Francis and Parker Cox, and sophomore Jacob Slater. Coach Bill McKinney lost a couple of promising incoming freshman runners that moved out-of-state, but four other new freshman will make competition for the varsity roster that much tougher.

Look for Parker Morris up front for Jackson Center

Jackson Center

Coach Steve Hoover has a leader back in junior Parker Morris who was a regional qualifier in 2015. The Tigers also return sophomores TJ Esser and Sean March. Top newcomers include junior Jeremy Burch, sophomore Corbin Murphy, and the arrival of freshman Christopher Elchert who had an outstanding 8th-grade season. This group all has similar talent and look for Jackson Center to earn success utilizing pack running as much as possible.

Fairlawn

Senior Nick Brautigam and junior Stephen Blanford return this season for the Jets. When you're a small school with three fall sports for boys, sometimes you have to share athletes, and that's what juniors DJ Graves and Drew Brautigam will be doing as they split time between cross country and soccer. Coach Chris North also has five freshman he's looking forward to joining the mix and scoring points for Fairlawn this year.