The men’s cross country team have been preparing to come out with strong results in the first meets of the 2016 season. The team has already attended one meet on Aug. 30, and will be traveling to Terre Haute for the State Preview race on Saturday Sept. 3.

The State Preview takes place on the state meet course. Runners get a chance to run on the course and get a feel for what it will be like. Unlike the actual state meet, which will take place on Saturday Oct., 29, there will be varsity and JV runners with each team putting forth twelve runners instead of seven.

Colin Altevogt, the Head Coach for the men’s cross country team said, “So the preview means looking at the course, not necessarily the teams that will be there.”

Tim Metkin, JV runner and sophomore, is excited for the meet season to kick into high gear with the new, but strong team.

“I think the team will do very well. Something that our coaches talk about at the JV schedule, is how we want to beat Fishers, and it’s something that we can certainly do. I would not be surprised if we walk away as the varsity and JV champion,” Metkin said.

All in all, both coaches and runners are eager to get out on the courses.

“We’re just excited for the season to start, we think we’ve got a really good team but we’re still pretty young,” Altevogt said.

Metkin said, “People will say sometimes ‘cross country is just running’, and yeah we run a lot, but there’s a lot more. There’s a big team aspect. As people at Carmel, they take it pretty passionately and they go hard. So, yeah you run, but it’s more than that and it’s really a lot of fun when you get into it. I think that’s something to look at.”