Tewksbury boys cross country is starting its 2018 season with a new varsity team. Only three out of the 12 varsity runners have ever competed at varsity level cross country. Last year the majority of varsity was seniors with only Casey Ryan, Lucas Gondola, and Jonathan Cabral returning for this season. The top three runners from last year all graduated leaving the top spots open for the taking. Tewksbury started the season off with two easy wins in a tri-meet against Lawrence and Greater Lawrence Tech. However, in week two of the season, Tewksbury lost to North Andover, a team that Tewksbury had beat last year.

A major issue on this year’s cross country team is injuries. Gustavo Tizotti, a member of track that would have entered the season at the top of the team had a hamstring injury in one of the last weeks of summer and is still not fully recovered. A handful of other athletes are dealing with shin problems and two more hurt their ankles on North Andover’s brutal course because of the large jagged rocks and roots. Another athlete already had a sprained ankle from practice the week before.

One of the captains, Joey Schiano, is optimistic about the season. When he was asked about the season he said “this season will be great. Casey is a born runner”. It will be interesting to watch the team this year and see if they make it to every state as Tewksbury has for the last six years.