WORTON — Kent County pulls back the curtain on its high school cross country season today at home with full teams for both its girls and boys programs.
There’s more than enough runners to score as a team, plus “pushers,” i.e., sixth and seventh runners whose score does not count toward their own team’s total but can displace (or “push”) an opponent’s runner, thereby increasing the opponent’s team score.
In cross country, the lower team score wins.
KCHS has eight girls and 13 boys, including reigning team MVPs Alden Swanson and her brother Kato Swanson.
The Swanson siblings head a list of returnees that include Sydney Bortz, Jordana Capp, Sophie Cousineau, Janey Depp and McKenzie Smith for the girls and 2022 team MVP Andrew Buckel, Ashton Dean, John Fries, Trent Johnson, Lynden Saunders, Austin Sengprasert-Galan and Dalton Smith for the boys.
Also, Patrick McColigan ’18 is back for a second year as head coach at alma mater Kent County High School.
McColigan has help with the addition of assistant coach Steve Wheeler ’01, also an alumnus of KCHS’ cross country and track programs.
The newcomers are freshmen Samuel Bell, Nathaniel Copper and Devynn Wiggins; sophomore Beckett Vivier; junior Margaret Bilbrough; and seniors Pacome Mennetrier, an exchange student from France, and Joshua Na-El, who ran indoor and outdoor track for the Trojans in 2024-25.
Today’s meet is the Trojans’ only home appearance of the season. The girls race starts at 4 p.m., followed by the boys race at 5 p.m.
It’s a flat 3.01-mile course around the KCHS campus in Worton.
The race field includes Kent Island, North Caroline and Wye River Upper School, in addition to KCHS.
“So far the spirit is really high and everyone is really excited for the first meet,” McColigan told The Evening Enterprise.
The Trojans’ top seven runners — 2023 state qualifier Alden Swanson and Depp for the girls and Kato Swanson, Mennetrier, Johnson, Dean and Saunders for the boys — all ran under 24 minutes for the course time trial.
Depp is looking especially sharp after participating in a “summer run group” three days a week that McColigan and his predecessor Henry Sabetti led right up until the start of preseason training on Aug. 13.
“We had 6-7 runners for every run. It was nice,” McColigan said in a text message.
Since the official start of training four weeks ago, there has been “gradual improvement” across the board, according to McColigan.
“The runners are pushing one another to get better, which keeps them having fun,” he said.
