This year’s Salisbury boys cross country looks to have a lot more depth than the past few years.

The Falcons graduated just one runner from the boys team, while they return all six runners that competed in last year’s league meet and five that were part of the district meet.

On the girls’ side, the Falcons graduated both members of last year’s girls team but will have a newcomer that will be their only varsity girls runner this season in senior Gabi Lozada.

Salisbury also has a young boys team this year, which bodes well for the future.

Returning from last year’s team are juniors Stuart Carl and Louis Monilutz and sophomores Andrew Grejda, Thomas Lovelidge, Dennis Morton and Ian Young.

Newcomers to this year’s team are sophomores Nolan Grejda and Michael Heitzer, and freshmen Cameron Kubinsky, Connor McGinty, Josh Orach, Greg Tenzer and Joseph Tiao.

The top five runners earn team points in meets, so having more than six boys on the team this year will give the Falcons added depth that they lacked in 2020 when they posted a 2-12 record.

Grejda, a top-50 finisher at leagues last season and a top-60 finisher in Class 2A districts, will lead the way again. The newcomers will also contribute as McGinty was the second finisher, behind Grejda and ahead of Young, in a recent time trial.

“The team is showing signs of being committed,” said head coach Terry Bruns. “They have a great attitude and they’re just a great group.”

The Falcons boys will likely win a few more meets this season than last year, however those are only some of the improvements Brennan wants to see from her runners, which includes high school and younger athletes. At Salisbury the middle school and high school teams train together and often compete on the same days at the same venues.

“Our goals are character development and self improvement,” Brennan said. She keeps a record of times her runners posted on each course in previous seasons to help them track their improvement.

This year’s team was pleased to get in a full preseason after last year’s season started a bit late because of the pandemic. Brennan is proud of the way her team handled last year’s adversity.

“It feels good (to be back for a full preseason),” she said. “But last year we really held it together. We started a little late, but it really was a full season.”