by Jacob Gurvis

Boys’ cross country, 3-0, has had a strong start to the season, according to coach Jim Blackburn.

The Tigers have performed well in all three meets, which included victories against Braintree, Norwood, and Wellesley.

According to Blackburn, there are no issues so far this season.

Senior Gabe Montague, a captain with seniors Max Brandl, Jared Freedman, and Mike Schlichting, said, “We’ve gotten the season off to a great start by winning our first two meets without much opposition. We’ve got a huge amount of depth on the team this year with so many seniors. I think one of the most important parts has been that we did a lot of training over the summer, and it seems to be paying off.”

The meet against Wellesley was a key victory, according to Blackburn. Wellesley is the best team The Tigers will face this season, Blackburn said. Therefore, the win is a crucial one for the team.

“If we beat them, we’ll probably win the league,” Blackburn said before the meet. The Tigers defeated Wellesley Wednesday September 18, continuing their impressive play.

The Tigers are hoping to return to the state tournament, and ultimately win the Bay State League, and subsequently be the best team in the state, according to Blackburn. Wednesday’s win was a good step in that direction.

While the Tigers are doing well, there are always improvements to be made, according to Blackburn.

Montague said, “To have the chance of winning the All-State title this year, we just need to make sure that we all continue to improve our times. I think that if we keep on doing what we’re doing then we can achieve that.”

While he knows this will be know no small feat, Montague has faith in the Tigers.

“It won’t be easy to make it back to All-States this year as a team, because many of the other strong teams in Massachusetts come from our division, but if we continue to train hard and avoid injury like we did last year, we should be able to make it happen,” he said.

The Tigers have been very successful so far, meaning that any improvements would elevate their game even more.

According to Montague, this season has been a special one for many seniors.

“The senior class has a huge number of strong distance runners, and I think most of us have been looking forward to this cross country season since freshman year. Many of us feel that this season’s All-State meet is the thing that we’ve been working up to for three years now, and we all want to make it count, and make it something we are proud of,” he said.

Blackburn noted the meet against Needham this Wednesday ”is very important, and we are not looking beyond it.”