The Oswego State Lakers men’s cross country team is a young and rising squad looking to improve on last year’s sixth place SUNYAC finish through a combination of hard work and a pack-like mentality.

The team started off the season on Sept. 3 at the SUNY POLY Wildcat Invitational with a strong second place finish, behind only division rival SUNY Oneonta, giving the team a lot of positives to build on heading into the rest of the season.

Second year head coach Sarah Ritchie is a huge factor in the rising success of the team, creating an atmosphere of teamwork and consistency that creates results.

“My biggest thing is getting out of sixth place,” Ritchie said. “We’ve finished there for the last three years and I know we can improve and be a top five team.”

Ritchie’s desire to improve visibly trickled down to her runners’ expectations for themselves and the team as a whole.

Runners like sophomore Dylan McCarthy and senior Andrew Spagnuolo expressed even more strenuous expectations than Ritchie, echoing the mentality that the team is carrying into the season.

“The ultimate goal would be to finish third in the SUNYAC,” Spagnuolo said. “I’m much quicker than I was last year and I can improve my times a lot. We have the ability to do it with the guys we have. It’s worth a little more pain to get results and hopefully the team takes that same mindset and we can improve together.”

As one of the two seniors on the team, Spagnuolo’s mindset of being a leader will prove to be invaluable to a team that is full of freshmen and sophomores who will benefit from this mindset.

McCarthy is one of the younger runners that can benefit from that mindset as well. He has already broken the school record in the 6K and sees nothing but room for improvement.

“We want to stay in the top five [in the conference] by season’s end,” McCarthy said. “Timewise, I’d like to improve a lot from where I was last year and be more consistent. Even if I don’t get the time I want, I want to be sure that I gave it everything I had.”

These two athletes are just small pieces of a team whose mentality is to work in a pack. Ritchie makes it a point to pound it in the heads of her runners to use the strategy of always sticking together.

“Start as a pack, end as a pack,” Ritchie said. “If someone isn’t at their best then everyone is there to pick them up. If someone is at their best then they can pick up everyone else they’re running with.”

This team mindset is essential in pushing everyone to be their best because it encourages them to be a team rather than racing against one another.

In a stacked conference, it won’t be easy for the Lakers to make the leap into the top five, let alone the top three. With a talented roster from top to bottom, all thirteen runners will do their best to ensure the team finishes in a better standing than they did last season.

With all eyes looking to Oct. 29 at the SUNYAC meet, the Lakers will take the next couple of weeks to focus on their strategies and times to ensure they accomplish their goals.

The team is hosting the Oswego State Invitational on Sept. 10, beginning at 11 a.m.