The rubber is about to meet the road for the DeKalb County Middle School cross country team as they eye the coming season with high expectations.

According to Coach Kristen VanVranken, there is a lot of new talent moving up to the middle school level this year.

I'm excited about our season starting,” she said. “We have a lot of new talent this year from athletes that are giving cross country a first try.  Very athletic individuals who should contribute to both our boys and girls’ team's success.”

With the new talent comes youth but VanVranken believes the eighth graders will be great teachers to the underclassmen.

“We still have a relatively young boys’ and girls’ team, consisting mostly of seventh and sixth graders, but the 8th graders we do have should be awesome leaders and step up to the plate,” she said. 

The coach looks for the girls’ team to really step up during the 2019 season. “Our girls’ team should be very competitive again this season,” she said.  “We placed second at regionals last season and are looking to place in the top 10 at State this year, which is a huge accomplishment considering the level of competition from all over Tennessee.”  

As for the boys’ team, VanVranken noted the squad lost a lot of talent to the high school but they still have the potential to be good during 2019.

“Our boys team has the potential to be very good as well,” she said.  “We lost some strong male 8th graders so we are going to have to fight for spots in our races and step it up.”