The boys varsity cross country team gets a new head coach this year and gains a lot of new talent.

Anthony DeStephano is the new head coach, but he is not a complete stranger to the cross county team because as of last year he was the girls distance track coach here at North and the assistant cross country coach at Central.

“DeStephano definitely pushes us a lot harder than last year, and he is really serious but really funny and sarcastic at the same time,” said junior Jordaan Boxer.

The team has been able to run in multiple meets so far this year. The majority of the cross country meets land on early Saturday mornings, but occasionally there are some during the week. Recently the team ran in a race in Central Park hosted by Grayslake Central. The boys ended up taking first overall against the two other teams, Grayslake Central and Wauconda High School.

“I think this year we will do well because in the two races that we have already had (at the beginning of the year), we won one of them but did really well in the other one. So I believe that this year is going to be a good year,” said junior Connor Riss.

The two races that the team ran early in the season were at the Lakewood Invite and a race hosted by Lakes Community High School. At the meets, the team faced new competition and a lot of teams they’ve faced in prior years.

“There’s a lot of good competition, but a lot of the powerhouses from last year that no longer have their best runners, so that allows us to get better. But there still is the new talent emerging on the other teams as well as our own team,” Riss said.