FRUITPORT – The Fruitport boys cross country team always has quality athletes, and usually does pretty well every season.

The issue heading into the 2024 season is that the Trojans don’t have enough experienced runners.

The team is prepared to open the season at Saturday’s Muskegon Catholic Central Invitational with only seven runners – and just two returning from last year – which could put the Trojans at a competitive disadvantage.

“We’re still looking for a couple guys to come out and help us out,” said veteran coach Randy Johnson. “I’ve got two guys I’m working on, but I haven’t been able to convince them yet.

“We’ll probably be in the bottom of the league and middle of the city meet. Landon (Johnson) and Vincent (Pollack) will help with points, but then we’ll have a huge gap. But we’re in a new conference this year and I have no idea what to expect.”

The Trojans definitely had their good moments last season.

At the GMAA City meet, they finished in second place, just four points behind champion Reeths-Puffer.

Vincent Pollack finished ninth individually at the city meet, then went on to finish 18^th at regionals and 166^th out of 252 runners at the Division 2 state finals.

Pollack, now a senior, should provide a major bright spot for the Trojans this season.

“We’re hopeful he’s going to do it again this year,” Johnson said about Pollack’s run to the state finals last season.

Junior Landon Johnson is the other returning runner from last year’s team, and Coach Johnson is counting on both returnees to be strong role models for the newcomers.

“They’ll have to set the tone and atmosphere for the team,” Johnson said. “Vincent and Landon have a good work ethic and hopefully they’ll pass that on. The new kids are young and inexperienced, but they’re working really hard. Hopefully we’ll see them improve.”

The five newcomers to the team are Enzo Aggoune, Dylan Winskas, Drew Powell, Josh Vanstelle and Landon Peck.

Aggoune, a junior, was on the cross country team as a freshman before playing football last fall.

“I’m hoping he can pick up where he was as a freshman,” Johnson said. “His times were in the 19’s and I’m hoping he can do that again.”

Regardless of how the team fares this year, Coach Johnson is hopeful to see the runners who can return next year continue to improve.

“I just want to see their times improve as the season goes on and gain experience,” he said. “Hopefully it’ll inspire them to do some off-season training and maybe they’ll be even stronger next year.”