The Emmaus boys cross country team graduated four of the top eight runners on last year’s team.

Oscar Felegy, Sam Dalton, Brett Pevec and Dominic Nunez have moved on. This year’s team will miss their talent as well as their personalities.

“Those seniors also brought humor, drive and energy to the boys team to lead to one of the best experiences overall,” said head coach Kami Reinhard. “There are several juniors and seniors who have stepped up this summer to become key contributors to the team this year.”

Emmaus went 13-3 last season before finishing third at districts, the boys team’s best finish in 20 years. Three members of last year’s boys team earned trips to the state meet and two of them return this season.

Junior Conor Fisher returns to lead the pack for Emmaus after finishing eighth in last year’s District 11 Championships to earn a trip to the state championship meet. Jared Petre also qualified for states last year, finishing 16th at districts.

Senior Tyler Finck (23rd at districts), junior Richard Will (30th at districts), sophomore Sean Daubert (39th at districts) and sophomore Ryan Fach (43rd at districts) return this year, along with seniors Connor Miller and Nate Smeltz.

Newcomers Sam Strzempek (senior) and Matthew Siragnano (freshman) are also expected to help the team scoring this season.

The Hornets are looking to take another step forward this season as they want to place in the top two at districts to earn a team berth into the state championships.

“We look to keep that bar high, with the goal of finishing top two in the district to get this team to the state meet,” said Reinhard. “We look to juniors Conor Fisher, Jared Petre, Richard Will, and seniors Tyler Finck and Connor Miller to lead the pack for the boys. Sophomores Ryan Fach and Sean Daubert should also be key performers for the boys team.”