Tabor and Grimes have been New Castle's cross country coaches since 2004, when Duane Dye retired as the coach of both the male and female Trojans.

The New Castle boys were not first in any meets last year, but the Trojans did place in the top half of the North Central Conference for the sixth straight year. They followed it up with team advancements through the sectional and regional meets.

Tabor's team lost two key runners to graduation: Josh Hill and Nate Millikan. Hill was all-NCC and both were all-sectional.

The returning varsity runners are seniors Eric Hanson, Jim Campbell and Doug Gorman; juniors Collin Goodin and Tanner Dye; and sophomore Sam Willis. Dye's name has already been in the sports pages this season, as he is doing double duty this fall. He is also on the soccer team.

Other returning runners are Dalton McIlwain and Jacob Warner, both juniors.

Newcomers to watch are sophomore Sam Hua and freshmen Justin Burkholder, Patrick Calvert and Sam Warner.

"With numerous varsity runners returning, this season should be successful," Tabor said. "This team has leadership and ability, and also has more depth than previously. We are aiming to place in the top two at the NCC meet, win the sectional and be in the top three at the regional."