The FHN girls cross country team seems fearless even though there are no returning seniors running this season. The underclassmen have had to step up during the off season to take on the seniors’ roles.

“I don’t feel like it’s hurting us this year,” junior Rowan Pugh said. “We already knew last season that there wouldn’t be any returning seniors. Juniors have really been stepping it up.”

The girls feel just as fine about losing the seniors’ speed as they do losing those leadership roles. The team’s three fastest girls, junior Alexis Happe and sophomores Dominique Meyer and Brenda Alvarado, make up for the lost speed.

“I’m going to miss the seniors,” Happe said, “but now it’s our turn to be the role models for the team.”

The team shows so much confidence for the upcoming season and they hope they will be returning to State again this year. Last year, Happe was the only girl from FHN to go to State, and Assistant Coach Joe Brocksmith hopes a few more of the younger runners will be joining her this time around to make up for the lack of upperclassmen.

“We’re not at a huge disadvantage with the younger runners,” Brocksmith said. “With the body maturing you tend to increase your speed anyways–until you reach my age that is. But our girls will be just fine.”