The boys’ cross country team is in full throttle mode as they get ready for their second meet, the Marcus Invitational at North Lakes Park, Saturday at 7:00 a.m.

“I just want every runner to enjoy the season, get to know each other, and all their teammates,” boys’ cross country coach Ben Manning said. “Hopefully they’re all setting their own personal goals as far as what they want to reach their times and I’ll do whatever I can to make sure they’re pushing themselves to reach those goals.”

In his first year on campus, sophomore Jahson Ferguson is ready for the meet this weekend.

“I’m pretty excited about it, not really stressed,” Ferguson said. “I know it’s going to be fun and it’s going to be hard but it’s going to be worth it. I think a few of them are nervous but overall I think we have a pretty positive outlook.”

Saturday’s 5k race will feature different terrain over the length of the course which is why the team does more than long runs to get ready.

“We do a variety of workouts,” Manning said. “We do some sprint workouts on the track, other days we’ll do a timed run where they run 45 minutes to an hour other times we give them mileage, we do hill work. All types of variety of distances and speeds so that way they are getting everything they can get as far as variety and what they’ll see at the meets.”