The 2016 cross country season is set to begin this Saturday, Sept. 3, with the Falcons heading down to Tumbleweed Park to take part in an invitational hosted by Chandler.

Next Saturday, Sept. 10, will see the Falcons participating in their first home meet of the season, running out of Fountain Park.

According to head coach Todd Brecto, the Falcons have a different makeup from the 2015 team, but he expects the local runners will put together another season of big successes.

“We had a solid season in 2015 for both the boys and the girls,” Brecto said. “We were in the top three at sectionals and qualified for state so, all-in-all, it was a real successful season.”

This year, Brecto said his roster is a bit different. On the girls’ side, there’s plenty of experience, but only a 10-person squad. As for the boys, they’re looking at about double that number of competitors for 2016.

“The girls look strong,” Brecto said, pointing out that the top seven athletes from last season have returned to the team. “On the boys’ side, we’ve got quite a large number including some transplants in from Atlanta, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Minnesota. It’s fun having some new faces, as well as some freshmen out to join our returners.”

Brecto said he’s looking for Lucas Elwood and Jordan Klein to help lead the team, with Hope Brecto, Danica Kerr, Isabelle Clausen, Alexandra Coons and Kailee Martin putting their experience to good use as team leaders.

As in recent years, the Falcons are hitting the trails around town as early as 5 a.m. in the mornings, heading to Peaks Athletic Club Tuesday and Thursday afternoons to get in some workouts in the pool.

“They come prepared for a workout,” Brecto said. “There’s no complains, everybody is on board and they push each other to get there. There’s good support.”

Brecto said that support will come in handy, especially with getting so many newcomers on the boys’ side ready for the competition aspect of the season.

“Training is great, but that challenge of racing and pushing yourself, a lot of them have never experienced that before,” he continued.

Looking ahead, Brecto said he expects the Falcons to pull of some good things this season, though a rearranged section means that the Falcons will be squaring off against several teams they’ve never raced against before.

“We aim to improve our times this year and work as a group to help each other out through the races,” Brecto said. “Other than lowering those times, we expect to finish in the top three in our section. There’s going to be some good competition, but I expect we’ll do well. There’s 18 in the section and you have to be in the top nine to make state, so the expectation is that we should all qualify this year.”

Brecto said the team’s greatest strength is his athletes’ commitment to putting in the work needed to be successful, which should carry the boys and girls far in 2016.

As for the local meets, he said that there’s plenty of great reasons to come out to a home run, especially considering the fact that Falcon invitationals are now one of the biggest meets in the entire state.

“It’s kind of a great carnival atmosphere, festive, with a lot of people and a lot of cheering,” Brecto said. “This year we have 52 teams signed up and maybe 2,500 athletes, so this is a fun way to come out and experience something maybe the fans haven’t seen before.”