Any time a team loses a large amount of people on a team it can be a serious problem. But in a sport like cross country it can be a death sentence.

That is what the Middletown High School Knights Girls Cross Country team will face this upcoming season, but unlike most teams with a good amount of talent left on the team, the Knights won’t just be looking to improve personally.

Now, don’t let that last statement fool you the Knights chances of winning meets this season are few and far between, but with four returning seniors including two have experience running in regional and state meets, the Knights will look to strike when they have the chance.

MHS seniors Annie Noffsinger and Natalie Smith both finished within the top 20 during the 2012 Maryland Public Schools Secondary Athletic Association (M.P.S.S.A.A) 2A West Regional Championship Meet.

Noffsinger finished thirty-third at the 2012 MPSSAA 2A State Championship Meet and also went to the 2010 MPSSAA 2A State Championship Meet and finished fourty-ninth.

Smith finished fifteenth down in Hereford at the 2010 MPSSAA 2A State Championship Meet and then followed up with a return trip to Baltimore County to go to the 2011 MPSSAA 2A State Championship Meet in which she came in thirteenth place.

2010 was the best season for the Knights as they came in fourth place at the 2010 MPSSAA 2A State Championship Meet and did it with a group of promising young runners who looked to be able to bring a state championship back to the Middletown valley.

The seven Knights who ran at that meet were then MHS freshmen Smith, Noffsinger, Morgan Keeney, Esther Shafer, Veronica Clements, with then MHS sophomore Mary Mulkerin, and then MHS senior Gretchen Whitesell rounding out the group.

The dream has fallen apart, with the Knights falling short of even qualifying for a state meet, coming in seventh and sixth in 2011 and 2012 respectively, and struggling to gain any momentum throughout the season.

On top of that, to make things worse, Keeney, Shafer, and Clements did not run cross country after the 2010 year leading to the vision of a bright future being turned into one with a mixture of runners not running for the sport but running to stay in shape and train for other sports.

It doesn’t help that the Knights might be in the toughtest running region in all of Maryland.

For other sports 2A West varies in difficulty, but in cross country it is stacked with tough competiton including Boonsboro, Catoctin and Oakdale.

The Knights will have a challenge this season, but if there is anyone who can do it is the Knights.