(Sentinel photo by Brian Schekirke) Gehlen's Jordan Freking stretches at the beginning of a preseason cross country practice. [Click to enlarge]

As Gehlen cross country coach Teresa Taylor comes into her second year, she'll do so with one of the best long distance runners in the county.

Unfortunately for Taylor and the Jays, the team doesn't have much depth so they'll have to rely on higher finishes from their top runners.

Senior Jordan Freking leads the back for the Jays as he returns for the third year and looks to take the reins as the top runner on the boys' side.

(Sentinel photo by Brian Schekirke) The Gehlen cross country team goes for a 40-minute run earlier this fall. The Jays will open their season with a meet hosted by Sioux City Heelan on Friday night. The Jays will also be in action next Tuesday at the Gary Meyer Invitational in Brunsville. [Click to enlarge]

"Jordan was our strongest runner last year," said Taylor. "He's been that way since his sophomore year. Junior year, he really started to shine and looks to be strong again this year."

The senior had a best time of 17:41 last fall and barely missed making the state meet by eight seconds. Freking finished in 11th place with a time of 18:00, just missing the 10th place finish needed to qualify for state. Garret Ehlers of Battle Creek - Ida Grove edged out the senior.

Freking had nine top-10 finishes last fall including a first place finish in the West Sioux Invitational.

Joining the senior on the squad as some of the Jays' top runners are David Tillman and Josh Hodgson.

Tillman finished in the top-10 once as he placed ninth at the West Sioux meet. As a junior, it is Tillman's second year out for cross country and he had a personal best time of 20:04 at the Sioux City Heelan meet last year.

Hodgson, a sophomore, is a two year varsity runner and ran his best time of 20:28 at Unity Christian last fall.

"David was in the middle range last year on the team," said Taylor. "We definitely did some training this year and he looks like he'll be pretty strong."

"Josh is similar to David," continued Taylor. "He's about where David was last year on the team - he's clearly more experienced."

The team will also feature a few new faces on the squad this year. Junior Fort Massay, senior Robert Ciaffa and freshman Matt Mayer will help boost the Jays' once the season begins Friday at Sioux City Heelan.

On the girls' side six of the nine members out for cross country this fall are returners.

Leading the way will be junior Rachel Koopman who is out for her second year as a varsity runner. Koopman finished first on the team in every race last fall except in the district meet at Galva-Holstein. The junior ran a season best time of 18:31 at the conference meet at West Sioux when she finished 18th overall.

On October 5, just a few days prior to the conference meet, Koopman finished ninth overall at West Sioux during the team's regular season.

However, Koopman may have strong competition from one of her own teammates as freshman Kaitlin Roberts looks to be pushing to be the Jays' top runner.

"Kaitlin looks to be our strongest runner at this point," said Taylor. "Rachel was last year and she's working hard and that's a good thing to see."

Looking to help lead the Jays to top finishes are Sana Naqvi and Mary Henrich.

"Sana definitely shows that she cares what she's doing and that she wants to improve," said Taylor. "She's working hard to do well.

"Mary consistently improved each meet quite a bit last year," said Taylor. "She definitely showed great promise and she continues to work hard."

The Jays will open up their season at Heelan on Friday and Taylor is encouraged by the team's chances at the meet.

"We had so many new runners last year that they didn't know how to really prepare for a meet but I'm encouraged by their work this summer," said Taylor.

"It's going to be hard to see where the kids really are until they race. But I'm optimistic they can improve and know who is really ready."