Competing in a district dominated by Battlefield is not the ideal way to introduce pretty much any varsity team in its inaugural season.

Yet that's the hand Patriot's been dealt as a new member of the Cedar Run District, so they might as well make the best of what they've got, regardless of the competition.

On the cross country team, sophomores Nick Bussian and Kenzie Fennel are leading the charge as the top runners for the boys and girls squads.

Given the lack of seniors at Patriot this school year, head coach Adam Daniels repeatedly hammered away at the idea of "hard work" being the trait that put his top runners in their present positions out of the 75 that are competing this year.

Bussian has assumed the role of a natural leader as he's the fastest Pioneer in the 5k so far. Even though he was not officially voted on as a captain, Daniels said the fact that Bussian has been surrounded by runners for pretty much his whole life gives him an advantage when it comes to executing the fundamentals.

His sister Lauren was a star for Brentsville during her high school days running under Rob Dulin, who is now the assistant coach for Patriot. The younger Bussian, who also attended Brentsville as a freshman, gets "good, quality stretching in" during his daily routines, executes his strides well and exercises properly, according to Daniels.

"Just doing the little things I think is the biggest thing he does," said the head coach. "He's a leader-by-example guy."

Bussian led all Patriot runners at the Oatlands invitational on September 17 with a time of 17:07, putting him more than a full minute ahead of the team's second-place runner. He ended up 1:37 out of first place, ranking him 62nd as the team finished 36th out of 46 teams.

However, Patriot's two-through-seven runners all ended up within 51 seconds of each other, suggesting that the team is at least consistent. Josh Small, Kevin Amaya, Sam Jones and Ryan Small rounded out the top five runners behind Bussian while Tom Marianos and Chris Lafayelle pulled sixth and seventh.

Daniels noted that Lafayelle, Amaya and Jones are all captains with different personalities. The junior Lafayelle tends to be more of the vocal leader and the prankster on the team while Amaya is quieter like Bussian.

Along with the "workhorse" Jones, "they've done a great job of keeping the boys together," said Daniels.

Meanwhile for the girls, Fennel likely represents the prototype of a runner Daniels would ever want on his team.

She was the first to contact him after a meet-and-greet in February with her resume ready, telling Daniels something along the lines of, "I'll do whatever you need," according to the coach.

Well-organized, service-minded, and well-prepared, "she does a lot of the little things well," said Daniels. Like it is for Bussian, stretching is a big part of that component.

"If you don't stretch, you're not going to recover well," he said.

Also like Bussian, Fennel finished more than a minute ahead of her fellow Pioneer runners at Oatlands, clocking in at 20:39. Freshmen Rileigh Huntzinger and Carina Garcia, sophomores Michaela Farris, Shelby File and Madison Robbins, and junior Kerianne Gallagher made up Patriot's top seven runners.

The team finished 37th overall, with Patriot's second-through-sixth runners all finishing within one minute of each other, similar to the boys' team.

"It's very tight," said Daniels, mentioning that his third place runner could be his sixth-place runner on "any given day."

His two top freshmen both have developed endurance for long runs from their time as soccer players though, in Garcia's case, she's new to the sport of competitive distance running.

For both the boys and girls, Daniels said he is hoping the team can reach the Northwest Regional race as a full squad in the post-season, which would require a strong showing at districts later this fall.

Getting just "somebody" to states would be a "great first year," the coach added, also mentioning that he's working on a long-term plan to build success with his current crop of athletes.

"It would be a two-year process," he said.

After all, he's not set to lose any runners to graduation as Patriot does not have a senior class this year.

"...I get all of these runners back for at least two years and most of them for three," he said.

The Northwest Region is known as a cross country powerhouse and for either Bussian or Fennel to have a chance at making it to states, they're going to have to face tough competition early on.

If they manage themselves well though, anything could be possible.

"They both run very intelligently and they're both hard workers, so we'll see," said Daniels.