ALBANY — There is a buzz in the air around Albany’s girls sports programs. The softball team just finished as state runners-up, the basketball team will enter this winter as one of the top-ranked teams in the state, and the volleyball team eyes an opening at the top of the Six Rivers East.

Oh yeah, and the cross country team isn’t too shabby either, returning its top six runners from last year’s team that just barely missed a team trip to the state meet.

“After what we experienced last season, the main goal is to be healthy and running our best by the Conference meet this season and see where we are at,” said coach Tony Brewer, now in his 23rd year. 

As the fall season went on, various runners experienced small injuries that hampered the Comets as the season came to a close. If they can stay healthy, this Comets lineup has a chance to make school history.

“With everyone returning from a team that missed qualifying for State on a tiebreaker, the goal is to compete for a Conference title and a State berth this season.  With those type of goals, expectations have to be higher for each athlete to have their best season of their career this season,” Brewer said.

Back for Albany are a trio of seniors that have been the core of the varsity team for several years: Kaiya Zurfluh, Payton Wachholz and Emileigh Dallman. Juniors McKenna Broughton and Linsey Mueller have tons of talent, and sophomore Ava Ahnen burst onto the season as a freshman last year. Ahnen and Broughton qualified for state. 

“If you are going to have a great team, you need to have great leaders, and I believe this year’s team has many great leaders especially our seniors and juniors,” Brewer said. “I believe all five upperclassmen are motivated hard-working individuals, so that should help the team have success this season.”

Brewer said team depth should be a strength this fall as well, with sophomore Avary Briggs and freshman Abby Hollis joining the mix. Brewer said any one of his runners could finished between third and eighth on any given day — and he just hopes that the No. 3 is close to the No. 2 runner.

“Pack running could be a strength between our top two runners, and then our next six runners both at meets and in practice,” Brewer said. “However, gaps were our biggest weakness last season, and they will be a challenge again this season.  We will really have to work on closing gap between second and third runner if we are going to challenge teams like Darlington, Boscobel, and Lancaster at the end of the season.”

Having confidence on the course could be the key to the team making the step to the next level.

“I think in the past, our runners have had the mindset that they hope they are going to have a great race or practice instead of believing they are going to run well.  Confidence and mental toughness will make a big difference in results at the end of the year,” Brewer said.

On the boys side, Andy Gertsch and Jesse Schwartz return for their senior year, while Brian Cid and Gage Roth enter their junior seasons. Sophomores Brayden Bakken and Drew Sertle are also back from last fall, and junior Ethan Koss could step in and help the program as well. Schwartz and Roth were each all-conference last season.

“I believe that if you want to have a successful team, you need to have great leaders and this year’s team has a great senior leader in Jesse Schwartz.  Another important factor in team success is having a team that gets along great, which is probably what we will enjoy the most about this team.  When you have a team that truly cares about each other, everyone will work a little bit harder for their teammates, which will result in more team success,” Brewer said.

Last year’s boys team saw some success, and Brewer said the Comets are hoping to build off of that this season. However, a challenge will be slimming the gap between the second and third runners. Roth and Schwartz switched on and off between No. 1 and 2, but the 3-4-5 runners need to continue to improve. 

“I am not sure how high we can improve in conference, and also a normal sectional meet but I do believe this team will be able to compete with the good teams, time will tell if they can make the jump to compete with the great teams. Our goals remain the same every year, be healthy in October and focus on getting everyone running their best by the conference meet,” Brewer said.