After the graduation of the nucleus of last years cross country team, fondly known as “The Wolfpack,” CHS needs a new five man crew to step up and propel the team back into the limelight.

However, the team does not seem too hindered by the loss. The bulldogs finished first amongst MCPS teams at their first meet.

According to MocoRunning, at CHS’s first meet, the Woodward relays, the bulldogs had five runners in the top 25 and finished only behind private school Sidwell Friends, who they will not race against again this season.

“While we have no superstar, at our last meet our top five guys finished within 35 seconds of eachother and all five will battle each other and be up at the top of leaderboards,” CHS cross country coach Paul Jacobson said.

The bulldogs are led by lone wolf pack holdover Matthew Goldsmith. Seniors Grant Dong, Vincente Rudolph and Varun Vishna, sophomore Michael Zhang and freshman Nick Karayianis are all new to “The Wolfpack.”

“Everybody wants to get better, and of the top runners,” Zhang said.

This year, the bulldogs will look to get to states with a different group of runners but the same core leadership values.

While not as vocal as last years class this year’s group of seniors prefer to lead by example.

“While this year’s group of seniors is much quieter, everybody wants to be number one just like the Wolfpack,” Jacobson said.

According to Goldsmith, he feels everybody pushes themselves in workouts and on runs.

“I think we are a very hard-working team, and many of us put in a lot of strong training,” Goldsmith said. “The workouts are going to have a huge pay-off in making our team stronger.”

They were rewarded for their hard work at counties, where CHS finished 3rd, led by a top 20 performance by Rudolph.

Building off a strong start at their first meet, this year’s bulldogs look to finish the year number one, separating themselves from the rest of this year’s pack of competition.