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By Dan Kibler

For the Clemmons Courier

CLEMMONS — Is this the season when “addition by subtraction” smiles on West Forsyth’s cross country teams?

That’s one thing that Nathan Newsome, who coaches the boys’ and girls’ teams for the Titans, is counting on.

And it’s not because his teams have undergone too much “subtraction.” The Titans’ rosters are largely intact from last season and, well, politely, other schools aren’t quite as lucky – especially on the girls’ side of things.

“The future looks bright on the girls’ side for the next few years,” Newsome said. “We have some pretty good girls returning, and some pretty good young girls l– and some of the other schools probably won’t be as dominant.

“How good we’ll be, relatively, it’s probably too early to tell.”

The Titans return five of their top seven runners from last season, when they finished 14th at the state championship meet after qualifying with a fifth-place finish in the Class 4A Midwest Regional.

Sophomore Tatum Snow is the Titans’ top returnee, along with senior Lulu Serang, who has been one of West’s best runners since her freshman year. Sophomore Lily Baugh and juniors Katie Malanowski and Dempsey Burgen-Baldini.

“Tatum was our No. 1 runner last year, and Lulu has had a fantastic summer, running real strong,” Newsome said.”Lily Baugh had a breakout season in track; she ran the second-fastest mile in school history, 5:12.”

Newsome expects a lot out of two freshmen, Ellie St. Clair and Celia Tomindandel.

“These were very good middle-school runners, and a lot of these middle-school kids we get have only been running 2 to 5 miles a week; they’re doing it off natural talent,” he said. “I want to see what they’ll do when they’re running 30 miles a week.”

Will the Titans’ girls return to top-10 or even top-5 status in the state this season.

“We have a good bunch of young kids; if they stay healthy, we can have a good year.

How good we’ll be, relative, it’s too early to tell,” Newsome said. “Cross country in North Carolina, especially in (Class) 4A, is just absurd. Cuthbertson had four or five girls under 5 miles in the mile during outdoor track, and Cardinal Gibbons is always the team to beat. The main issue is, most of the competitive teams in the state are in our region: Cuthbertson, Reynolds, Weddington, Mount Tabor, Reagan, Marvin Ridge.”

Newsome said his boys’ team could use a little confidence right off the bat, even though he returns a veteran roster, headed by sophomore Gunnar Douglass, who ran 17:22 for the 5K in the state meet last year.

“None of these boys are used to running in the front of the pack; they’re going to need some empirical data to make them feel like they belong,” Newsome said. “If they can get a good meet or two under their belts, they will get more confident, and young guys can improve by leaps and bounds.”

Newsome has a good mix of kids in different ages working for inclusion into his top 7. Seniors Jack Harrison and Shane Cornett, plus juniors Nico Nagy and John Reuttinger are expected to play big roles. Cornett, who missed track season last year because of a stress fracture, is a question mark who could turn into an exclamation mark.

Newsome also has three sophomores – Edwin Moran and twins Nick and Noah Windsor – are also in the mix.

“Girls can be pretty good by the end of their ninth-grade seasons, but boys usually don’t shape up until their junior or senior years,” he said.