One of the teams with a lot of returning talent is Silver Creek/Forestville. The Black Knights bring back two Class C top 100 ranked runners in Ellie Decker (No. 29) and Julianna Flick (No. 62). Decker nabbed a honorable mention from the New York State Sports Writers Association for her efforts in her sophomore season last year. This year, all of the Silver Creek/Forestville runners will look to improve off of last year’s campaign.

“I’m very optimistic of runners,” stated Silver Creek/Forestville coach Mike Janisch. “They have the ability to make large jumps in a short period of time from hard training and dedication.”

Beyond Decker and Flick, the Black Knights girls team brings back Daisy League (ranked No. 128), Melanie Wilson (ranked No.175), Julia Kennedy and Emma Romanik.

With a strong group of returners, the Black Knights still lost a lot of talent from last year. The lone returner to the boys team is Gabe Rhodes — Rhodes is also the only Forestville student apart of the team this season.

Silver Creek/Forestville’s Cross Country team returns many strong runners, including Julianna Flick.

“Two seniors ran for six years,” stated Janisch. “They were kind of main runners for us. Lily League, Riley Wilson and Sebastian Eole.”

Silver Creek/Forestville is not the only team that is returning some strong runners as both Dunkirk and Fredonia bring back highly ranked Jericha Petrella and Emily Brown, respectively.

Brown returns as the highest ranked runner from the area in Class C at No. 16. Brown also was named to the Third Team All-State for Class C by the New York State Sports Writers Association for her performance in the 2018 season. Brown continued her running success last year into the spring as she competed at the State Tournament in track and if she continues to progress she will be in for a big senior year with the Lady Hillbillies.

Petrella also competed at the State Tournament for track and field in the spring and will look to have a big senior season for the Lady Marauders. Dunkirk graduated a lot from their varsity team last year and Petrella will continue to be a bright spot on the squad as she was ranked No. 132 out of all Class B runners.

In the southern part of the county, both Maple Grove and Clymer-Sherman-Panama return top ten runners in Class D.

“When you take a look at it there isn’t one team who will dominate it,” Janisch stated about the local competition. “There are a lot of teams that could be very strong. About every school has some very good athletes.”

Silver Creek/Forestville will open their season on Saturday, Sept. 7 at the Red Dragon Invitational at Long Point State Park. After that regular season meets will begin on Sept. 17.