Boasting a membership of more than 20 seniors, a score of talented younger blood, and a sophomore runner who set state- and nation-wide records as a freshman, the Paly boys’ cross country team seems set to begin one of its best seasons yet.

“This is a much different team,” head coach Jeff Billing said, comparing this year’s cross country boys to last year’s. “This is the most mature, most experienced team I’ve ever coached.”

And he has much reason to believe so.

For many of the boys on this year’s cross country team, this season marks their third or fourth year running for Paly, signifying the impressive amount of skill that the team’s older members hold.

“In all the years I’ve been at Paly, we’ve always become more talented because of the more successive training the older people have gone through,” senior co-captain Brian Hsueh said.

Yet the team also carries with it a collection of gifted, younger runners.

Billing describes three of the team’s top four runners as under-classmen, noting juniors Charlie Avis and Skyler Cummins and sophomore Philip MacQuitty’s outstanding speed and talent in the sport.

At the un-scored Gunn alumni meet Sept. 6, Avis and Cummins were the first two Paly varsity boys to finish the course, clocking in for the 2.18 mile-long trail at 11:32 seconds and 11:45 respectively.

MacQuitty did not run the Gunn meet, but already holds an impressive reputation as a young sophomore runner. Last cross country season, among other achievements, MacQuitty was the second fastest freshman in the state of California and won first place in the freshman race at the Foot Locker Cross Country West Regional Championships. He also became the fastest freshman 3200-meter runner in the nation during Paly’s 2007 track and field season.

Yet, through all of his notable feats, MacQuitty remains calm and collected, and seems concerned about only one aspect of this season.

“I’m not worried about the times,” Macquitty said, about not feeling much pressure this year to match or even exceed his performance last year. “I’m worried that I might get injured. If I stay healthy I think everything will fall into place.”

With a team held up by athletes of so much depth and experience, the upcoming season seems promising for the Paly Vikings.

“This is the most talent we’ve ever had,” senior co-captain Sam Jones said. “We’ve got a talented core of people and an unbelievable group of younger guys.”

Hsueh agrees: “We’re better on all levels because we have so many people of many different abilities.”

Led by co-captains Hsueh, Jones, senior Alok Subbarao, and returning co-captain Rajan Narang, the team also has another factor driving them forward in its leadership.

“It’s a very solid group,” Hsueh said, describing the four co-captains. “Everyone on the team is well represented. We have four people from different directions on the team, which gives an entire spectrum of what we try to portray ourselves as.”

With so many positive aspects going for the boys’ cross country team this year, it’s no wonder that the team’s goals have been set extremely high from the start.

“I really think we have a shot at winning leagues, winning CCS [Central Coast Section], and getting into top 10, maybe even top five, at states,” Billing said.

MacQuitty agrees that this year’s team will make it to the top.

“This year’s cross country team is probably the best team in Paly history,” MacQuitty said. “I am positive we are going to make it to states.”

Though early in the season, the team is already seeded third in CCS, according to Jones, already standing its ground as a main source of competition. As the top three teams in CCS are guaranteed a spot in the state meet, according to Subbarao, the Vikings’ goals are definitely in reach.

The road to states for this year’s Paly cross country boys begins Saturday, Sept. 22 at the Lowell Invitational at Golden Gate Park.