A Mount Carmel cross country team without Dan O’Keefe leading the way is a strange sight. Coming off its best year in school history, the new-look Caravan aims to reload in preparation for another successful season.

Without O’Keefe, who led the Caravan for four years, the team will face the challenge of being a young team, as well as a move from Class 2a to Class 3a. With a higher class comes better and faster teams, “We have to work to get faster” says head coach Daniel Burke. Losing five seniors from last year, including O’Keefe, the team needs a new leader to step up.

Looking to lead the team this year are senior Mike Bradley, junior Brandon Jacobs, and sophomore Conor Fagan. Fagan, in particular, is off to a fast start, finishing in the top 20 in all runs this year. While he has competed on the Frosh/Soph level up till this point, Fagan is expected to contribute to the varsity team.

The Caravan is off and running. “We have run well in our first few meets,” Burke observed, but the team hasn’t had all of its best runners together because they are split up between varsity and frosh/soph.

Burke is confident about the future, with a  “young team and lots of talent.” Over the next few meets he looks for his team to continue to improve  before the Catholic League championship and regionals. It will take a group effort for the Caravan to be successful.

Also looking to contribute to the varsity team this year are seniors Xavier Avila, Gabe Bustoz, Adam Ortiz, Garrett Smith,  and Tom Swenson along with Junior Jacob Correa.  These sophomores will be moved up to varsity by the end of the year: Conor Fagan, Luke Goodman, and Mickey Thorne. Also expected to move up to varsity by the end of the year are freshman Patrick Fagan and Tommy Jacobs.