The Cranston East boys’ cross country team opened the season at less than full strength Monday at Goddard Park, with two of its top five runners sitting out due to injuries.

But the ’Bolts were plenty strong enough anyway.

Flashing the depth that is fueling optimism for the season, East opened with victories over Cranston West and Classical to get off to a 2-0 start.

“I’ve told them, we don’t have the top guy, but we’ve got some depth,” said head coach Bob Bouchard. “We had three, four, five, six, seven, eight today and that’s what we can do. Overall I’m really pleased. We had a decent week last week. They worked hard and they were ready for today.”

The start adds to the hopes that East can improve on last season’s 5-7 campaign. Like most teams in the Suburban Division, the ’Bolts still won’t challenge powerhouses Bishop Hendricken and East Greenwich, but they’re hoping to finish near the top and find their way into the state meet.

“Our goal is to have our best dual-meet season that we’ve had in a while,” Bouchard said. “We’ve been hanging around .500. If we get our lineup healthy, we’ll have a shot to contend with the Pilgrim’s and the Coventry’s. Maybe we can sneak in with those guys.”

East was led on Monday and should be led all season by sophomore Jeudy Guzman. After bursting onto the scene as a freshman, Guzman is ready to make even more noise this year. He finished third on Monday, behind a pair of Classical runners in a time of 17 minutes, 25 seconds.

“Jeudy ran a smarter race but not smart enough,” Bouchard said. He went a little too fast with those guys. But he still stayed steady.”

Juniors Alex Sparks and Aidan Nolan ran second and third on Monday, with senior Mohammed Chaghlil, sophomore Kim Hong Hout and freshman Eric Hellested behind them.

East took six of the top eight spots.

“They had decent races at the Injury Fund and I think they learned even more today,” Bouchard said. “The guys ran pretty much their best times today.”

Sophomore Theo Khvang, junior Darol Groeneveldt and senior Henry MacLeod were also near the top group for East. MacLeod, one of just three seniors on the team, is the captain.

“He’s a good leader for us,” Bouchard said.

When healthy, East’s lineup will look even better, with senior John Lawson and junior Zack Eannarino in the mix.

East also has juniors Bruce Campinha, Tim Chambers, Zach Heald, Hunter Hellested, Federico Rivas and William Rogers on the roster, along with freshmen Jamison Cannata and Zachary Sparks.

The ’Bolts will see how they stack up as the season unfolds the next few weeks.

But they were happy to start strong.

“I was pretty concerned today with two of my top five out, but they pulled it through,” Bouchard said. “They really ran well for us.”

Falcons working with an eye on the future

Last season marked the end of a streak of four consecutive winning seasons for the Cranston West boys’ cross country team. This year may not start a new streak, but head coach Jesus Berrio is hopeful that a streak like that isn’t far off, thanks to an influx of eight freshmen to the program.

It’s the kind of group that West can build around.

“This is kind of a rebuilding year, but I’m very optimistic about the future because I have eight freshmen and they have a lot of potential,” Berrio said. “I’m optimistic that they’re going to build up a solid team over the next few years.”

For now, the Falcons want to take the first steps in that process while doing as well as they can in this year’s slate.

On Monday, West opened the season with losses to Cranston East and Classical, but times dropped across the board. West hopes the improvement continues.

“The freshmen, they spike up then kind of level off,” Berrio said. “They’re still going up so hopefully that continues.”

West has two juniors serving as captains in Sam Walmsley and Ben Boffi. Both have been key contributors in the past and will lead the charge this year. Walmsley was West’s top finisher on Monday, taking 11th overall in 20 minutes, 10 seconds.

Sophomore Mike Doire ran second for the Falcons on Monday, with Boffi in third.

The rest of the lineup will see some shuffling as improvement takes hold. West has two seniors in the mix – Jesse Chan and Andrew Dillon – as well as juniors Jonathan Cimino, Sean Hart and Max Perelman. Junior Corey Mallozzi, who was expected to be a key runner, is out with an injury. Sophomore Noah Levin is also on the roster.

The deep freshman class includes Matthew Baker, Nicholas Berling, Jared Hart, Jeffrey Marchetti, Jarred Marquez, Charles Pisaturo, Brad Thies and Keevan Winters.

“We want to stay injury free and keep dropping times,” Berrio said. “It’s good experience. And hopefully the next few years, we’ll develop something.”

East girls off to solid start

It was a small meet, with just two other teams competing, and cross-town rival Cranston West is not as strong as usual. But the Cranston East girls’ cross country team was still pretty happy about Monday’s season opener.

Sophomore Shayna Cousineau won the race and East knocked off Cranston West by three points, while falling to Classical.

“It was a small meet, but it’s always nice to have a good day,” said head coach Rob LaBanca. “This is the first time we’ve beaten West since I took over the program about 10 years ago. That’s nice, even if they are having an off year. We’ll take it.”

East is coming off a 4-7 campaign last year, but it sent three runners to the state meet, more than it had in several years. Again this year, East is led by a small nucleus that should challenge for a state meet berth.

Cousineau won Monday’s race in 22 minutes, 26 seconds. Freshman Casey Nolan, a strong performer in the Injury Fund freshman race last week, was a minute back in third place, and sophomore Julia Fagundes finished in seventh.

That trio will lead the charge all year.

“We’re still small, we’re still looking for kids, but we have a nice nucleus,” LaBanca said. “Hopefully, we’ll keep those three together and add a couple more.”

Also running for East are senior Sabrina Sok, junior Ariel Wynn, sophomores Mikya Lohmeier and Annabelle Neville and freshmen Cassidy Greig and Bojana Wentzel.

Overall, it’s a young, inexperienced team, but with its top three, East could make some noise in its division.

“Out top three have a chance to be all-division and at the very least, get into states by themselves,” LaBanca said. “If a couple of the other girls have good seasons, we could sneak in as a team.”

Whatever happens, it’s already been a strong beginning.

“We’re off to a good start,” LaBanca said. “I’m pleased with their efforts.”

Falcons in building mode

Whether they’ve had star-studded teams or deep teams, veteran teams or young teams, the Cranston West girls’ cross country program has found a way to win a lot of dual meets for a long time. Since 2000, West has had a winning season every year.

The Falcons may answer the challenge and do it again this year, but that’s not the focus. After losses to Classical and Cranston East in Monday’s season opener, West got a reminder that it’s a different kind of season, at least at the start.

“The expectations for this year are more individual than the team,” said longtime head coach Sheila Lagasse. “We lost to a couple of teams we normally don’t lose to, so clearly the team is building at this point.”

That said, there’s nowhere to go but up. West managed to go 8-3 last year, despite being in a similar situation. The key, as always, is steady improvement.

“The times are definitely getting better and the girls are getting more and more confident,” Lagasse said. “That’s the important thing.”

West is led by senior captain Nicole Bucci and junior captain Bridget Sova. Both missed Monday’s meet with injuries but they’ll provide a steady presence as the year goes on.

“They’re amazing leaders for us,” Lagasse said.

Junior Sarah Lemay and sophomore Francesca Laurenza were West’s top finishers on Monday, taking fifth and sixth. Lemay finished in 23:36, with Laurenza just three seconds back.

Junior Kaitlyn Neves was West’s third finisher, and sophomore Christina Mee and senior Cameron Meola were the fourth and fifth runners in for West. Zoe Cute and Stephanie Castagliuolo went sixth and seventh, with Francesca Nencka, Tara Ayrassian and Vanessa Varone rounding out the squad.

Junior Marina Carro, a returning runner from last year, and junior Marina DeAngelis are also on the roster.

“As a group, they’re starting to jell,” Lagasse said. “Their summer training was not as good as I hoped, but what they did do was enough to serve as a springboard for the season. I think we’ll see big improvements.”

If that leads to continued team success for one of division’s most consistent programs, all the better.

“As individuals get better, the team gets better,” Lagasse said. “We’re looking to be much improved by this time next month.”