Not a lot of high school boys are turned away from the city’s cross country teams.

But just making the team pales in comparison to the hard work required to stay on it.

“It’s not really a set number per week, but right now, they’re running in between 40 and 60 miles per week,” Lawrence High coach Brian Anderson said.

That’s an average of more than seven miles per day.

And that’s the dedication it will take for the Lions to repeat – or improve on – the success they had last season, when they finished fourth in the state meet at Rim Rock Farm.

Senior Andrew Grover will lead LHS this year. He’ll be joined by senior co-captain Stephen Glasker.

“The big thing is their leadership skills,” Anderson said of Grover and Glasker. “They have strong work ethics. They’ve been running in the mornings and sometimes in the evenings, getting themselves used to the heat.”

Anderson said his goal for the Lions this season was to place in the top five at state again. The Lions have five seniors this year, as opposed to three last season.

City runners, from left, Andrew Grover (Lawrence High), Jake Jordan (Free State) and Gus Wigen-Toccalino (Seabury) are expected to lead their teams into the season, which begins Saturday.

Free State High will look to improve upon its seventh-place finish at the state meet last season. Senior Brian Leatherwood and Jake Jordan competed individually in the 5K race, taking 64th and 79th, respectively. The field had 100 participants.

Free State will have to move on without departed senior MJ Hassaballa, who now runs cross country for Pittsburg State University. Hassaballa finished seventh last year at state. It was the highest finish in school history.

Jordan and junior Gabe Moss will lead the Firebirds this season.

Coach Steve Heffernan said Moss showed great improvement in the offseason. Jordan is recovering off minor injuries to his knees, shins and ankles. Heffernan said he should be fully healthy this season.

“Honestly, it takes a year for a kid to get used to distance running,” Heffernan said. “Last season, he was injured because he was new to running. Now he’s not only healthy, but he’s learned a great deal on how to train and race.”

Heffernan said the less-experienced runners ran 20-30 miles a week, while the more experienced runners ran about 50 per week.

Seabury Academy didn’t make state last season, but finished fourth in regionals.

The team will rely on young team leaders – junior Bill Butler and sophomore Gus Wigen-Toccalino.

“With these two, I can start immediately with strength work and hills,” coach Eric Nelson said. “They’re just ready to go.”

Nelson said the team ran 25-30 miles per week for the first two to three weeks of practice. He will increase mileage as the season continues.

An emergency medical technician, Nelson said he was very conscious of practicing in the heat.

“I’ve seen heat injury in action in cross country,” he said. “It controls what we do quite a bit. It’d be much more convenient to practice right after school, but for safety reasons, we can’t practice right in the middle of the day.”

Nelson required all Seabury cross country runners to carry water and wear a hat when the temperature was in the upper 90s and above. He said as the weather became cooler, the team would practice more after school.