Zion Chapel High School will feature a new sport in cross country when school resumes in the fall.

Head Zion Chapel softball coach Thomas Boswell has kicked the tires on starting a cross country team for over a year now. After speaking to principal Von Enloe, Boswell became the head coach of the newest team to dawn the red and white uniforms.

“I noticed some of the smaller schools had a cross country team,” Boswell said. “I thought it would be a great opportunity for some of our kids that don’t play other sports.”

The process began slowly for the Rebels. Enloe told Boswell to gauge the interest of the students and over 20 students participated in the tryouts, with 21 eventually making the final roster.

“I told the kids that they are part of history,” Boswell said. “As far as my knowledge, they have never had a cross country team. Your starting something brand new– that is something to be proud of and tell your kids about down the line. We are all excited to get started.”

The Rebels are currently in summer workouts, but can’t work out as a team until later in the summer. Until that time, Boswell is encouraging his runners to work on their own in building their endurance.

“I told the kids you are going to have to run a lot on their own,” Boswell said. “Don’t sit around because 5K’s aren’t easy. From what I saw at our tryouts, we have some that have some pretty good endurance. I am excited to see what they can do against competition.”

Boswell doesn’t have any experience in cross country, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have experience in endurance running. Boswell was a member of the Marine Corp for six years.

“Everywhere we went, we ran,” Boswell said with a laugh. Boswell will be joined on the coaching staff by Courtney Jinright, who ran cross country at the collegiate level.

With their first meet not scheduled until August, Boswell and the Rebels will take things one step at a time.

“It’s definitely going to be trial and error,” Boswell said. “It’s new for all of us. We are going to see what it’s like to compete. I have talked to other coaches around and they have been a huge help to me by letting me know how to schedule and what the meets are like. Like I told the kids, we have a shot to compete. Lets go see what can what we can do and go from there.”