“I love running for this team and enjoy the competition of the races,” stated Jr. Diego Diaz. Wayne City and Fairfield co-op for cross country. Juniors Diego Diaz and Chase Smith are the lone Indians on a team full of Mules. The pair of runners have ran two meets as of now, with one other meet being cancelled because of the extreme heat. On September 7 the team had their first meet of the season in Benton. Diaz ran a shocking time of 17:44 and received seventh place, while Smith, who is recovering from off-season knee surgery, ran a time of 20:28 and placed thirtieth. Overall the team finished second only falling behind an outstanding Benton team. Saturday Septe,mber 18 they traveled to Olney Central College and ran a race with around 150 runners. Diaz once again shined and finished tenth overall, while the team placed sixth overall out of 15 teams, many of them being 2A schools. Last season the team won the conference meet, Smith and Freshman Brenan Yingst from Fairfield are the only returning runners from the first place team. Diaz and Smith are both really looking forward to the next couple months. With Smith having the running experience he has with the addition of the talent of Diaz and the other runners the Mules will be hard to beat for many of the teams this year. When asked what his expectations were for this season Fairfield Junior Griffen Hinkle responded with, “I think this team is almost a lock to win conference again this year.”