by Dylan Lewis ’27

After a tough end to their 2025 campaign, especially for the boys, who fell just short of first place in states by 7 points, Sherwood’s cross country program looks to get gritty for the 2026 season. As key names like juniors Dimitri and Yianni Rementelas, senior Treyson Goode, and senior Haylee Van Petten all return to the Warriors’ roster this fall, the team looks slated to compete at a high level.

To kick off the year, the team had the opportunity to compete in the 4th Annual Top of the Hill Invitational Meet, where both the boys and girls showed out in the Varsity 5K. On the Boys side, Dimitri Rementelas finished in 1st place, running a 16 minute, 8 second time, and on the girls side, Van Petten finished the highest for Sherwood, taking 35th place with a final time of 22 minutes and 15 seconds. The Warrior Boys finished in second place overall, with a final score of 108, 18 points behind a top competitor in Calvert Hall, and the girls finished in 10th place, with a final total of 281.

As for MCPS competition, the team first faced off against QO and Magruder on September 9, and performed quite strongly. The final top 5 on the Boys 5K all ended up being all Sherwood runners, and 2 girls finished in their respective race’s top 5. Sophomore Katherine Dhingra led the way for the girls, taking the highest spot for the team in 2nd place. The same dominance continued into their only home meet of the season, as the boys varsity team took down Walter Johnson and Poolesville on September 15, with a 16-point margin between themselves and WJ.  Dimitri Rementelas and junior Avery Smith took charge for the Boys, while Dhigra and freshman Kara Pruitt finished strongly, in the 5th and 6th spots for Girls Varsity. As for the Girls, they finished in third place, with a final score of 57, 16 points behind second-place Poolesville.

With consistent improvement and high marks for both the teams, the program begins to shift their focus towards a bigger goal that has been in the works for a couple of years now. Senior captain for the boys varsity team, Treyson Goode, said that making it to the State competition “would mean a lot given how hard we have worked for it and how close we got to winning last year.” However, before that point, the team needs to “win counties and regionals,” in order to have a “very solid shot at states,” said Goode. As the calendar turns toward the later part of October and early November, time will tell if this year’s cross country program has what it takes to make it over the hump and achieve their goal of winning states.