With Duo of State Placers Returning, Bridgeport Boys Cross Country Eager to Start 2026 Practices
By Michael Minnich on July 31, 2026
The Bridgeport boys cross country team has to replace two seniors that finished in the top 10 at last year’s state meet in Troy Zorick and William Northey, but has some up-and-comers that got important state experience last year as the Tribe finished second as a team alongside Grafton.
Parker Muncy placed 20th at states last year in a time of 17:39.89, while Graham Northey was 27th in 18:08.05.
“They’re actually, as we speak, at a running camp, West Virginia Country Roads, that some of the coaches and athletes from around the state put on,” Bridgeport coach Nathaniel Lutyens said. “I’m hopeful that they are ready to take a step forward and take on some of that leadership.”
Both Muncy and Northey will be juniors this fall.
Bridgeport hopes to build on that second-place team run from last year.
“Like any sports team, we had things we had to work through and injuries, so there were some moments where we were just like, ‘Man, if we can get to the end, we think we’ll do okay.’ And we did. That was really cool to see them persevere and execute at the end of the season.”
Muncy and Northey were key contributors to a strong Bridgeport track & field team this past spring as well.
“Track is a hard season, there’s just no way around it,” Lutyens said. “Some of them took 10 days or two weeks off and then were right back at it. They’re rebuilding and even increasing their mileage. Some of the others had to take a little bit of a slower return than they would prefer, but for every athlete, it’s where you’re at, how did it go and are we ready to progress?
“If not, let’s get healthy. Athlete by athlete, it depends. I have been able to work with each of them to figure out where they are at and tailor their summer running accordingly.”
Team chemistry is essential to build at this time of year as well. Like many sports, the more athletes, the better.
“When you end up with runners who don’t have anybody close to them, it’s hard to keep progressing. They need someone to feed off and to push them. I think we’re even going to maybe have a little bit more depth this year than we had last year,” Lutyens said.
Having a strong feeder program helps with that depth as well.
“I have to credit Bridgeport Middle,” Lutyens said. “They’ve done a great job over the past several years and really had a lot of success at that level. Then runners are more excited to come out and run at the high school level. They’ve been working hard enough that they’re not intimidated by what we’re going to do.
“(Coming off last year’s success), we have a few new athletes who have shown an interest and we’ll see who comes out next week.”
Practice starts Monday at 8 a.m. at Bridgeport City Park.
“We lost a lot, but we also have a lot of kids coming back and a lot of middle school athletes coming up,” Lutyens said. “We have a group that I believe is ready to work and spur each other on. I’m looking forward to having them all together in the same place at the same time, because as you’d expect, you don’t always have that in the summer time.”
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