The Pleasantville Trojans start class today, but the cross country season got underway on Monday at Knoxville.

With only 10 runners competing, it was actually a fairly nice outing for some of the Trojans, including three top 10 finishes and one top five, headlined by Devin Luing, who finished fourth in the boy’s heat.

However, head coach Aaron Fichter thinks that his group could have performed better if it wasn’t for one unexpected obstacle–the weather.

Fichter admits that all their practices were fortunate to not be too hot, but Mother Nature decided to turn up the thermostat during the Early Bird event in Knoxville.

“Monday it was really hot. When we moved over to afternoon practices, the second week of practice, we were lucky to get 80 degree weather. Then all of a sudden that first meet day it pops up to 95-97. So just knowing that the kids had been out in warmer weather but not nothing that hot, obviously it was something that everybody was kind of aware of and keeping an eye on.”

It’s hard to practice in such elements, but the Trojans certainly hope to play it cool when they travel to Wayne for their next meet on Thursday, September 3.