They may be small in number, but their aspirations are big as Aberdeen Christian runners head into the upcoming cross country season.

The Knights have just four members out for the sport this fall, but two of them just missed qualifying for the State B Meet a year ago and are motivated to get there this year.

“We have four kids and they’re pretty young,” said second-year Christian coach Adam Franken. “Two of them are returning and the other two, they’ve been running well, improving each practice and really competing against each other in those practices.”

The Knights will be led by freshman Joseph Richards, and eighth-grader Clara Herreid.

While young, both are experienced runners and have put in the time preparing for the upcoming season.

“Especially with just knowing what to do in practice to get out and to make themselves better, and then in the offseason to prepare themselves for the season, getting some miles in and being ready to go,” Franken said. “Their maturity and their competitiveness is ready to go at the beginning of the season, which is great.”

Other members out this are freshman Jaxon Bobby and eighth-grader Andrew Schwab.

Franken said that while Herreid is the only girl runner, she trains with the boys and uses that as motivation.

“She is a competitor. Having the boys in front of her, she likes to try to stay with them and compete against them as well, so that helps her,” Franken said. “She’s very self-motivated and has learned kind of how to set those paces. She uses a watch to kind of understand what where’s she running at to really push where she wants to be. But she does like to compete against the boys and beat them when she can.”

Despite the youth on the team, Franken said the expectations remain high, especially for Richards and Herreid as the look to qualify for the state meet in Rapid City next month.

“We still want to set them pretty high and really looking at qualfiying for state,” Franken said. “Both Joseph and Clara were right there last year, just missed qualifying for state. So that’s where their goal is this year. I think even the other two, running in practice and competing, they’re expectations for themselves are growing each day.”

Franken said a big key in running distances is have mental toughness.

“I tell them it’s about 90 percent mental. … When you get tired and you feel like you want to stop, that’s the tough part” Franken said.

The Knights open their season today at a meet in Redfield.

When asked keys to the upcoming year, Franken said his runners have to be self-motivated and improve along the way.

“Staying healthy and keep pushing ourselves each practice, each meet to getting better,” Franken said. “With numbers not being real high, that self-motivation again is really key. They have to push themselves to do it which can be harder when you don’t have a lot of other people out there.”