The mark of anything that gains followers is likely that it is popular and growing.

Duh!

But that Captain Obvious statement is good news to Plains High assistant cross country coach Charity Jermyn. She and her husband, head coach Jesse Jermyn, took over a program that in their first year, the 2021-22 season, had just three runners.

They grew the roster by one runner for the 2022-23 campaign’ This year they are fielding a squad with 11 runners.

Both coaches have Plains resumes. Jesse ran all four years he attended Plains, while Charity joined the team her senior year. Prior to that, the school did not field a cross country team for several years because they could not find cross country coaches.

“It’s really gratifying to see the turnout we have this year,” Charity said. “And we have some pretty good runners out this year, including senior Peyton Wasson on the girls team and sophomore Kalem Ercanbrack on the boys squad.

“Peyton has been with the program since it returned and is a great leader and overall great addition to the team,” she said. “We are excited to watch her reach her goals and sad that it’s her last year here. This is Kalem’s second year running for us. He has gotten much stronger since his freshman year and is going to be fun to watch this year and the coming few years. All of our other runners are first year runners.”

Charity said the team is eager to learn and a good group to be around.

The Trotters get their season underway Saturday at the Grant-Kohrs Invitational meet in Deer Lodge.