By RAY WILDE

Sports correspondent

LEWISTOWN — The leaves have not fallen off the trees yet and in fact the bright colors of yellows, reds and oranges that make fall so colorful have not yet arrived.

The school year is only three weeks old, but the “Coach of the Year” for Mifflin County High School might already be decided.

Alex Monroe, the boys cross country coach, has taken an average team from 2024 and made this year’s edition into one of the top teams in Pennsylvania.

On Saturday, Mifflin County finished second at the PIAA Foundation Meet in Hershey. It marked the third time this year that the Mifflin County boys team has been second in a big invitational. Mifflin County was second at the Big Valley Invitational and was second at the Spiked Shoe race in State College. Mifflin County was second to State College, the defending state champions, at Big Valley and Spiked Shoe and were runner-ups to North Penn, a 6A school from the Philadelphia area, in Hershey.

Mifflin County is ranked in the top 20 for large schools and has been as high as fourth in the state.

No other fall sports team at Mifflin County is ranked in the top 20.

Alex is the man behind the push to the top. He has developed depth on the varsity squad. Monroe, a former strong runner himself at the high school level for Indian Valley, knows when to push his runners and when to give them rest. Legs, like arms in baseball, need to be preserved.

Everybody knows how good a runner Carter Smith is, but the big story is the runners who are right behind Carter. They are Koy Aurand, Max Zajac-Bargas, Reese Cubbison, Wyatt Kauffman, Hoyt Rodenbaugh and Aidan Scavitti.

After Carter the four who have been the most consistent are Max Zajac-Bagas, Reese Cubbison, Wyatt Kauffman and Hoyt Rodenbaugh.

“The whole team has run well for the first three weeks of the season,” Monroe said. “But, we still have a long way to go.”

Mifflin County still has three big invitationals ahead of them, Gettysburg on Oct. 4, the Mid-Penn Conference meet in Big Spring on Oct. 11 and the District 6 Class 3A meet in Reedsville in late October.

As for Carter Smith, he still is rolling along. So far this season, he has run in four races and won them all. He has beaten 766 men this fall and since the start of last school year (2024-25) he has beaten 2,789 runners out of 2,790 (indoor track in the winter and outdoor track in the spring)

Today, Mifflin County is at Central Dauphin for a tri-meet with CD and Central Dauphin East and then has off until the Gettysburg meet.