ROCHELLE — The Hubs and Lady Hubs cross country teams may be heading in different directions after this season, but there is plenty from the Rochelle program to be excited about in the future.

The boys weren’t built to compete at the varsity level this fall after graduating several seniors including sectional qualifiers Matthew Drendel, Lance Huftalin and Spencer DiSimoni from the 2016 roster. The Hubs also ran without junior and sectional qualifier Austin Walsh this season, but several young runners found success at the fresh-soph level including sophomore Santi Cordoba, who recorded the boys team’s top time in every race this year.

Sophomores Uzziel Zarate and Tucker Louis battled for the No. 2 spot all season long, while sophomores Diego Escobar, Ben Hickey and Evan Horner competed each week for the team’s No. 4 position.

“They did well at the fresh-soph level,” head coach John Dobbs said. “They finished in the top 25 percent of most of the meets they ran… They’re young and they struggled because the majority of them didn’t do anything over the summer… These guys can be pretty good in a couple of years if they decide to train in the offseason because our sport requires a lot of work.”

All but one of Rochelle’s boys are eligible to return in both 2018 and 2019, giving the Hubs cross country team hope for future success. Senior Francisco Herrera will be the lone runner departing the program after this season.

“Frankie’s going into the armed services so we’ll wish him luck there,” Dobbs said. “We always kept Frankie and his family in our thoughts as we progressed through the season.”

On the girls side, the Lady Hubs recorded numerous top team finishes at the varsity level this fall including three runner-up placings at the Rochelle Invitational, the Byron Invitational and the Genoa-Kingston Matt Walter Invitational. The Rochelle girls also took third place at both the Oregon 7 Person Invitational and the Freeport Invitational.

The Lady Hubs have three individuals running at the IHSA Class 2A Sectional in Maple Park this weekend including junior Katherine Bakken and seniors Hannah Cruz and Claire Plapp.

“Those three girls were a big part of our team success,” Dobbs said. “They were strong for us when we had good finishes.”

Cruz and Plapp are two of seven seniors (Morgan Baker, Kayla Carpenter, Rhylie Erdman, Najwa Morrar and Ashley Ramos) who will leave the program after the 2016-17 school year. After advancing to sectionals as a team in 2016 and finishing seventh at the IHSA Class 2A Regional in Belvidere this year, the Lady Hubs will rely on juniors such as Bakken, Anne Hickey and sophomore Britney Baez for continued varsity success next season.

“These girls are fun to coach because they’re really smart and they understand what it takes to be a cross country runner,” Dobbs said. “I’ll miss their work ethic. They were a fun group, and we always found ways to have fun even when things weren’t looking up for us… We were looking forward to this year’s senior group.”