September brought a full schedule for the MSMS boys cross country team: The Blue Waves ran in three individual meets last month.

The team competed at the Mooreville Invitational meet in Tupelo on Sept. 10. Despite the less-than-ideal weather, the team’s times improved as a whole, said head coach Grozie Thomas.

“They all did good, [and] we had a few shave time off their results,” he said. “Dylan Wiley had the biggest improvement with a decrease of about four and a half minutes.”

Wiley, a junior from Jackson, finished second for the Waves and 13th overall. Juniors Andrew Grieve and Geoffrey Melton’s times also improved significantly.

“Mooreville was my favorite race this month because it was the most memorable,” Grieve said. “The rain on the terrain made it very muddy but not slippery, which I liked.” Junior Gavin Weinstein finished first out of the Waves and fifth overall. He dropped a substantial 1 minute and 22 seconds from his time at the Tupelo Invitational meet on Aug. 27.

“I didn’t cramp up, and I ran a lot faster than last week,” Weinstein said.

The team competed at the Saltillo Invitational meet in Saltillo on Sept. 17.

“This was my favorite race yet,” said Weinstein, who dropped 23 seconds off his time from the previous week.

Both Weinstein and Wiley placed within the top 30, with Weinstein coming in sixth and Wiley coming in 28th.The team competed at the Tupelo Invitational meet on Sept. 24, where Wiley placed 20th with a time of 20:10:90.

After the three successful meets in September, Thomas said he is optimistic about the season ahead.

“[Junior] Roman Lockett did really well and shows a lot of potential, and I really think Gavin has a chance to win state [in] our division,” Thomas said.

The team dynamic also evolved over the course of the previous month.

“My last team was pretty close because we got through the hard sets together and we bonded through that, and I hope we can achieve that same brotherhood here,” Wiley said.

“There’s not many people, so we really have the opportunity to grow close and become friends,” Weinstein added.

“I don’t think we’ve gone through enough torture yet to form that bond,” Wiley joked.