This figures to be an extremely strong season for area high school cross country programs.

Cape Girardeau Central and Jackson should field their usual solid teams in Class 4A -- with Jackson's girls expected to be especially strong -- while Kelly in Class 2A and Perryville in Class 3A look to be particularly potent with both their boys and girls squads.

Kelly's girls won last year's 1A-2A state championship while the Kelly boys were second in the state after capturing the crown the previous season. Many of those key runners return.

Perryville's girls qualified for the 3A state meet a year ago and many of the top runners are back while the Perryville boys also return plenty of talent from last season's solid squad.

Jackson's girls return just about all of their top runners from a squad that made the 4A state field.

One change in cross country this year is that there will be four classes instead of three. In the past, 1A and 2A were combined, but now 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A will all have separate divisions for postseason competition.

Following is a look at the area squads as the season opens this week:

Cape Central

The boys won last year's SEMO Conference title while the girls were second and coach Mark Hahn expects another solid season.

"Our boys team will be a little deeper than last year and, even though our girls were hit hardest by gradation, I think we'll be fine.

"Overall, I think both teams will be pretty decent. We'll just have to see if we can be more than that."

Central's boys return no state qualifiers from last season, but senior Jonathan Anderson did qualify as a sophomore. He was not on the squad a year ago.

Five senior lettermen from last season will be counted on: David Stahr, Jeff Haycraft, Matt Hawkins, Nathan Skinner and Tim Chisman.

Hahn will also be counting on four promising sophomores: Mark Stone, Ross Tilghman, Gabe Austin and Justin Hawkins.

"I think there will be lot of competition for varsity spots, which will help us," said Hahn of his boys team.

As for the girls, a major loss is the graduated Tobie Bittle, who is now competing for the University of Missouri. But senior Myka Bohnsack is a returning state qualifier while senior Leanne Lee qualified for state two years ago.

Also returning from last season are juniors Lori Bittle, Elizabeth Meyr, Katie Kunz and Mindy Hoffman. Freshmen Kim Pancoast and Brittany Ballard should also contend for varsity spots.

Central opens the season Saturday in the Jackson Invitational. Central will have its lone home meet, the annual Cape Invitational, Sept. 19 at Cape County Park.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame, while having trouble fielding competitive teams since the program was started six years ago, has managed to turn out some impressive individual runners.

Coach Wayne Nenninger looks for that trend to continue this season.

"We never have really come up with a full-fledged team that can compete with other teams and that will probably be the same this year," Nenninger said. "But I look for us to have some very good individual performances."

Nenninger said his boys squad will be counting on three first-year runners, led by senior Zach LeGrand, who has played soccer in the past.

"He's looking very good," said Nenninger.

The Bulldogs will also look to sophomores Matt Fry and Adam Eftink, along with returning runner Jason Peters, a junior.

Notre Dame's girls figure to be led by sophomore Susan Judd, who was 24th in the 1A-2A state meet last season.

"She should be the one who kinds of shines through for us," Nenninger said.

Nenninger will also be counting on junior Jean Stoverink, who had a strong freshman season but was hurt much of last year, and first-year team member Laura Mittrucker, also a junior.

Others expected to contribute are senior returnee Micaela Shaffar, along with sophomores Jill Eichhorn and Amanda Gosche.

Notre Dame is the first area cross country program to open the season as it competes Wednesday in a meet in Murphysboro, Ill. Notre Dame will also be involved in the Jackson Invitational.

Jackson

Coach Jim Stoverink has especially high hopes for his girls, who returns its top seven runners from last season's squad that placed 13th in the state.

"The girls are really looking strong," said Stoverink. "All the girls really put in some miles over the summer because they knew the competition would be really fierce. They're really looking strong."

The Lady Indians return seniors Christy Thoma, Sarah Stiegemeyer and Annie Stoverink, along with juniors Julie Wunderlich, Sarah Schlick, Jennifer Brown and Lisa Sappington.

A first-year runner, sophomore Amanda Beussink, is also expected to contribute heavily as coach Stoverink said she is challenging for the team's top position.

On the boys side, Jackson returns seniors Blake Pope and Steven Adams, along with sophomore Zach Friedrich. Senior Matt Hale ran as a sophomore before missing last season while sophomore Chris Fields and freshman Michael Birk are also being counted on.

"I think our boys have the chance to be pretty decent, but it all depends on how hard they work," Stoverink said.

Jackson's annual invitational meet, slated for an 10 a.m. start Saturday, will kick off the season for both the Indians and Lady Indians. Nearly 20 schools are expected to participate and the girls field will include defending 4A state champion Kirkwood.

Kelly

Kelly has certainly done some amazing things in only three seasons of fielding a cross country program.

Last year's girls title was the second state championship in as many years for Kelly, whose boys won the crown in 1996.

"We've had a lot of success with our program already and we're coming off another really good year," said Kelly coach Bill Davis. "To repeat that success will be tough and I think the kids realize that. But we have high hopes again for both teams."

The Kelly boys return three of their top seven runners, led by senior Nathen King, who was sixth at state last year.

Also back are seniors Lucas Choate, who placed 49th at state, and Joby Berry.

Several other runners who have been involved with the program are back, including senior C.O. Scheffer, who had a stress fracture that set him back until late in last season, and senior Daniel Mothershead.

Davis will also be counting on the likes of junior transfer Luke Williams, who moved in from Wisconsin, and three more returning squad members: juniors Brandon Sander and Jamie Essner and sophomore Kyle Kern.

For Kelly's girls, standout Amy Arteme graduated and has taken her running talents to Southeast Missouri State University, but the other six out of last year's top seven runners return.

Back after top-60 state finishes are sophomore Laura Ruff (29th), senior April Cousins (32nd) and sophomores Megan Nelson and Melissa Melton. Also returning are senior Beth Glueck and junior Melissa Garner.

Davis will also be looking for good things from junior Jenny Riley, in her first year to run cross country but an all-state miler in track who will see double duty on the cross country and softball teams.

Kelly will open in the Jackson Invitational and will also host its second annual Kelly Invitational Sept. 12.

Perryville

Like Kelly, Perryville also plans to be in state contention as many key runners are coming back off successful seasons.

Perryville's boys return two of three state qualifiers, although the loss was a big one -- Tyson Brown is now running for Southeast.

The Perryville girls return five of the top seven runners from last year's squad that finished 14th in the state meet.

"We're really excited about both teams," said coach Dean Lewis. "Both are looking very good and they really want to work. You can't give them enough stuff to do. As a coach, it's very rewarding."

Returning state qualifiers for Perryville's boys are seniors Jared Tanz and Nathan Davis while sophomore Nathan Moore just missed qualifying as a freshman.

Junior James Boyce and sophomore Jason Telle also return from last season while sophomore Chad Kasten was last year's top JV runner. Lewis is also counting on two first-year team members, senior Andy Tanz and junior Daniel Winningham.

Perryville's girls are counting on senior Jennifer Hadler, 35th at state last year, along with seniors Andrea Weibrecht and Kara Steffens, junior Renee Schlichting -- who could be the squad's top runner -- and sophomore Melissa Hahn.

Three first-year squad members also look solid: senior twin sisters Julie and Jill Berkbuegler, who have been track standouts; and senior Jenny Danz.

Perryville, like most of the area teams, will also open its season in the Jackson Invitational.