The Jordan-Elbridge Eagles boys' cross-country team has struggled a little over the past few years, but this season has been a whole new story.

With a mix of seniors and younger runners, the Eagles have found their stride this season, going 6-2 in dual meets for the years and earning a sixth place ranking in the state for Section III Class B.

In the nearly 30 years that Roger Roman has been coaching the team, he has seen the great heights and the valleys that his teams have had.

“We've almost always had a pretty good team,” Roman said. “We won the state title in 1998 and we won a lot of league titles, the last one in 2004. We've had a good program, we struggled a little the last few years, we struggled just to be a .500 team. But this year has just been a great season for us.”

At least in part some of that success has been with senior co-captain, Jeff Donohue.

“He has been running varsity ever since he was a freshman,” Roman said. “He has seen us through a lot and this year he has definitely been a big part of this team.”

Donohue has shown his skills both on the track and off.

“He is a good motivator,” Roman said. “He runs fast and that makes the others run faster. He has been outstanding this season and the way he has run has helped the others on the team run better, he is always encouraging and helping the others to work and push themselves.”

Donohue has been the first place finisher for J-E in almost every race they've run this season and right behind him, have been two sophomore runners, Cody Stanton and Mike Marrero. Donohue placed 11th overall (17:17) at the OHSL meet, which saw over 300 runners at Cato-Meridian high school on Oct. 24, while Stanton came in 17th (17:33) and Marrerro was 25th (17:45), helping the Eagles to a fourth place finish.

“They've been our number two and number three generally,” Roman said. “There were two meets where Cody finished ahead of Jeff, but both of them have really contributed a lot to the way we've been doing this season.”

Alongside Donohue has been fellow senior co-captain, Donato Direnzo, who came in 29th (17:56) at the OHSL's.

“The two of them have been great role models,” Roman said. “Between the two of them, Jeff has run at least 50 varsity races and Donato has at least 35 and they have worked hard to keep everyone motivated and bring us together as a team, we really are a family on this team that has been our strength this season.”

Roman said that freshman runners, Tom Poppe and Greg Bader have been right in the mix, trading off the fifth and sixth spots.

Throughout the season the team has racked up impressive performances, Roman particularly pointed to races like the Auburn, Liverpool and Weedsport Invitationals, where the team won their class in each race.

“I'm really happy with the way we've run,” Roman said. “It has been a great year.”

Weedsport really stood out as a momentous moment for the team and for Donohue, who won his first cross-country meet ever, with a time of 16:58.7 in the boys C/D races.

“He has been first team all league the last two years,” Roman said. “He came in second at Auburn. But Weedsport was a big moment for him. He was in second for the first two miles and then he pulled a head and ended up winning by 12 seconds. That was really big, we all celebrated as a team and Jeff was really happy. He is a team runner, he cares most about how the team runs and if we win, but that was a really big moment for him.”

With the collective talent of all the runners on the team, Roman is looking for a solid performance at sectionals.

“It has been a real pleasure to coach this team,” Roman said. “We have a really talented team that has worked very hard all season and we'll see how things go at sectionals. It is a pretty neat section and there are some outstanding schools and we'll see how things go.”