With a young but deep team on the girls’ side and a boys team that will need some of its underclassmen runners to step up, Cary High cross country coach Jerry Dotson found Saturday’s 3-kilometer race against several Triangle-area teams to be a valuable tool for his squad.

Though obviously shorter than the 5K races the teams will run the rest of the season, Saturday gave area cross-country runners a good warm-up for what’s ahead.

“That’s why we do this kickoff 3K, just so kids can get an idea of what’s going on,” Dotson said.

“It allows the kids, individually, to see where they stand,” said Apex coach Roy Cooper. “This is the first time they get a chance to go against someone in another color jersey.”

The day was broken up into four races: ninth- and 10th-grade girls’ and boys’ runs and then two for juniors and seniors.

In the freshman-sophomore girls’ race, Cary took five of the top 10 spots, including Sheridan Jordan and Jenna Christensen at the No. 2-3 spots.

Apex and Broughton led the way in the boys’ freshman-sophomore race, winning six of the top 10.

The Cougars were also well represented in the girls’ 11th- and 12th-grade race, as Amanda Hamilton won the No. 5 spot and Taylor DeMorat was No. 8.

While Broughton earned the top two spots in the boys’ junior-senior run, Cary’s Mohamed Abushouk finished third with a time of 9:15.51.

“As the season goes on, we hope we can get some of the younger guys to step up,” Dotson said. “It’s good to come out and run the 3K, but the true test is to step up to the 5K and see how you run. It’s a journey to get there.”

Part of that journey is improving conditioning as the season goes on.

“It definitely helps [to have] training a little before the season hits you. You’ve got to train hard to get a leg up on the competition,” said Athens Drive assistant coach Ross Gajewski. “It’s just more conditioning. Conditioning, conditioning, conditioning, over and over.

Got to get back in running shape.”