CASSOPOLIS — Cassopolis sophomore Lauren Anderson is off to a quick start this cross country season.

The Rangers have competed in three invitationals this season, and Anderson has placed no lower than fourth, and that was in the season-opener at Bridgman.

Anderson won the New Buffalo Invitational on Aug. 28 and was second overall in the freshman-sophomore race at the Centreville Invitational last Saturday.

As a freshman, Anderson qualified for the state finals in both cross country and track. According to new Cassopolis cross country coach Ty Sheteron, she has her sights set qualifying again this year.

At the Bridgman Invitational, Anderson ran a time of 22:51. At New Buffalo a week later, she posted a time of 22:11, which was a new personal best for her.

Last Saturday in Centreville, Anderson ran a 22:15.

“Lauren has run great times all season so far, and she hopes to keep improving her times with each race,” Sheteron said. “She works hard at each and every practice, pushing herself to improve and she helps motivate others on the team to keep going also. She is a very focused and dedicated student-athlete with hopes of running for college after high school.

“Lauren has set some pretty high goals for herself this season, so it will be fun as her coach to see if I can help her reach those goals.”

The steady improvement Anderson has shown goes hand in hand with the development of the Cassopolis cross country program, which has grown from not having a team just a few years ago to growing its numbers each year.

“One of the most exciting facts about the Cassopolis cross country team is the continual increase in numbers over the last four or five years, starting off with a handful of runners to now having 20 runners on the team this season,” Sheteron said. “At the team’s first meet, the runners’ times were not where they had hoped they would be, but the times at are meet set a starting point.

“The team started training harder at practices, pushing themselves through the pain and the last few meet times have started to get faster and better, and they’re starting to feel stronger after each race.”

Sheteron also has noticed his team coming together as a unit.

“It’s been really nice seeing the team become a family and starting to help each other improve each practice and meet,” he said. “They all keep working hard each practice wanting to get better each day and pushing themselves each day.”

The Rangers hosts Decatur today in a Southwest 10 Conference meet before heading to Mendon for an invitational on Saturday.