Landon Zoss crossed the finish line first, and three of his Andover High teammates were right behind him.

Zoss, a senior and one of the state's top distance runners, won the boys' cross country race on Wednesday, Sept. 16. Elye Berman finished second, Alex Hoffenberg third and Jack Matson fourth, giving the Golden Warriors a 1-2-3-4 sweep to open the Merrimack Valley Conference season.

Andover High Principal Jimmy D'Andrea announced the results on X, praising the team's performance.

The dominant showing was no surprise for anyone tracking Zoss's career. As a junior last fall, he placed second at the MIAA Division 1A Championship with a time of 15:39.1, trailing only BC High's Greg McGrath, according to Boston Globe results. He also finished third at the MVC Championship (16:06) and earned Eagle-Tribune All-Star and MVC All-Star honors.

The Globe named Zoss one of the top 10 boys' cross-country runners to watch in Massachusetts heading into the 2026 season.

Zoss kept rolling through the winter and spring. He took second in the 1,000-meter run (2:32.16) at the MVC indoor track meet and sixth in the mile (4:19.02) at Division 1 indoors, according to the Eagle-Tribune's season preview. He placed second in the mile (4:20.83) at the MVC outdoor meet.

Berman, also a senior, teamed with Zoss on the 4x800-meter relay squad that set an Andover school record in June. That group, which included Zain Shah and Ben Falk, finished fourth at the all-state meet with a time of 7:51.90.

Matson is a junior.

Andover coach Sue Kiley said in the Eagle-Tribune preview that the team's returning runners "worked hard this summer" and that new additions "are already putting in the work."

"This team will continue to get stronger as each week passes, which should place us in a competitive spot for championship season," Kiley said.

The team's next scheduled meet had not been announced as of Thursday, Sept. 17.