The 2025 boys cross country season is underway. Here are previews of teams from around the Record Newspapers coverage area.

Newark

Coach: Ashley Monroe

Top runners: Teagan Britz, fr.; Jameson Kelley, jr.; Austin Reibel, jr.

Worth noting: The Newark cross country team is new this year, made up of three boys. Monroe, a Wisconsin-Whitewater graduate who ran for one year at Batavia High School, is in her first year of teaching health and PE at Newark.

Oswego

Coach: Chase Hall

Top returners: Bo Breed, jr.; Ryan Wilson, jr.; Matthew Sobecki, sr.; Ben Clark, sr.; Ben Herrera, jr.; Jeremiah Houston, sr.; Colton Peat, sr.; Armani Gonzalez, so.

Top newcomers: Blake Walter, fr.; Eddy Jordan, fr.; Zain Kareem, fr.; Aidan Piekarczyk, fr.; Alex Piekarczyk, fr.

Worth noting: Breed, a state track qualifier in the 800 meters last spring, projects as Oswego’s top runner. Wilson was a scoring member from last year’s team and Sobecki and Houston are three-year varsity members. Oswego was sixth at conference and ninth at regional last year. The 14-member freshman class is the largest in program history.

“The biggest goal for this year is to progress in the postseason beyond regional,” Hall said. “We haven’t been able to put it together at the end of the season the last two years. We will likely see a strong front runner in Bo Breed who is looking to bring his track success to the grass this year. Behind him we are looking to have a tight pack looking to race together and be as close to each other and to Bo as possible.”

Oswego East

Coach: James Milner

Top returners: Phoenix Scott, sr.; Jack Wolstenholm, jr.; Mason Van Denend, jr.; Anthony Garcia, so.

Worth noting: The Wolves come off a challenging 2024 season in which 30-plus athletes ended up with pneumonia. Oswego East finished seventh at the Southwest Prairie Conference meet and sixth at regional to qualify for sectional. Scott, Wolstenholm and Van Denend all were members of Oswego East’s 2023 state-qualifying team.

“The group has put in a good and consistent summer,” Milner said. “This is a young group that has many members returning who contributed to the team that qualified for the state meet in 2023. They will look for continued improvement throughout the season by staying positive and paying attention to detail. Competing in the very competitive SPC will only help sharpen and focus the team.”

Plano

Coach: Bolaji Adeoti

Top returners: Alejandro Delgado, so.; Ryley Soloff, jr.; Damian Letherman, so.; Tyler Burris, sr.; Osvaldo Ponce, so.

Top newcomers: Johnny Espino, jr.; Sam Palacios, fr.; Christian Burdsall, fr.

Worth noting: A young Plano team took seventh in the Kishwaukee River Conference last year and is motivated to push for a higher finish. Leading the returning runners is Delgado, who earned all-conference honors and qualified for sectional as a freshman. Among the newcomers, Espino had a strong track season competing in the 100, 200 and 400 and adds speed and endurance.

“The Plano Reapers remain a young and hungry team, with plenty of room to grow throughout the season,” Adeoti said. “By training smart and staying focused, we’re building not only for this year’s success but for the future. Alejandro will lead the charge up front, while our No. 2 and No. 3 runners look to close the gap and push together. The 4 and 5 spots are wide open, creating an exciting opportunity for one of our incoming freshmen to make an immediate impact.”

Sandwich

Coach: Brian Long

Top returners: Alex Walsh, sr.; AJ Parkison, sr.; Logan Trigg, so.; Nolan Minard, sr.; Lincoln Minard, so.

Top newcomers: Parker Eberle, jr.

Worth noting: The Indians have four of their top five back from a team that took second at the Kishwaukee River Conference meet and fifth at sectional. Walsh, Trigg and Parkison were 11th, 12th and 14th, respectively, at the KRC meet last year.

“We are looking forward to seeing our front four runners compete as a cohesive unit this season,” Long said. “Our collective goal overall is to manage a low split 1-4 and continue to develop our 5-7 so that they can narrow the time between the front four runners.”

Yorkville

Coach: Chris Muth

Top returners: Owen Horeni, sr.; Ayden Nydegger, jr.; James Cherney, jr.; Carter Reichert, so.; Nick Sanchez, so.; Declan Schou, jr.

Worth noting: The Foxes last season finished fourth at the Southwest Prairie Conference meet, second at the regional meet, fifth at sectionals and 26th at state. Horeni, the 2024 Record Newspapers Boys Cross Country Athlete of the Year, was ninth at conference, second at regional, sixth at sectional and 17th at state to earn All-State honors. But the Foxes graduated a ton of seniors from that team and are replacing those seniors with young upcoming runners who have talent, but lack experience.

“Owen Horeni has established himself as a top runner in the state and in our school history, but in this sport one runner doesn’t make a team and the development of our top 10 will determine how far we go this season,” Muth said. “I have a lot of faith in the work that has been put in this summer, but we need to stay healthy, break through the perceived limits and consistently challenge ourselves to be uncomfortable daily.

“The potential is there for this team to make big improvements over the next couple of months before the state series, but for that to happen we need to keep checking the boxes each day in every aspect of our training. Honestly, I can’t give you a prediction of what this team can become, but the potential is there to exceed last year’s team finish.”