The 2025 Cross Country season officially comes to a close on November 1, 2025 for
the OHSAA. For the Eagles, the regular season ended on October 15 where most of the
team competed in their final race, but 10 of our runners continued to train up until
Division I Regional Championships which concluded on October 25. The season did not
end the way we wanted to as we were not able to qualify for the State Championships
as a team despite two of our runners qualifying individually, those being Sophomore
Jacob Newman who placed 10th and Senior Christopher Bohm who placed 12th with
times of 16:20 and 16:22. The Eagles placed 11th out of 20 teams in the OHSAA
Region 1 race at Boardman High School in Youngstown finishing with a total of 249
points. Despite coming up short, I would still call this season a success in a way. Our
Head coach (Coach Brannen) described this team as one of the most fit and hard
working groups out there and that he’s ever coached. By the end of our season, a total
of 17 runners had varsity lettered. We lost quite a few pieces from the 2024 team but
were able to replace what we lost with multiple newcomers coming from the Freshman
and Junior classes who exceeded expectations. Our best finish as a team was our race
at the Avon Early Bird Invitational at LCCC where we placed 2nd out of 20 teams. We
also finished in 1st between us, St. Ignatius, and Mentor in the final race at the St. Joe’s
Open where 5 Eagles placed in the top 10. Overall, there’s a lot from the season that
makes the guys feel very accomplished and I’d say all the mileage and hard workouts
paid off in the end.
As for next year, we’re on track to be much improved and may even have our best shot
at going states in years. We’ll return 9 of our 10 guys (some rotated in and out) from our
Varsity group with us only losing one senior. Other than that one loss, we’ll have the
exact same team next year with everyone only improving. We’re looking to have
multiple guys in the Sub-17 time range by next year and we have a chance to get all 9
guys there after only having 3 in that range this year. Also, the results of this season can
definitely boost most of our times for indoor and outdoor track which will help get us
ready for next year too.
I want to thank all our coaches and the whole team for a great season all the way from
June to November as well as the parents for their help and support. We will be back!
