The 2025 boys’ cross-country high school teams have a mix of returning and new runners, and many squads are setting high expectations this year.
Apollo: Apollo enters the season with seniors Noah Gray and Eli Currington, junior Keaton Boling, and sophomore William Guadarrama leading the way. All four were key in the team finishing 16th at the State Meet a year ago. Head coach Daniel Southard stated he was impressed with his team’s offseason progress and expects multiple of the team’s younger runners to make an impact.
While the team graduated multiple seniors including Emmitt Brock, Southard is pleased with the team’s veterans stepping up as leaders on and off the coure.
“This year our focus is on being consistent,” Southard said. “Consistent with our running and consistently training our minds. So many runners expect perfection from themselves each time they tie up their shoes, which is just not going to happen. You will have a bad workout. You will have a bad race. I expect the guys to allow themselves to fail. The goal is overcoming the adversity of any setback that attempts to keep us from being the best version of ourselves. When you do that, you can run free. You can run for a reason bigger than for yourself. Then you will have those good workouts. You will have great races. Don’t get me wrong, we want to win. This team is one of the most competitive teams I have ever been around, and I am looking forward to another great season with our family.”
Daviess County: Daviess County’s track distance coach in 2024, James Loi has been named the Panthers’ new head coach and he is looking forward to how the team and program will be run.
“I have always been in a really good assistant role, but it just means that finally it’s my team,” Loi said. “I get to be in control of what I do and be in control of how the culture is being built at Daviess County. There are going to be some changes. Changes are hard, but necessary for us to grow and improve.”
Leading the way are senior Ben Nunley, juniors Camryn Edge and Austin Spurrier, and freshman Jonna Murphy. Two Grace Academy athletes join them in Jordan Norris and Judson Redfern. Loi is also very pleased with the team’s incoming freshman team of Landon Thompson, Joe Edge, and Seth Gross.
“We want to win the Region, end the season with minor injuries, for every kid to set a personal record, and to perform better at state. …I am excited, and it is going to be a great year. Daviess County has received plenty of parent support, and the program has been left in a really good place right now. We just have to keep going and keep pushing.”
Hancock County: The Hornets enter this season with an experienced roster led by Emmitt Meserve. The rising sophomore, running over 250 miles over June and July and is, according to his head coach Wes Meserve is focused on the upcoming year. Joining him is Noah Henson, who is also poised for a big senior season. Returning to the team is Hunter Stephens who took last year off.
“He has a lot of making up to do for missed time, but the potential is definitely there for him to have a great season,” Wes Meserve said.
The team has its eyes on qualifying for the state meet.
“We haven’t had a boys team qualify for the state meet for several years, and our main goal is to break that slump,” Wes Meserve said.
Owensboro: The Red Devils enter the season having graduated four seniors, three of whom were in the team’s top seven a year ago. In their stead is middle schooler Jackson Quattrocchi, who, last year ran in multiple races for the varsity team.
This has been pretty tough to bounce back from, but we have to look forward and not dwell on who we have lost,” head coach Griffin Kelley said. “We are grateful for their leadership, but we have a system and culture where each season new guys have to step up and be prepared to take on some leadership roles.”
Joining him are returners Dylan Fulkerson and Isrell Roberts, who according to Kelley, are coming off strong summers.
“For the past few seasons, our goal has been to qualify for the state meet as a team,” Kelley said. “While we want to keep this focus, we also want to build on maintaining consistency. I often tell the guys that we have to do the little things right. This includes taking care of how we recover and prepare. We have lost some numbers, but we will field a complete team that is competitive any time we step on the line.”
Owensboro Catholic: Aces head coach Scott Lowe retired and in his stead is Willie Polio. An Owensboro Catholic alumna, Polio’s younger brother was on the coaching staff a year ago, allowing for Willie to familiarize himself with some of the athletes.
A year ago, the Aces finished 18th at the State Tournament and returned, multiple key runners including Ben Booker, John Wathen, Owen Brey, and Simon Thompson.
“We have a great core group of runners who have plenty of experience behind them,” Polio said. “They were able to put in a solid track season and a great summer.”
We are hoping to see improvements from where they were last year,” Polio said. “Behind that, we are looking to add additional runners to fill out the team. We are going to be a small team and are still in a building mode, but we have a solid core of runners who are putting in excellent work.”
The Aces have their eyes on returning to the state meet and improving on last year’s finish. Polio also wants to see his entire team set personal records.
“I am just trying to make it through the first season,” Polio said. “I want the guys to show progress throughout the year. I don’t want them to peak too early or get hurt from overtraining. I want to see the steady consistency through the season that hopefully I can guide them to be running better and better throughout the year.”
