WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester University men's cross country team is finishing its preparations to lift the lid on the 2025 season on Friday evening in nearby Unionville for the WCU Season Opener.
Now entering its third season under the tutelage of Director of Cross Country and Track and Field,
Colin Leak, West Chester will look to build off its successes from last fall and improve upon a ninth-place finish at the PSAC Championships last October.
"We've had a really good start to the year with a few great weeks of training," opened Leak. "It's been terrific to see how the team continues to evolve each year, and I think our culture is really growing to a place that we want it to be. We are heading into this first weekend knowing that we still have a lot of work to be done, but this will be a good first chance to see where some people are at, especially our newcomers, making that jump from high school to college. The transition from high school to college in cross country is tough, the way the mileage goes up, so opening up with a 5K at home will let us at least see what our fitness is like heading into the rest of the schedule," explained Leak.
West Chester was tabbed ninth in the PSAC Preseason poll released in August, but Leak and the Golden Rams have good reason to be excited about the upcoming season. West Chester returns a number of talented runners, including 2024 Second Team All-Conference finisher
Matt Remishofski (Wall, N.J./Wall), along with
Jason Vogt (Southampton, Pa./William Tennent), who narrowly missed earning All-League honors for the second year in a row last fall with a 33
rd-place finish. Remishofski paced West Chester at the PSAC Championships with a 29
th-place finish last fall, and West Chester also welcomes back
Josh Miller (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville), who headlines a group of four talented juniors. Miller burst onto the PSAC Cross Country scene in his 2023 rookie season, finishing 23
rd at those PSAC Championships, but was sidelined for much of the last cross country season due to nagging injuries.
A quiet fall did little to slow Miller last year, however, as he had an excellent winter and spring with the Golden Ram Track and Field teams, including a pair of top-five finishes in the 5 and 10K at the PSAC Outdoor Championships. Along with the return of Miller, Remishofski, and Vogt, West Chester also welcomes back
Luke Pikulski (Scranton, Pa./Scranton), James Hartigan (Nottingham, Pa./Solanco), Matt Landis (North Wales, Pa./North Penn), Dylan Graham (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West), Nevon Ganskopp (Sommerdale, N.J./Sterling), Andrew Free (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee), Nicholas Forman (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy), Louie Edgcumbe (West Chester, Pa./Bishop Shanahan), and Aaron Marcus (Easton, Pa./Easton).
"We have a great returning group on the men's side, and I'm really pleased with how they are looking this year and the work they put in over the summer. I thought they came back in great shape and ready to compete. The upperclassmen have also done a great job of mentoring the younger athletes, which is something we always want to see. With the size of the team this year, practices look a bit different, but it has been really exciting to see. I've seen a lot of high-energy, effective, and competitive practices out of this group already this year, which is exactly what a coach wants to see."
Joining this group of talented returners is a large freshman class, perhaps one of the largest classes in recent memory, which includes
Andrew Bradley (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum), Sam Leisenring (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West), Ryan Wack (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth), Ellis Eppard (Gaithersburg, Md./Wooton), Jorge Rinker (Orfield, Pa./Parkland), Vincent Frankina (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Lower Moreland0, Gavin Sheetz (Lebanon, Pa./Lebanon), Jordan Barege (Lititz, Pa./Warwick), and Eli Radio (El Paso, Tx./Chapin).
"The freshmen are making that transition from 5 Ks in high school to mostly 8 or 10 Ks at the college level, which is certainly a big jump. With that said, they are really coming together as a group and are handling the added workload well.
West Chester is set for a busy fall season, which will see the Golden Rams compete each weekend between now and the end of October, beginning with the WCU Season Opener on Friday evening in Unionville.
West Chester will head to the D2/D3 Challenge hosted by Kutztown next weekend before visiting Haverford for the Main Line Invitational on Friday, September 19
th. The Golden Rams will conclude September with a visit to the Dickinson Long-Short Invitational before making the trip back to Lehigh for the Paul Short Invitational on October 3. The Golden Rams will host once again on October 11 before visiting Gettysburg for the Aubrey Shenk Invitational on October 18. The final two meets on the schedule are the PSAC Championships in Edinboro on October 25 and the NCAA Regional Championships in Lock Haven on November 8.
