The boys cross country team will be back in action on Aug.30 after a fourth place finish at state last season. The varsity team will be looking a little different after five seniors graduated. Two of which are running at the collegiate level. The 2025 team will have three returning runners, juniors, Dylan Gross, Devin Neumann, and senior Ryan Kelly. One new face to the varsity team is Sophomore Gavin Leeper who had an outstanding track season and went to state as a freshman.
Sophomore Gavin Leeper is ready to fill the gap that was made on the team with the departure of last years seniors.
“We need a few guys to step up to fill the gap,” Leeper said. “We lost a few key guys and those boys aren’t replaceable but we have a pretty good group of guys ready to be step in and fill the gap the best we can.”
Junior Dylan Gross understands that the team has lost a lot of talent but he is committed to building a good team culture.
“Filling in the gap in the roster after last years seniors will be tough since they were a great class, but it will be possible. We have a lot of young guys who are really committed to this sport which is the most important thing,” Gross said.
Gross is making his third appearance for Westside and is looking forward to starting the season.
“For my third year on cross country I am really looking forward to being in more of leadership role,” Gross said. “I am now in a position where I can do my best to help a lot of younger runners and make a big impact in the future of the team.”
To prepare for the season Leeper worked everyday in the summer logging up to 50 miles a week.
“I’ve been getting the miles in, hitting workouts, and keeping up with strength and mobility stuff,” Leeper said. “Also just trying to stay in a routine so I’m ready to go when the season really starts up.”
Gross started his training with the rest of the team as well and worked all summer to get his endurance up.
“What I’m doing to prepare for this season already started months ago,” Gross said. “I’ve been getting many miles in this past summer to help improve my fitness and something I am continuing to work on is some strength training and having good nutrition.”
Coach Jonathan Preister believes that having a good summer of running before your season can help improve a teams season and has been the shift in the past few years.
“Summer running has really been a constant for a lot of high school programs. There has been more of an emphasis placed on it over the last couple decades with teams meeting and building more of a team culture,” Priester said. “That has been the biggest shift I believe. Your top teams really have a strong team culture from their summer running programs.”
After a long summer of training Leeper is ready for the season and can’t wait to see all the hard work paying off in the fall.
“I’m looking forward to hanging out with the team and seeing what we can accomplish this season. I think that we have a great group of guys,” Leeper said. “I’m ready to see what we can do.”
The team has a lot of young talent and they are rebuilding after loosing the upperclassmen after last season.
“We are also building a good community so that people not only enjoy running but also enjoy running with their teammates,” Gross said. “The success in a young team won’t come instantly, but you can teach them ways to become better runners so they can be great in the future which is part of what I’m trying to encourage.”
As the season nears Preister gave a glimpse on who to watch out for during meets.
“On the boys side the obvious one is Gavin Leeper. We don’t have a lot of experience coming back,” Preister said. “What we do have with Dylan Gross and Devin Neumann though is huge. They had great sophomore seasons and will really build upon that. The season is going to be made by the back end of our varsity group and Ryan Kelly is leading that pack and charge. There are probably 4-5 guys looking to join him on that varsity squad. It should be fun to watch them grow throughout the season.”
For the girls team Presiter gave another glimpse into who to watch out for.
“On the girls side Nevaeh Fox is looking to have a big season. When you put her along with the top two girls, Caitlin Steliga and Ellie Wittman, that we have coming back that makes a solid top three,” Preister said. “There are several freshman and sophomores that will make a huge impact on this team. Louise dietrich and Whitney Leach have been running workouts to put them on varsity along with the group of Emerson Hess, Evi Schneider and Lila Havens. There is a lot of talent there; it will just depend on who buys into the team culture.”
Catch the team in action on Aug.30 at Walnut Creek Park at the Class of The Metros Meet.
