KUTZTOWN, Pa. - The Kutztown University men's cross country team will look to improve on a successful 2024 season as it takes to the course for the fall season in 2025.

The Golden Bears will look to a veteran bunch to find success, with redshirt seniors Port Habalar (Williamsport, Pa./South Williamsport) and Jack Hollar (East Stroudsburg, Pa./Pocono Mountain East), senior Adam Brocato (Reisterstown, Md./Calvert Hall), junior Connor Murphy (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth) and sophomore Peyton Small (Littlestown, Pa./Littlestown) returning with the hope of replicating their recent success. The 2024 season concluded with some of the top times in each of its four meets, including a second-place finish out of 12 teams in the home DII/DIII Challenge at North Campus Farm Loop Cross Country Course.

In the postseason, KU achieved top-10 finishes in both the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships (7th) and the NCAA Atlantic Region Championships (9th), the latter of which was their highest finish since 2016. Brocato turned in the team's highest finishes in both postseason outings, finishing 13th and earning All-PSAC First Team honors before running a 26th-place time of 31:17.2 at NCAA Regionals.

Head coach Ray Hoffman brings in several runners to develop, and he hopes the mix of successful returners and  with the hopes of cementing KU as a mainstay among the top teams in the PSAC.

"We have a very focused and driven group of seniors returning this year with Brocato and Hollar," said Hoffman. "With the addition of senior Robby Lloyd (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North), PSAC track championship qualifiers Small, Murphy and Willie Wiles (Royersford, Pa./Spring-Ford), transfers Zach Haase (Blairstown, N.J./North Warren Regional) and Cole Doms (Somerdale, N.J./Sterling) and the experience of Habalar and Kayden Platania (Buena, N.J./Buena Regional), I think we are looking at one of our best rosters in the last few years. The culture of the program is at an all time high and we hope that the younger athletes understand what this program is about and help build on it."

KU will look to run along with the best of the conference, as it was tabbed as the fourth-best team in the PSAC behind defending conference champion Shippensburg, East Stroudsburg and Slippery Rock.

The Maroon and Gold will be competing in two of the four meets it participated in a season ago: the home DII/DIII Challenge at North Campus Farm Loop Cross Country Course on Sep. 13 and the Paul Short Run at the Goodman Campus Cross Country Course on Oct. 3, on the campus of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. KU will travel to the West Chester area to compete in the WCU Season Opener on Sep. 5 before closing the regular season at the Golden Ram Invitational on Oct. 11.

KU will open its postseason at the PSAC Championships in Edinboro, Pa., on October 25 before running at the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Cross Country Championships on November 8.