HIGH POINT, N.C. — High Point University enters the 2025 men's cross country season looking for redemption after a second-place finish at the Big South Conference Championship last year.
This is the final year for long-time HPU Director of Track & Field/Men's Cross Country Head Coach Mike Esposito as he will hang up the coaching shoes at the end of the season.
"We want to win the conference championship and we'd like to be a top-15 team in the region," Esposito said.
This goal is very obtainable for the Panthers as they narrowly fell to Charleston Southern. But this is not the only goal for Esposito as the team wants to consistently improve. Nothing is enough for the Panthers. High Point opens up the season ranked second in the preseason poll.
"The less measurable goal is to just get better every day, stack days, stack weeks, and just focus on us, focus on getting fit and focus on how we want to race and prepare," Esposito said.
The Panthers have two All-Conference returners this season: Gavin Stevens and Avery Crowell, who were both named to the Big South second team. Stevens will look to start the season off strong just like he did at the end of last season as he ran a career-best 8k clocking in at 24:44.0 for an eighth-place finish at the Big South Championship meet.
"Gavin's one of our leaders now," Esposito said. "Gavin's got to believe, his fitness level is way better than it's ever been."
Esposito believes the next step for Stevens is to compete at the front and win the meet. Crowell is also right behind him. He comes into the 2025 campaign after just missing the top-10 in the 8k at the Big South Championship. However, he did record his best time (24:52.9). Crowell also ran at the NCAA Southeast Regionals alongside Stevens, who finished the highest of all Panthers.
The team is very balanced this season, consisting of six freshmen and six upperclassmen. The ideal amount of freshman to truly contribute this season at a minimum is two in the eyes of Esposito. Evan Mills is a runner that Esposito expects to make some noise and surprise people this season. Jake Fiorillo and Kyle Spencer also came to Esposito's mind as someone to look out for.
Fiorillo ran a personal best 8k time of 25:31.9 at the Panorama Farms Invitational last season. While Kyle Spencer ran his best time of the season in the Big South Championship (25:11.8).
Esposito is very passionate about everything cross country, even beyond the running itself. He thinks development is needed this season, but all the pieces are there for the team to succeed. The team has the attitude and the physical ability to win the conference.
"We talk all the time that running should not define you, but I should see your personality and how you compete," Esposito said.
The coaching reins may change after this year, but the program will continue without uncertainty. Remy Tamer, who is the head coach for the women's country team, will take on more of the recruiting for the program as he transitions into the HPU Head Distance Coach for 2026-27. Esposito believes this will allow the incoming runners to commit without second-guessing. Esposito will continue to focus on training, coaching, and programming the current team.
The Panthers have the motivation to bring the championship home as Coach Esposito rides off into the sunset. High Point heads to Elon University for the season's first meet on Friday, August 29, at 8:45 p.m.
#GoHPU x #DefendTheTeam
