NTL BOYS CROSS COUNTRY: ATHENS LOOKING TO BE COMPETITIVE BEHIND STRONG TRIO OF EXPERIENCED RUNNERS IN 2025 (2025-09-09)

Valley Sports Report
ATHENS — Athens boys cross country coach Mike Bronson is looking for the same thing he does every year: improvement throughout the season to be ready for Districts.

Bronson said the Wildcats numbers this year are "all right."

"We are a little bit down compared to the last few years, but we should end up with about 10 high school guys on the team," he said.

In 2025, Bronson returns three experienced runners in junior Graham Wanck, Jacob Shores and Matt Rossettie, as well as senior Andrew DeForest.

"We return three of our top four from last year," said Bronson. "Graham Wanck, Jacob Shores, and Matt Rossettie will lead us this year — all three have two years of solid varsity experience and have put in good summers of training.

"Graham returns as one of the top guys in District 4, so we have high expectations for him this year," noted Bronson.

"Andrew DeForest has had a good, consistent summer of training, so I think he’s going to show some big improvements," he added.

The Wildcats also have a pair of newcomers in junior Kamden Knapp and freshman Micah Simwale.

"Kamden Knapp is out for his first season with us," said Bronson. "He did a great job in track last spring, once he adjusts to the distance, he’s going to be solid for us.

"Micah Simwale is moving up from two seasons of being on the junior high team, once he gets used to racing 5K, he’ll give us some depth," Bronson added.

Bronson expects the Wildcats to be competitive, but just wants to see improvement.

"I think the guys will be competitive this year, we have a really solid top three guys," he said. "After that, we are going to be relying on less experienced guys to finish our scoring.  

"My expectations don’t change from one year to the next, 'improvement through your the season,'" noted Bronson. "We are looking to be better at the end of the season than we are at the beginning and be ready to run our best come districts."

On the NTL: "There’s a lot of good teams in the NTL," said Bronson. "We want to be as competitive as we can be in each meet.

"At the district level, team-wise, we want to finish as high as we can," added Bronson. "Individually, we want to get as many state qualifiers as we can."

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IN PHOTO: Athens junior Graham Wanck. ... VSR STOCK PHOTO.

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