After a year defined by both growing pains and promising steps forward, Elon University’s cross country team enters the 2025 season with something they lacked in 2024: consistency.
Elon was under the guidance of first-year head coach Mark Rinker in 2024, who was hired from the University of Eastern Michigan after the departure of head coach Kevin Jermyn, who had been in the position for seven years.
Going into 2024, Elon women’s cross country lost six of its top seven runners, with two entering the transfer portal and three of them graduating. The Phoenix had won Coastal Athletic Association Championships for 5 consecutive years from 2018 to 2023, but placed third last season.
“Obviously, we are disappointed to have not won the women’s conference championship,” Rinker said. “Finishing third is not what we wanted, but we had a really young team and a lot to look forward to.”
Entering 2025, Elon only lost two of its top seven women’s runners. Rinker said he thinks the return of many contributing members could be one of the team’s greatest strengths.
“They are definitely going to have a big part to play for our team,” Rinker said.
The returners include juniors Abby Beville and Hannah Weber, who finished 11th and 12th at the 2024 women’s CAA Championships respectively. The top-15 finish awarded them All-CAA recognition, alongside graduate student Mikayla Jones.
“They’re both really great runners,” Rinker said. “They both had great years and great summers.”
In addition to Beville and Weber, the Phoenix also welcomes back senior Katie Blount, who redshirted cross country in 2024. Blount placed All-CAA Cross Country in her sophomore and junior seasons, including a seventh-place finish at the CAA Championships in 2023.
In addition, Blount had an exceptional 2024 season on the track. Blount was runner-up at the Phoenix Invitational, placed bronze in the 10,000 at the CAA Championships and ran a 34:45.04 at the Raleigh Relays, the third best time in program history.
“She had a really good year on the track in 2024,” Rinker said. “We are excited to have her back. She projects to be our No. 1 cross country runner.”
The roster also includes many other runners with strong potential, including senior Sarah Petitjean, who placed 19th at her first CAA Championships in 2024.
“The depth across our women’s roster is going to be the backbone of our success,” Rinker said. “We have a lot of good women who compete at the front of the meet, but also give us stability and a little bit of a safety blanket.”
With a year under his belt and a quality roster, Rinker says the standard will not change.
“The goal of the program is to win,” Rinker said. “We want to win the CAA Championships and have women who compete really well individually.”
In line with Rinker’s analysis of the women’s team, he expects to see continual improvement from the returners to the Elon men’s team.
That includes redshirt junior Evan Taylor, who was the only Elon men’s runner to place top 15 at the CAA Championships in 2024. His performance broke him into the program’s Top 10 career list.
“He’s our All-Conference guy,” Rinker said. “We hope to keep seeing more from him.”
Redshirt sophomore Evan Taylor competes at the CAA Championship on Nov. 1 at the Elon Cross Country Course.
In addition to Taylor, Rinker said he believes senior Caden Strickland and sophomore Jack Kane will be important parts of the team. Strickland placed 20th at the CAA Championships in 2024. Kane broke the freshman 5k record on the track in the spring.
When Rinker became head coach of the men’s team, his goal was to keep moving in the right direction. In Rinker’s first year as head coach, they placed fifth at the CAA Championships — their best performance since the CAA expanded. He said he believes 2025 is the time for Elon to rise.
“We really feel like it’s a great step forward,” Rinker said. “In 2023, we were 61 points away from fourth. Last year, we were only 17.”
“The goal is to at least reach fourth at conference this year,” Rinker said. “I think with the returners we have and the freshmen we brought in, there’s a lot of excitement.”
Rinker said he expects strong contributions from four members of the incoming freshman class: Max Bixler, Luke Chisum, Franklin Wimbish, and Juan Pablo Castillo-Zima.
As the expectations continue to evolve for the men’s team, so does the environment.
“The returners have already been very clear that they can feel a different energy on this team,” Rinker said. “The expectations, the excitement, every day at practice, are just different than even last year.”
Rinker has season-long goals for both teams. If the energy Rinker described carries through the fall, the Phoenix could make plenty of noise when championship season arrives.
“We need to be excited about executing the goals for each day and not worrying about everybody else,” Rinker said. “That’s the message we’ve been preaching to the men and women. If we can love the journey, we’ll be ready to race.”