No longer a  freshman, the cross country team has a new leader. 

While he doesn’t say much, he does lead by example. 

Bradley Ahrens is a sophomore going into his fourth year of cross country. Bradley Ahrens was one of the Owls top runners during his freshman year, along with his brother Alex Ahrens, who is now in college. Bradley Ahrens is now striving to be a new role model towards the younger and newer members of the team. 

“Bradley is a soft spoken leader. He leads by example. He is the guy who everyone chases,” head coach John Leech said. 

The Owls have added two new seniors, Charles Owens and Connor Maynell. The Owls also have five talented freshmen. 

Ahrens spoke highly of the incoming freshmen. 

“Our freshmen are looking very good. Working harder every day,” Ahrens said. 

Freshman Noah Johnson has shown promise thus far, especially after winning the recent Kimmswick 5k for his age group. Ahrens also won his age group. 

Meanwhile, the Owls have several runners that can help Ahrens lead the Owls. Emma Pouvarankoah is one of eight seniors for the Owls this season. 

Pouvarankoah said,  “I’m excited for this season because we have new uniforms, new watches and we have got a lot of new runners this year.”  

The team’s first race at the Fleet Feet Kickoff Classic on Tuesday, September 3, at Arnold Park.  The runners seem ready to go and have been training hard all summer for this season. 

“I expect a lot from this group. Numbers are up significantly from last year. We’ve got a lot of kids who have been working their tails off, so I expect this group to be pretty good by the end of the year,” Leech said.