GAMBIER, Ohio -- A young, re-energized Kenyon College men's cross country team will head into the upcoming 2018 season with sights set on improvement. The roster consists of six runners from each class, with the exception of the senior class, which has three.

Within that trio of seniors is Kyle Rose, who looks to cap off his collegiate career with a bang. As a junior, Rose led the Lords to the finish line in all but one race. At the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championship he placed 34th and then logged an 83rd place finish among 243 runners at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship.

Rose will get plenty of push from junior teammates Tommy Johnson and Vincent Lewis. Both had a break-out campaign in 2017. Johnson was consistently Kenyon's second runner to finish. At the end of the year, however, he led the Lords at the conference championship, placing 28th with a personal-best time of 26:35.3. In that same race, Vincent was just a step behind Johnson, taking 29^th with his own personal-best time of 26:37.5. Throughout the season, Vincent solidified his standing as the team's No. 3 runner.

Gone from the team are recent graduates Daniel Hojnacki and Benjamin Weinberg. That pairing usually fit into the Lords' fourth or fifth spots and delivered points in all but one meet last season. Patrick Ahlgren, who improved throughout last season as a freshman, and Cody Bratzler, who came on strong in the final two meets last year, certainly could be viable options in the Lords' attempt to fill the vacancies left by Hojnacki and Weinberg.

Mix in the new freshman class and the Lords look poised to better their eighth-place team finish in last year's conference race. They'll take their first steps toward that goal Friday, when they host Ohio Wesleyan University and Mount Vernon Nazarene University in the annual Kenyon Tri-Meet.