Coaches tab Owls as favorite in NCAC race

10/27/2025 3:30:00 PM

GAMBIER, Ohio -- The Kenyon College Owls have the privilege of hosting the 2025 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Men's Cross Country Championship. Additionally, the host Owls will go into the race as the favorites, according to a conference coaches poll released today.

The championship race will be held Saturday on Kenyon's campus, with the starting gun sounding at 11:00 a.m. The women's championship race will follow and then an awards ceremony will wrap things up at 1:15 p.m.

Kenyon, a team that placed sixth in last year's conference championship, tallied seven first-place votes and topped the 2025 NCAC Cross Country Pre-Championship Coaches Poll with a total of 79 points. John Carroll University, new to the NCAC this year, collected two first-place votes and claimed second place in the poll with 71 points. Denison University earned 61 poll points and was predicted to finish third.

One season ago, Oberlin College finished first in the NCAC Championship race, which was hosted by DePauw University. Wittenberg University placed second and DePauw was third. In this year's coaches poll, Wittenberg was predicted to finish last, while DePauw was slotted into the fifth-place spot.

The Kenyon men have four NCAC Championship team titles to their name, with all four coming in a five-year span between 1999 and 2003.

During the current campaign, Kenyon kicked off the season by winning its own Port Kenyon Opener. The Owls then finished third among 10 NCAA Division III teams at the All-Ohio Classic. A few weeks later, the team took eighth in the Swags Louisville Classic and then another third-place finish in Oberlin's Regional Rumble, held on October 18.

Sophomore Charlie Blackmer has been the Owls top runner, finishing first for the team in two of the last three competitions. His best time this season (25:16.6) ranks second among all runners in the NCAC.

Seniors Colt Murphy and Joshua Breard also provide Kenyon with some punch. Breard has led the Owls to the line twice this season and both his, and Murphy's, top time ranks among the conference's 10 best. Bread is Kenyon's lone returning all-conference honoree. He claimed a third-team award in 2022 and then moved up to second-team honors in 2023.

Both of Kenyon's top two conference finishers from a season ago graduated in May. Blackmer, who placed 25th last year, is the Owls top returning runner. Breard placed 30th at last year's championship, while Murphy wound up in 52nd place.

Last season's NCAC individual champion was Brayden Curnutt from Wabash College. He was a senior who posted a winning time of 25:23.70.

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