ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University men's cross country team will begin its 2025 season on Friday, August 29 at St. John Fisher University.
 
Head Coach Matt Phillips '10 will lead a roster of 15, featuring 9 returners. The veteran Saxon runners are led by Finnegan Dean (Potsdam, NY/Potsdam Central) as a four-year member of the team. Junior Jacob Taylor (Cohocton, NY/Avoca) enters his third season on the team.
 
"So far, the men's team has been having a lot of fun," Coach Phillips said. "The returners have been catching up on their travels from over the summer and are happy to be back and running together again. We do have many new faces this year, and the new guys are fitting in very well. We are seeing some good training groups forming already and they are already enjoying themselves with our preseason activities. We have a good group of guys, with our veterans already beginning to take some newer teammates under their wing. This year should be a ton of fun."
 
Senior Kevin Voegelin (Allegany, NY/Allegany-Limestone), juniors Carter Buckman (Syracuse, NY/Westhill) and Ahmad Yasir Majidy (Heart, Afghanistan/Quality Schools International Dushanbe) and sophomores Aidan Bieron (Buffalo, NY/Kenmore West), Damian Brown (Homer, NY/Homer), Ethan Hanmer (Hamilton, NY/Hamilton Central) and Jonathan Hodges (Kenmore, NY/Kenmore West) all enter their second seasons running for the Saxons.
 
Dean, Taylor and Brown are all cross country captains for the 2025 season.
 
The Saxons welcome sophomore Ben Klee (Elmira, NY/Elmira) and first-years Davion Douglas (Cheektowaga, NY/Cleveland Hill), Evan Foran (Vestal, NY/Vestal), Zach Schultz (Middleport, NY/Royalton-Hartland), Seth Stevens (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) and David Winchenbach (Jefferson, ME/Lincoln Academy). "The team is super excited for the season to start," Assistant Head Coach Sierra Wilson '22 said. "With a great team chemistry and shared training goals, this group has been putting in a lot of great work this preseason."
 
The men's cross country team will race in two more invites in September and twice in October before E8's. Following the August race at St. John Fisher, the Saxons will head to University of Rochester on September 20 and Roberts Wesleyan University on September 27, closing out three of their four trips to the Rochester area.
 
In October, the Saxons take their shortest trip of the year to neighboring Houghton University on the 11^th. Then they'll take their longest trip to Gettysburg College on October 18.
 
Fisher will host this year's Empire 8 Championships on Saturday, November 1. An additional trip to Rochester is also in the Saxons' sights as the NCAA Regional Championships will be hosted by Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday, November 15. This year's NCAA Division III National Championships will be hosted by Converse University on Saturday, November 22 in Spartanburg, SC.