FULTON, Mo. - With nine underclassmen, six being freshmen, William Woods University strives to evolve in its first season in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, led by new head coach Gregory A. Keeler, the Owls' assistant last season.

"With how many young runners we have, any team that loses four seniors, two of them national qualifiers, a third being a two-time Boston Marathon qualifier, you're gonna take a little bit of a step back," Keeler said. "I'm excited because we have several really talented sophomores that made some good strides last season. I'm excited to see how they are this year, bringing in six freshmen; that's a good, strong number. They're going to be very important if we're going to be a factor in the Heart of America.

"A couple of those freshmen are going to step up, and I think it's really exciting. You have Sean Wigger, he is definitely someone that we're going to need to have a strong season, if we're going to have a strong season as a team. You have Ethan Wilson, Blaine Brodersen and Kyle Hagemeyer returning. So far, they're both having really strong summers, and early on, they look really good. Both of them have qualified for nationals. They both ran very strong at a high level. I think they're ready to lead this young team, because we're only gonna have one senior in Freddy Zheng, and I think he's definitely going to be a strong example for the younger runners to help them as they build into legit college athletes."

Blaine Brodersen heads into the 2025 campaign with the best 8k PR on William Woods' roster, 26:41.6. He placed 11th in the 2024 American Midwest Conference Championships and received All-AMC honors and was a nationals qualifier in 2023.

"Just a workhorse," Keeler said. "Blaine is the guy who works hard every day. You go back to the conference championship last year, he and Kyle were literally neck and neck between 10 and 11. Blaine just works hard. He's a great example to the younger runners on just how a guy that's more of a middle-distance guy that works really hard at cross country, and it shows."

Another junior the Owls return is Kyle Hagemeyer, who was named All-AMC in 2024 and a national team qualifier in 2023. He owns an 8k PR of 26:45.6.

"Consistency," Keeler said. "He's just one of those guys that he's never too high, he's never too low. He's really almost like a rudder; he keeps everybody consistent. He works, his work ethic, just personally, he's just consistency."

While he didn't have a leading role in last year's team, sophomore Justus Yates will be just that this year and is someone that Keeler hopes will truly step up.

"Justice definitely is poised to fill that gap for what we lost with our returners," Keeler said. "He's had a good year. He's really shown lots of strides to improve. Frankly, if we're going to be in that top half, even the top three in conference, Justice is going to be a big part of that."

Of the six-runner strong freshmen class, two poised to be a significant part of William Woods' 2025 team are Sean Wigger, a 2024 MSHSAA Class 4 state qualifier for Pacific, and Hunter Bickell, a two-time MSHSAA Class 4 state qualifier (2023-24) for Mexico. At the high school level, 5k is the standard distance for boys' cross country, Wigger's PR is 16:30.1 while Bickell's is 17:01.3.

"Obviously, Sean Wigger is the most college-ready coming in," Keeler said. "But you've got Josh Brinkmann (Hickman) from Columbia. He's one local kid from Columbia; he's run really well so far this year. Our three Mexico guys (Hunter Bickell, Tyler Grimes and Landon Higgins) have worked really hard at it together. They've been teammates for years and years with each other. To have that camaraderie just helps building with so many young athletes, that helps build the whole team camaraderie."

Keeler believes the Owls' youth will be a strength this year as they look to progress throughout the season and in the years to come.

"We've got a lot of young runners, a lot of very young, talented runners," Keeler said. "I think that when you add that to a team that maybe had a really strong core. When you have good kids, add to that; it just helps bump everybody up. I think that our strength is how strong our young learners are, and they're going to have to be competitive this year. They're going to have to learn, they're going to have to improve, and they're going to have to do what they do."

William Woods will compete for the first time in 2025, when it travels to Leavenworth, Kan., for the Spire Sunset Showdown at 7:15 p.m. Friday at the University of Saint Mary Cross Country Course.