The UMass Lowell men's and women's cross country teams are geared up and ready to kick off the 2025 season. The men are looking to maintain their high level of performance from recent years, as they aim for their sixth consecutive conference title, while the women aim to return to winning form. The expectations are high for this group.

Both teams used that momentum from the fall of 2024 to fuel them for the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons, and rode that energy into the summer, where the student-athletes put in their work to ensure they are in the best possible shape to not only perform at a high level again, but to reach an even higher level. 

All of that hard work comes together at Camp Mah-Kee-Nac in Lenox, Massachusetts. Both the men's and women's team, as well as the coaches, stay together at the camp for a five days to train as a team on the beautiful forest trails of October Mountain, but also compete in different camp games throughout the week and bond as a team off the course. 

The women's squad came up just short of the conference title last season, and they will be using that as a driving force for improvement for the 2025 season. They left it all on the course just a year , but it just was not enough. So, they go into this season with their eyes fully set on that trophy. 

This season looks to be another year of depth for Gary Gardner's squads, as they will have a spread of experience throughout the team with both upper and underclassmen. They will be leaning on the younger group, but that group is piloted by a faction of highly experienced and decorated leaders, and they plan to thrive as one cohesive unit. 

This idea of a cohesive unit is the culture that both the coaching staff and athletes push. Each and every year, the cross country, as well as the track and field, teams are extremely tight-knit and it is a major reason for the teams' recent success. It starts with recruiting the incoming classes and gets emphasized even more at Camp Mah-Kee-Nac before the season. The closer the team gets off the course, the more they want to run for each other and it motivates them more to come out on top.   

This priority of team bonding and off-course relationships makes the transition to the collegiate level much smoother for the freshmen runners. The sooner they can gel with the more experienced members of the team, the sooner they will feel comfortable and motivated to work hard athletically, and the upperclassmen do a great job of showing them the way.

However, now that camp has come and gone, it is time to put the preparation to the test and kick start the 2025 season. It all begins at the Vermont Invitational on Saturday, August 30 at Hard'Ack Recreation Area in St. Albans, Vt. That meet is followed by the Suffolk Short Course Classic one week later on Saturday, September 6. 

The squad then gets a week of rest and recovery before hitting the road again for the UMass Dartmouth Invitational on Saturday, September 20, priming them for the first major test of the season – the Paul Short Run at Lehigh on Friday, October 3, where a collection of some of the nations top runners come together. 

The following three weeks close out the regular season, with the Bruce Kirsh Invitational in Hopkinton, New Hampshire on October 10, before the Princeton Fall Classic on October 17 and CCSU Mini Meet on October 24. The River Hawks will then host the 2025 America East Cross Country Championships at Hopkinton State Fairgrounds in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, the same site they hosted last year's NCAA Northeast Regional, which will take place in Hopkinton once again this season on Friday, November 14, before the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday, November 22 at Missouri.