AUSTIN, Texas — Distance runners learn to measure progress differently. A fast opening mile can disappear over the length of a course, just as one difficult stretch rarely determines an entire race. The work is cumulative, each mile revealing something about the last and preparing for what comes next.

That work is just beginning in head coach Chase Rathke's second season. The Lone Star Conference placed the Hilltoppers eighth in the preseason poll, the same position they finished a year ago. Inside the program, that number is a starting point, not a destination.

"Off the bat, I want to surprise some people," senior WILLIAM SULENTICH proclaimed. "We have the group to do it. We've graduated a lot of great guys over the years, but I'm really excited for this incoming class. We're definitely going to surprise some people."

The belief comes from a roster with a proven runner at the front, a record-setting graduate student returning to competition, and a decorated cast of newcomers capable of reshaping the Hilltoppers' lineup.

Junior ARLO GONZALES returns after emerging as one of the LSC's best runners during Rathke's first season. Gonzales led St. Edward's in each of its final four meets, earned All-LSC honors with a ninth-place finish at the conference championships, and was named the LSC Men's Cross Country Academic Runner of the Year.

"Even though he had an amazing cross-country season and was an all-conference runner, I thought what he did at the conference meet set him up for the next two years," Rathke said. "He's transformed as an athlete since then."

Gonzales enters the season as one of St. Edward's two LSC Runners to Watch after posting a career-best 8K time of 25:11.7 at the Texas A&M Invitational and closing the year with a personal-best 10K time of 33:14.2 at the NCAA Division II South Central Region Cross Country Championships. He carried that momentum into the outdoor track season, lowering his outdoor 10K best from 32:34.40 to 31:45.35 and scoring points in the 5K and 10K at the LSC Championships.

"My high school coach would always say, 'Pressure makes diamonds,'" Gonzales recalled. "Those conference and regional races, I feel like I always embrace them and rise to the occasion. I welcome the pressure and let it guide me on the course."

Joining Gonzales near the front of the Hilltoppers' pack is graduate student BEN BAYLY. The Sudbury, England, native's fall cross country and outdoor track seasons were derailed by injury last year. Still, he demonstrated his potential during the indoor season, breaking St. Edward's indoor 5K record with a time of 14:49.40 at the Gorilla Classic.

"He's a guy that's under a lot of people's radar, and getting him back is going to help us a lot," Rathke said. "He was the fastest 5K guy we had during the indoor season by a pretty good margin. I'm excited for Ben, I'm excited for these freshmen, and I think some young guys from last year are going to step up in new roles."

The freshman class arrives with experience competing at the highest levels of Texas high school cross country. BEN MACIAS earned All-State Second Team honors in 2025 after finishing as the District 5-6A runner-up. ADRIAN HERNANDEZ qualified for the 2025 UIL Class 6A State Championships, and Austin native CALEB KYBURZ was a two-time TAPPS All-State selection at St. Dominic Savio.

ANTHONY GONZALEZ, JOE IBARRA, and CESAR CAMACHO round out a freshman group that Rathke believes is prepared to contribute early, while THEODORE ANASTASIOU and JAVI RAMIREZ return as sophomores, joined by newcomer NICHOLAS MCCARTHY.

It's a promising group that the program's mainstays are excited to incorporate, pushing everyone to excel.

"I'm officially 'unc' status; I've even got the mustache for it," Gonzales joked during media day. "I remember being in their position two years ago. I think this is going to be a really good group of guys who can contribute off the rip. I'm looking forward to helping them and seeing their progress throughout the season."

Helping shape the young Hilltoppers is a veteran core featuring Sulentich, HOGAN HEIKKINEN, JUSTIN LEATHERS, PARKER STEVENS, and JAVIER TILLERO. Sulentich serves as St. Edward's SAAC president while working as a chemistry supplemental instructor and medical assistant at a pediatric neurology clinic. He sees leadership less as a new senior responsibility than as an extension of what he's sought to uphold throughout his entire career.

"I've always held myself to the standard of representing myself, my team, and my family well," Sulentich said. "I love being in the position of having these guys looking up to me. It does create pressure, but I love showing them what it means to be a part of this program and how to get through college."

The Hilltoppers open Friday morning at the Floyd Farms Cross Country Invitational on a new course just outside Austin. St. Edward's and other area programs offered input during the course's development, with the long-term possibility of bringing a conference or regional championship to Central Texas.

From there, the schedule becomes a progression toward the postseason. St. Edward's travels to the fast Watts Cross Country Course for the Texas A&M Invitational on Sept. 11 before splitting its roster on Oct. 3. The top group will face a field with regional and national implications at the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas, while the program's depth runners compete at the Southwestern Showdown in Georgetown.

The Hilltoppers conclude the regular season at the DBU Old Glory Gallop on Oct. 17 before the LSC Championships on Nov. 7 in Lubbock. The NCAA South Central Regional will be held on the same course two weeks later.

"Every meet is a stepping stone for conference," Rathke said. "That's where we're trying to peak and when we're trying to rock and roll."

The conference meet will ultimately provide the clearest measurement of how far the Hilltoppers have traveled. Before then, each race will offer something different: an introduction to college competition for the freshmen, an opportunity for returning runners to settle into larger roles, and another chance for Gonzales and Bayly to establish the front of the pack.

St. Edward's begins the season in the same place it finished the last one, at least according to the preseason poll. In a sport where progress is cumulative and no step can be skipped, the Hilltoppers believe this group is ready to take the next one.