HHS runners head out onto the course at Hopkinton State Park during a recent meet against Ashland. PHOTO/JERRY SPAR

Hopkinton High School boys cross country coach Laura McKenzie did not know exactly what to expect from her team after graduating five of its top 10 runners from a season ago. But the Hillers won their first three dual meets, and McKenzie is eyeing strong finishes in the Tri-Valley League and the state divisional meets.

“I always say that I want to better what we did last year,” McKenzie said with a nod to Hopkinton’s third-place showing at the state meet in 2025. “We are not trying to recreate what we had last year, but this year I still want to qualify and see them do really well.”

While the runners are different in some spots, the Hillers bring a similar depth to the course this fall. While Matt Fitzgibbons has consistently been the team’s top runner, the rest of the lineup can vary from meet to meet. Sam Stephen, Jack Cooper, Finn Ayube, Lucas Arnold and Beni Robledo all have contributed in the top six.

“With five seniors graduating, we have less experience, so it’s been a bit of a building year,” McKenzie said. “But everyone is stepping into new roles, and it’s interesting to see how they handle it.”

The coach noted that the work is done over the summer. Within the first handful of practices, it was evident that many of her athletes logged significant mileage since the end of the last school year.

“It’s been pretty amazing, actually,” McKenzie said.

Ryan Siber is one runner who has shaved off huge chunks of time since last year and vaulted into Hopkinton’s top 10. Thunn Wongchaisuwat, Peter Recos, Michael Tighe and Charlie Powers are strong runners who make the Hillers a deeper team overall. Junior Evan McDaniel is a first-year runner who McKenzie said is “working his way up” the ranks. The Hillers also competed without Harrison Gu due to an injury early in the year, but McKenzie said she hoped to have him back in the lineup before the end of the season.

McKenzie pushes her team to run as a pack, and she said that has allowed for some of the less-experienced runners to improve quickly as they keep pace with their more seasoned teammates.

“Everybody’s job is to bring everybody else up,” she said. “I think it’s always about progress, we just want to make progress and see everybody put the work in.”

McKenzie added with a laugh that some of her runners are impatient and want to see results.

“I tell them, ‘You just wait,’ ” she said. “We are a work in progress.”