Hopkinton High School boys cross-country coach Laura McKenzie was not sure what to expect heading into the 2025 season. But the strong, established culture of success in the program and a sizable roster has McKenzie excited as the season hits the midway point.

“We have a really good culture on the team, and that’s due to the seniors and all the kids who came before,” she said. “They leave behind a competitive group who really wants to get better and wants to win.”

The Hillers did just that at the start of the season, cruising to dual meet victories over Dedham and Holliston.

“I am always a little bit nervous, because you never know what you are going to have talent wise,” McKenzie said. “A lot of the time it comes down to their desire to put the work in.”

Hopkinton has a whopping 51 boys on the roster, and 20 of them are freshmen, a number McKenzie called a “crazy amount.” The Hillers should be well positioned for success not only in the Tri-Valley League Showcase varsity meet, but also in the junior varsity and freshman divisions.

Senior captain Sean Finnegan won the first two dual meets of the season and has a chance to make some noise in both the TVL and the state divisional meet.

“He has some good goals, he really wants to come out on top in the divisional meet, and he can definitely do it,” McKenzie said. “He just gets faster and faster, but he really works. He puts in a lot of miles.”

Not far behind are senior captain Darian Leo and sophomore Matt Fitzgibbons.

“Those guys are doing really well,” their coach said.

Hopkinton has a strong pack of runners who are capable of finishing among the top 5-7 spots on the team. Sophomores Lucas Arnold and Jack Cooper, along with Fitzgibbons, put in significant amounts of offseason training and started the season in top form and ready to race, McKenzie said.

Harrison Gu, Gavin Scott, Jack Heaton and Avi Ghosh are steady contributors in the Hillers’ rotation.

“Those guys are all within about 30 seconds of one another,” McKenzie said. “As the season goes, I think everyone is going to kind of step up and improve their times.”

McKenzie said Hopkinton is in good shape this season when it comes to the TVL.

“We want to win the league, and we want to win the showcase meet. Those are our two short-term goals,” she said. “We also want to do well at the divisional meet and better our position every year. That’s our developing goal for the whole season, but we will take it a week at a time.”