Last fall was a good one for Franklin men's cross country, with the team earning its third top-three HCAC finish in four years.

Despite the graduation of three all-conference runners (Riley Devening, Jonah Decker and Sam Wilson) from the 2025 lineup, coach Brandon Dworak feels good about the Grizzlies' chances of making it four out of five.

"We're confident that we can hopefully hang on to that top three," Dworak said. "We'll obviously see what happens around us with some other teams ... but despite losing a lot of firepower from last year, the expectations aren't really changing. We've just got to do it a different way."

Leading the charge once again will be junior William Hirsch, who paced the Griz a year ago with a sixth-place HCAC finish. Only two returning runners finished ahead of Hirsch at last season's conference meet.

Classmate Zachary Schroeder is Franklin's next highest returning finisher from last fall, and he's coming off of a strong spring season that saw him finish fourth in the conference in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Dworak is also hoping for bigger contributions from seniors Finn Adams and Nathan Furnish as well as sophomores Austin Menefee, Espoir Emmanuel and Bo Lachnit.

"There are going to be some new folks in there being thrust into maybe a little bit more responsibility than what they were used to previously," the coach said. "That's just the evolution of the team and the natural growth."

On the women's side, Franklin was picked fifth in the HCAC's preseason coaches poll after placing sixth last year with just one senior (Wynn Wellington). Moving up into that top five is a primary goal this time around.

Junior Fiona Sodrel, along with sophomores Ariana Sheckler and Andrea Madrigal, will be counted on to lead the way for what is still a young, but far more seasoned, Griz squad in 2026. Cailyn Baechle, who was Franklin's No. 5 runner at the HCAC meet last year, is the lone senior on the team.

With that being the case, Dworak says the Franklin women will need key contributions from a big freshman class that has plenty of potential. Haley Scroggins has been an early standout in that group, but she's not the only one capable of making an impact.

"If we want to accomplish the things that we want to do ... it's going to be pretty tight with a few other teams," Dworak said. "We've got the roster, we've got the talent for that to be a top half of the conference team. We'll see how things play out the next three months, but I'd say the ceiling's pretty high for that group."

Franklin opens its season on Saturday morning with its lone home meet, the Grizzly Invite at Blue River Memorial Park in nearby Shelbyville.