A Dream Revived: Cross Country Team Qualifies for State After 20 Years

Archbishop Moeller cross country is back at the top. For 20 years we have been far from reaching the highest goal state. Now they have done that and over the weekend they managed to beat their projected spot by three. In the they were projected 17th but finished 14th overall just behind St. X, who was in 13th place. Moe was only 22 behind them. It was a great meet and went by in a second. At first you saw them begin their first 800 sprint and then a second later they were running through the finish line. There were from all over the competing that first-place spot. The day was something they will remember down the road looking back on the impact they made on this school and this program.

This meet was held on November 1, 2025, at Fortress Obetz in Obetz, Ohio. The runners that made this achievement of 14th possible Senior Brock Grugert, who ran a time of 15:59.96 and he finished in 25th place Senior Preston Wesley, who finished 69th with a time of 16:23 Owen Speed, who finished with a time of 16:31 Sophomore Paul Eckstein, who finished with a time of 16:51 Sophomore Hayden Sorg, who finished 145th with a time of 17:08 Senior Duncan Shirley, who finished 157th with a time of 17:19 and finally Luke Long, who finished 159th with a time of 17:21. All these men put up great times and many of them have broken their PRs. They knew what they had to do and they put their all into it.

The days leading up to the big race, the runners were all preparing. They were all prepared to make Moeller. This that the Moeller from their freshmen year to today were looking forward to. They put all their effort, blood, sweat, and tears into it. Even the sophomores Hayden Sorg, Paul Eckstein, and Luke Long were giving them all. Jake Jankowski, Murphy Manes, and Zach Guthrie were pushing their brothers to be the best even if they never ran on the meet days, they were there to cheer them on. The brotherhood and bond in this program run deeper than most programs. In this program they run together, they fight together, and they compete for one another.

This event was so important and huge for the team that even Big Moe Barrett brought up Coach Prenger, who is the head coach of cross country, to get a on what to expect and how tremendous this opportunity is for this team. They discussed when was the last time Moeller had made it to . It was about 23 years since they last made it in 2002 to . Coach Prenger talked about how pumped the guys were to make it to this final level of competition and many of them it would be their last cross-country race for Moeller. He is very proud of them all and what they have accomplished over the years.

Before the end of the day on Friday the school gave the Moeller cross country team a sendoff with the band playing for them and they walked throughout the Moeller halls. It gave them the strength and courage to run and Moeller will be with them as they run their race on Saturday. Now it was time for them to compete and in the end, they did and as Coach Prenger would say, "Today, we are above the line" and they were above the line that day.