LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University men's cross country team keeps climbing, and the Knights fully intend to add more rungs to their ascent in 2023.

"We return essentially everyone from our ASUN roster last season, so expectations are higher than ever," said Chase Broughton, who enters his fifth season as the men's XC coach. "That being said, we don't get too focused on what our preseason rankings have been. We just focus on the day-to-day process and being the best versions of ourselves that we can be. If we do that, we'll be happy with the outcome at the end of the season."

Bellarmine was certainly pleased with last season's outcome. The Knights placed fifth out of 14 teams at the ASUN Championship, and eight of their nine harriers who competed at the conference meet are back.

"We had some hiccups throughout the season as a young team," Broughton said, "but we were able to pull it together and have the best performance of the season at the ASUN Championship."

Bellarmine is no longer a young team. Notably, the Knights have a massive junior class that has joined the ranks of upperclassmen. Any bumps in the road can no longer be attributed to youth.

"For the past two years, we've always had the excuse that we are a young team. That isn't the case anymore," Broughton said. "In our program, we never set team captains. We talk a lot about how everyone can and is a leader, even if it's in a negative way. I am confident in saying everyone in our locker room is a positive leader. Especially our upperclassmen. I'm very proud of the growth the team has made over the last 12 months."

While health, execution and desire are always significant factors in dictating the success of a team, Bellarmine possesses the tools to be superior to last year's squad, which is saying something. Sixteen of the program's all-time top-50 8k times were established in 2022 by this season's returners. That was without redshirt sophomore Chase Atkins, a 2021 ASUN All-Freshman Team recipient who missed last year due to injury. Nearly half (nine) of the program's all-time top 20 on the 8k performance list (measures PR) are comprised of returners this season.

"Depth is probably our biggest strength so far this season," Broughton said. "We've got the deepest team we've ever had with upwards of 17 guys currently that have the potential to challenge for the 10 spots we get at the ASUN Championships, with more potentially being in the mix come October. We hope to utilize our depth to really focus on running as a pack to finish in waves with a small 1-5 spread."

Last season, junior Nolan Hester posted the Nos. 3-5 top 8k times in program history, and junior Paul Stamm claimed the 6-8 spots. Senior Nick Lewis delivered a third all-time top-10 performance after securing the 10th-best mark ever.

Junior D.K. Schnieders is responsible for the 16th-best 8k time in program history, junior Jackson Gawarecki the 21st, junior Hunter Griffin the 33rd and sophomore Nolan White the 48th. Junior Josh Meiman was also among the aforementioned group that competed at the ASUN Championship.

Graduate student Nate Smith owns an all-time top-50 mark. Seniors John Cason and Josh Smalley, juniors Peter Dalmares, Austin Pulkowski and Matthew Wantland, redshirt sophomore Ryan Burchett and sophomores Drew Belardo and Alex Hooten are also back.

"I would not be surprised if we have a different 1-5 every time we toe the line," Broughton said. "We have a lot of guys that are all very similar fitness-wise right now, and I think that will show on race day by having a number of guys that are all capable of scoring when someone else is having an off day."

Bellarmine has a good-sized freshman class that includes Chase Austin, Jimmy Dillabaugh, Ben Kelly, Christian Mattern, Will Nobbe, Dixon Ryan and Nate Wheatley.

"The freshmen are adjusting very quickly," Broughton said. "Most of them are well ahead of where I expected them to be this early in the season. One advantage of being a veteran team is the young guys don't have to deal with a bunch of pressure from Day 1. The freshmen can rely on the older guys to show them the way rather than having to figure things out on their own. That allows them to be themselves from the jump, which allows for more natural growth."

In its first three seasons in D1 and the ASUN, Bellarmine placed seventh of eighth, sixth of 12th and fifth of 14 at the conference meet. The Knights were projected to finish fourth of 12 in the 2023 ASUN preseason coaches' poll.

Bellarmine will open the season at 11 a.m. (ET) Friday in the Belmont Opener at Percy Warner Park.

"I'm very pleased with the progress we've made over the last four years," Broughton said. "Each season we've improved our standing in the conference despite the conference growing each year. The goal has always been to be ready to contend for an ASUN title whenever this transition is complete, and I feel we have hit the benchmarks to do just that each year.

"Regardless of what our preseason rankings have been, we've always had high expectations of ourselves in our locker room and have never let any outside entities change how we viewed ourselves. At the same time, I believe high expectations from those around the league is a good thing. Pressure is a privilege and our preseason ranking gives us an opportunity to continue to prove we belong in the upper echelon of the ASUN."

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