BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's cross country team is the preseason favorite to capture the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) title as the 2025 MASCAC Men's Cross Country Preseason Coaches Poll was released today by conference director of media relations, Emily Loux.

The defending MASCAC champion Bears received 24 points in the poll including four first-place votes. Westfield State University is second in the poll with 22 points and a pair of first-place vote, while Framingham State University rounds out the top three teams with 16 points.

The 2025 campaign gets underway on Saturday, August 30th when the BSU harriers, under the guidance of fourth-year head coach Christine Kloiber, travel to the Mark Coogan Cross Country Course in Attleboro, Massachusetts for the Suffolk Short Course Classic. The team will also compete at the 5nd Annual UMass Dartmouth Invitational on Saturday, September 20th, the Keene State Invitational on Saturday, October 4th and the Connecticut College Invitational at Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford, Connecticut on Saturday, October 18th.

The MASCAC Championships will take place on Saturday, November 1st at Stanley Park in Westfield, Massachusetts with Westfield State University serving as the host institution, while the Hopkinton State Fairgrounds in Contoocook, New Hampshire will be the site of the NCAA Division III East Region Championships on Saturday, November 15th.

Returning All-MASCAC selections Kyle Ackroyd (Sr., Charlestown, R.I.), Aydan Fournier (Jr., Assonet, Mass.), Kevin McBirney (Gr., East Bridgewater, Mass.) and Mitchell Parent (Sr., Cumberland, Maine) will help lead the Bears in 2025. McBirney captured the MASCAC individual title a year ago.