Last Monday, it was announced that a new cross country coach was named. Speaking on his new role after seven years as an assistant coach, Director of Language Support, Latin Teacher, and now Girls Cross Country Head Coach Mr. Brian Gross said, “All the stars seemed to align, I’ve been involved in the program for seven years now and it just felt right.”

Senior Grace Bragg, who advanced to the semi-state round this year as Cathedral’s top girls cross country runner, was encouraged by the decision. She said, “(Mr. Gross) has been great. He has been at all the practices, all the meets. He’s kind of been like the copilot. I definitely, throughout my career running at Cathedral, I definitely could have seen him as the head coach.”

Mr. Gross did not shy away from the demands of the job he accepted. He explained, “The balancing act is finding how we can hold this group of women up to a very high standard, how can we bring them the best training possible, how can we make sure that we’re building but also giving them that time to recover, that time to grow and also bring in that Cathedral aspect of character development.”

Mr. Gross will be the third head coach for the program in four years. Noting the remarkable development of the senior class even in that time, he said, “The biggest thing is graduating off a tremendous group of young ladies who have done so much for this program over the last four years.” Entering her last track season on the Hill, Bragg stressed her belief in this program’s potential over the coming years. Speaking to current runners, she said, “I think they can look forward to the way (Coach Gross) pushes us and the way he won’t give up on us no matter what. He’ll give Cathedral the reputation of ‘We are competitive, we are athletic, but we are family too.’”

Bragg mentioned that she is thinking about running in college, with offers from Miami of Ohio, Dayton, and Northeastern and Eastern Michigan, but has not decided yet.

Coach Gross said he hoped to bring stability to the program in the coming years. When deciding whether to accept the position, Coach Gross said he decided, “If I can’t commit to it for as long as they’ll have me, then I can’t say yes.” Coach Gross said he “didn’t want to be another part of the coaching carousel.”