Pelion’s cross country teams are in the midst of an exciting 2025 season.

The Panthers boys and girls have ruled their region, sitting on top of the throne for years. Head coach Mark Bedenbaugh said he expects those streaks to continue as the team reaches the end of its regular season. 

“My boys have won seven regions in a row. We’re trying to make that eight,” Bedenbaugh said. “Girls, this would be the 19th in a row if we’re able to pull it off.” 

Achieving those feats won’t be a walk in the park, and Bedenbaugh said he drills that idea into his kids while keeping them focused on more. 

“You’re going to have a target on your back because everybody wants to knock you off,” he said. “ We try to have our goals maybe look a little beyond that. We always want to compete at the state level.”

The boys and girls teams were on two different standings early this season. The boys came in deep with talent and potential Bedenbaugh said he hasn’t seen in years. The girls also have a high ceiling but started the year banged up with injuries that were difficult to overcome. 

Leading the boys are experienced runners Caleb Craps, Kolton Gleaton and Justin Meza. Craps finished first at the Aiken Invitational earlier this season. Gleaton won the Trojan Country Invitational, and Meza is the defending conference champion. 

“I’ve already had three different boys run No. 1,” Bedenbaugh said.  ”It's my 40th year here, and I only remember having three different boys run number one in the same season, maybe one or two other times.”

Bedenbaugh said with those three and the rest of the team’s depth, it could be a special season for the boys.

“It’s probably my strongest team in 10 years,” he said. “This team is a little different.”

The girls' season will hinge entirely on whether or not they can get healthy.

Clara Grace Tipton and Dani New have run in the No. 1 spot for the girls. Returning All-State runner M.J. Saul is also a contender for the top spot but battled injuries this year. 

“I have yet to run all my top five in a single meet together,” Bedenbaugh said.  ”That's the number one thing for them to have success as we go towards the end of the year, is get everybody healthy.”

Pelion’s early results have been promising. The team has competed in the Battle of Camden, Aiken Invitational, Trojan Country Invitational, Pelican’s Invitational and a Gilbert home meet. The team hosted the Strictly Running Invitational last week and finished third. 

In many of these meets, Pelion is racing larger schools from higher classifications. Bedenbaugh said he schedules this way to give the team a test against challenging competition. 

“We can run with most of them,” he said. 

Pelion used those events to gauge themselves for their upcoming meets. The region and state championship events begin at the end of October. While early achievements are nice, it’s those meets that define the season’s success.