Senior cross country standout Braden Franxman is a fourth-generation student at Covington Catholic. He takes immense pride in his high school. When looking at his teammates, he beams with that very same emotion and marvels at their ability and sheer numbers.
“We have a lot of great runners,” said Franxman, third at the Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference Division I meet Oct. 10 at Burlington’s Idlewild Park. “Everybody’s doing really well and feeling good after conference. We’re all trying hard and we want to keep it going.”
Next up is Saturday’s KHSAA Class 3A, Region 5 championships back at Idlewild, one of several races in all classes for local boys and girls. The Class 3A, Region 5 girls meet kicks things off at 9 a.m., followed by the boys meet at 9:45 a.m. The local Class 2A and 1A meets for Region 4 teams follow those events.
“It’s the same course, so conference was sort of a preview,” Franxman said of the 5-kilometer layout. “I’ve run there a lot and running it recently just shrinks it down even more.”
The Colonels, nearly 60 strong when counting the middle school program, won the NKAC big-school championship. They are the favorites to win Saturday’s boys meet at Idlewild ahead of conference runner-up Ryle, third-place Conner and fourth-place Campbell County. Covington Catholic is No. 3 in the state among all big schools at ky.milesplit.com. The Colonels are behind top-ranked Louisville Trinity and No. 2 Lexington Lafayette but ahead of No. 4 Louisville St. Xavier.
It represents a successful return to Class 3A for the Colonels. CovCath was at the 2A level from 2023-25, after getting bumped down from 3A during 2023 statewide realignment.
“This is a really ambitious group and very fast. Braden is relentless; he’ll fight all the way,” sixth-year coach Jeremy Mosher said. “We were champing at the bit to go up to 3A. They’re not intimidated by any other competitors or other teams. And they know you find your ceiling when you compete against the best. They want the smoke.”
Not only do the runners have wheels, but the Colonels’ program also has legs. With a top-flight competitor in each graduation class and several youngsters knocking at the door, they are set up for success over the long haul.
“That’s a testament to our middle school program. We restarted that with Tim Franxman after I got here,” Mosher said of Braden’s father, a 1998 CovCath alum. “He cares about the school and the kids and as one of my five assistants, he makes my job feasible. So many of our runners came out of the middle school program.”
Coach Franxman estimated an average of about 20 runners competing every year at the middle school. Pair that with around 40 runners for the varsity and the Colonels are in a great position to reload.
Trying to keep up with Braden Franxman are fellow seniors Luke McLane and Joel Barczak. There are also junior Abi Teller and sophomore Asher Edmondson. Franxman has college offers from Bellarmine and Indiana-Indianapolis. He came in with a time of 16 minutes and 31.9 seconds at the conference event. He finished behind winner Grant Holbrook of Campbell County (15:52.2) and Conner’s Ethan Mann (16:11.7). CovCath’s McLane was fifth. Edmondson was 10th and Barczak was 11th.
The Colonels’ big surprise at conference was freshman Salem Glasgow. He showed up with seemingly two cities worth of heart, according to his coach. “Lot of heart. Lot of determination. He just lit it up at the conference meet,” Mosher said of Glasgow’s eighth-place showing. “He’s only recently doing this. Now, was it lightning in a bottle or is it a new level?”
Glasgow wasn’t the only varsity outsider looking in who impressed his coach at conference. Junior Ethan Klumb finished 16th and classmate Sawyer Franxman was 18th. Sophomore Myles Barczak placed 19th and junior Bennett Laake was 24th. Senior Jack Dwyer came in 29th, giving the Colonels an impressive 10 runners in the top 30.
“A lot of kids now in the senior class started with the rebirth of middle school,” coach Franxman said. “It gives the team a really robust program and provides the athletes an introduction to the high school sport. When they show up on the varsity, they have visions of contributing right away.”
This has created a seemingly endless stream of Colonel runners who collectively increase the odds of the team hitting it big. That’s happening again this season with Glasgow.
“It’s amazing,” Braden Franxman said. “I feel like since we began the middle school program, it’s really started a culture. Guys want to get in, and they bond and turn into your friends.”
Everywhere he looks, the head coach sees team depth. “It’s allowed us to win some big meets,” said Mosher, a one-time KHSAA cross country coach of the year. He is the 2026 Kentucky Boys High School Track and Field Coach of the Year by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Under Mosher, the Colonels won the Class 2A state track and field title each of the last three years. They won state cross country crowns two of the last three years, both in 2A. They were runners-up last year.
“Along with winning the conference cross country meet, we won the Mel Brodt Invitational in Bowling Green, Ohio. That’s a really competitive meet,” the coach said. “We beat Beavercreek, the defending D-1 champ in Ohio, at the Centerville Saturday Night Lights Meet. I think one of the reasons why we’ve been so successful is from a scheduling standpoint, we haven’t changed much. Even when we were in 2A, we want our guys competing at the highest point.”
