Jack Hackett is betting on the next generation.
When the Marquette cross country head coach took over in 2024, the program was at a crossroads. Six seniors had left, and the team was faltering. The men’s squad finished last in both the Big East Championship and the Big East Regionals, while the women weren’t far behind, placing second-to-last in the Big East and 32nd out of 39 at regionals.
In 2025, both teams’ fortunes turned, due in no small part to Hackett’s underclassmen recruits.
“This program has needed a change, and the talent that we’re bringing in is raising the bar for some of the older kids as well,” Hackett said. “The level of the team is getting to a point where I think people will be afraid that they’ll be left behind if they’re not putting in the work.”
Between the men and the women’s side there are currently 12 first-years on the roster. At the last meet on Oct. 3, the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, the men’s side had two first-years (Patrick Clune and Dylan Riniker) finish within the top-100. The team finished 12th out of 21, it was a huge sign of progress for the program.
Leading the charge for the first-years was Riniker in 30th place with a 25:03 eight-kilometer. Riniker, from Afton, Minnesota, was a four-year letterwinner in track and cross country at Stillwater Area High School.
His junior season at Stillwater ended with a stress fracture in his foot. He credits this injury with rekindling his love for running and realizing how much he wanted it to be a staple in his everyday life.
“I’ve seen Marquette in the past and knew how good the program was, so that really fueled my fight to get in contact with Coach Hackett, and I’m so happy I did,” Riniker said.
Hackett ran cross country and track for the Golden Eagles and has multiple program top-10 marks, making him no stranger to a competitive Marquette program.
Hackett first recruited Riniker after a very promising performance at the Roy Griak Invitational, a meet in Minnesota where Riniker competed against collegiate athletes, and made a name for himself.
“He’s clearly a kid that is a gamer; he shows up for the big races. He’s a really smart kid as well. He’s the exact type of person that we want at Marquette,” Hackett said.
Riniker had faith in the rebuild under Hackett, and believes the new core will mark huge changes for the program.
“With the more dominant younger class coming in this year, it was just a big push for the whole team to shift, and I think that it will have really big implications on the future of the Marquette running program,” Riniker said.
Hackett said the older runners — like junior transfer Will Allen and junior Nick Parrell, along with senior Sean Kellogg — have worked closely with the first-years to help them adjust to Division I cross country.
“I think Will, one of the transfers that has come in, has kind of helped take Dylan under his wing a little bit, showed him how to work,” Hackett said. “I think some of the other leaders in the team have done a good job too, but I feel like him and Will have done a lot of workouts together and I think that’s given him a lot of confidence.”
Hackett credits the program’s revitalization to his younger runners, who have helped restore a winning culture at Marquette. Strong team performances often lead to strong recruiting, and Hackett is proud of the growth.
“You can tell kids are looking at the results and reading some of the press releases or the newspaper articles and seeing just how much better we’re getting, and that’s attractive,” Hackett said. “You want to go to a place that’s on the up.”
Marquette cross country is on the incline, and Hackett wants to continue to improve as his recruits get to grow and learn with him as their coach.
“We have such a good history, we’ve had a national champion in the 10-kilometer, we’ve had top 10 places in cross country. We can get to that level and there’s proof of it, now we just need to slowly build back to that,” Hackett said.
This story was written by Conor McPherson. He can be reached at conor.mcpherson@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @ConorMcPherson_.