NEW LONDON, Conn. — 

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy men's track & field team is set to begin their 2025-26 season this Saturday, December 6th, at Boston University's Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener. This year's squad features strong returners throughout the roster, as well as a few freshmen to keep an eye on.

Paul Hobbs (Vacaville, Calif.) and Adrian Ililau (Koror, Palau) highlight the senior class as two of the team's three captains. Hobbs returns as Coast Guard's top distance specialist, coming off another fall as the Bears' top cross country runner, eventually making the trip to Spartanburg, South Carolina, in November for his first career National Championship appearance. His best event is the 5k, in which he sits third on the program's indoor leaderboard and fifth outdoors. Hobbs is also the reigning New England Division III (NED3) Champion in the outdoor 10k, in which he holds the third-best time by a Bear.

Ililau enters his second season as a team captain. On meet days, he can be found splitting time between the relays and the jump pits. Outside of being part of the school record-setting 4x100 team at the NED3 Outdoor Championships, Ililau's claim to fame is being Coast Guard's resident Olympian, having represented his native Palau at the 2020 games in Tokyo prior to accepting an appointment as an international exchange cadet.

Glenn Patrick (Fairhope, Ala.) will be one more cadet-athlete to keep an eye on from the senior class. He established himself as one of the Bears' fastest man by setting school records in the indoor 60 and outdoor 100.

Headlining the juniors will be Ian Naff (Arlington, Va.), who joins Hobbs and Ililau with the captain mantle. His sophomore season saw him set school records in both the indoor and outdoor 200 and 400, and he was part of the record-setting 4x100 team with Ililau. Naff returns as the reigning NED3 Champion in both the indoor and outdoor 400, and his 200 and 400 wins at the 2025 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship earned him the NEWMAC Track Athlete of the Year title and a United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region nod.

Brendan Fant (East Lyme, Conn.) and Vincent Grillo (Wilmington, Del.) will also be juniors to keep tabs on this season. Fant is coming off an impressive cross country season that saw him consistently place as Coast Guard's second finisher behind Hobbs. As a sophomore, he was part of the Bears third place indoor 4x800 that earned All-NED3 honors. He'll be looking to improve upon his ninth-place program ranking in the indoor 800 and tenth-place ranking in the indoor mile. Grillo figures to be one of Coast Guard's top throwers as he currently sits ninth on the program leaderboard in the outdoor shot put.

The sophomore class features multiple cadet-athletes looking to build upon a strong first-year campaign, with Tytan Moore (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and Garrett Lamb (La Vernia, Tex.) leading the pack. The pair rounded out the record-setting 4x100 team alongside Naff and Ililau. Moore started his career by placing himself at tenth in program history in the outdoor long jump, sixth in the outdoor triple jump, and eighth in the indoor triple. Lamb did the same but with his sprints, putting himself at third all-time in the outdoor 100, second in the 200, and sixth in the indoor 60.

Scott Bayliss (Hudson, Ohio) will also be looking to improve after establishing himself as the men's team's top high jumper, with his freshman season culminating in an eighth place finish at NED3 Outdoors to nad All-NED3 status. Sam Myers (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.), James Kuduk (Harleysville, Pa.), and Miles Taylor (Austin, Tex.) were all part of the All-NED3 third place 4x800 team with Fant, while Myers stood out individually by landing at tenth on the program's indoor 800 list.

Finally, the men's track & field team will be welcoming 17 freshmen into their ranks, with standouts Hayden Bergman (Hudson, Wisc.) and Sam Blake (Severna Park, Md.) among them. Bergman was consistently a top finisher at the Wisconsin state championships, while Blake will be looking to impact the long sprint and mid-distance events after closing out his high school career by competing in the 800 at New Balance Nationals.