With the Rebel men’s cross country team fresh off a No. 22 finish at the NCAA Championships last November and the women’s team hungry for a championship berth of their own, the Rebels are ready for another year of competition. However, after an interesting offseason, Ole Miss will look much different than it did a season ago.
Chaos in a coaching search
On July 3, Ole Miss coach Adam Smith announced that he was leaving the Rebel program to accept the position of director of track and field and cross country at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
Smith, who joined the Rebel staff in 2022, led the team to four appearances in the NCAA Championships. His departure announcement came as a slight surprise; Smith told The Stride Report that his decision was not an easy one.
“William & Mary were the ones to reach out. I’m familiar with the area (from when) I was with Reebok Track Club as a coach in Charlottesville, (Va.),” Smith said. “Plus, (my family and I) wanted to be closer to family. It began to make sense.”
After an 11-day search, Ole Miss announced Brandon Hazouri from Wake Forest as a new coach on July 14.
Then, in an odd turn of events, Wake Forest announced on July 24 that Hazouri would return to the Demon Deacons in an elevated position.
The Rebels were left without a coach once again. On July 30, however, Ole Miss announced Cory Leslie as the new cross country and track distance coach. Leslie comes to Oxford most recently from Baltimore, where he was the head coach of the Under Armour Professional Team.
This year, Leslie will look to use his experience as both a former professional athlete and an elite coach to develop the cross country team and push the Rebels to new levels, a sentiment he echoed in his opening comments to the fans.
“I’m incredibly honored to join Ole Miss and grateful to coach Connie Price-Smith for the opportunity to be a part of such a respected program,” Leslie said. “Ole Miss has a tradition of excellence, and I’m excited to build on that by developing student-athletes who can compete for championships while growing as people.”
New roster
In addition to a new coach, the Rebel roster looks slightly different than last season. With a few transfers out of the program and the graduation of women’s star runner Beth Arentz and men’s star Toby Gillen, other Rebel runners will have to step up.
Notably, on the men’s side, senior Kidus Misgina will return for his second season as a Rebel. The 2025 SEC Newcomer of the Year finished just outside All-American honors at last season’s NCAA Championships with a No. 46 finish.
This season, Misgina will look to help lead the Rebels back to the national race along with sophomores Owen Kelley and John Shoemaker, both of whom will benefit from the experience they gained last year.
The women’s team fell just short of a national berth last season, but the trio of Leah Penick, Ella Johnson and Adie Luna will look to propel the team to national success. All three are fresh off career bests in the 6-kilometer race.
Upcoming season
This season, the Rebels will open up competition at the Memphis Twilight XC Classic on Saturday, Sept. 5.
At this meet, the men will run a 4-mile race and the women will run a 5-kilometer race. Although the races are shorter than their typical 8-kilometer and 6-kilometer runs respectively, the Rebels’ performance should serve as a good indicator of how the season will progress.
Live results from the race can be found here once the competition starts.
