The Trinity Cross Country Rocks finished the 2025 season as state runner-up, marking the second consecutive season the Shamrock Harriers finished as Trinity Invitational Champions, region champions and state runner-up.

Enjoy the interview below with Trinity’s Head Cross Country Coach, Thomas Cave!

Bret Saxton ’05, Trinity Director of Communications: Coach Cave, thanks so much for agreeing to answer some of these questions below. Let’s take some time to quickly introduce yourself: your background, where you went to school, and what drew you to running.

Head Coach Thomas Cave: Thank you for the opportunity! I grew up in Louisville and attended the University of Louisville as a student athlete before transferring to Bellarmine University.

I teach business-related courses at Trinity, including Financial Literacy and Digital Marketing. I started at Trinity five years ago as an assistant cross-country and track coach and now feel very passionate and fortunate to be in the building every day as a teacher.

Whether it was meeting my wife, giving me some of my best friends, or just a four-mile run in the morning before my day begins, running has always been a big part of my life.

BS: I love it! When and how were you able to translate your love of running into coaching?

TC: I got into coaching somewhat by accident. At the time, I was working for a company here in Louisville and my boss mentioned that his daughter's grade school had a sixth-grade boy who showed some talent as a runner and wanted some additional direction. I decided to go out to one of their practices and meet him.

That one practice ended up changing the direction of my life.

Through that experience, I realized how much I enjoyed meeting runners of all ability levels and helping them figure out where they wanted to go. One of my favorite parts of coaching is the process of putting together a plan, working hard, staying consistent and watching them accomplish things that might have seemed impossible otherwise.

Eventually, that passion led me to Trinity, first as an assistant coach and now as the head coach.

BS: That’s a great microcosm of what coaching is, right? The process of development at all levels. Let’s brag on yourself a little bit! Talk about the sustained and consistent success of Trinity’s Cross Country Program. What have some of the highlights been for you, collectively for the team and personally, for you as a coach?

TC: The consistency and history of Trinity Cross Country is probably what stood out to me the most before I got here. There have been great teams, championships, individual performances and incredibly talented runners throughout the history of this program. But sustained success doesn't happen because of one great runner or one great season. It happens because generation after generation of Trinity runners and coaches have been willing to uphold the standard established by the people who came before them.

I feel a tremendous responsibility to continue that tradition.

I inherited this program in a great place because of Scott Holzknecht. Scott taught me a tremendous amount about coaching, but more importantly, he taught me all about Trinity's history and what this place truly means. I learned that you aren't just coaching a cross-country team here. You're taking care of something that has been built over decades by coaches, athletes, families and alumni.

Some of my favorite moments haven't necessarily been the biggest races or fastest times. They're watching a freshman who’s new to running develop into a varsity runner by their senior year. It's seeing a senior accomplish something he couldn't have imagined a few years earlier. It's watching our upperclassmen lead by example to the younger runners.

Winning is important to us, but it's not our purpose. We're competitive, and we're going to have big goals every year. But ultimately, the thing that means the most to me is watching these guys go through the program and come out of it different than when they entered.

Personally, becoming the head coach at Trinity has been one of the biggest honors of my career. I understand the responsibility that comes with having "Trinity" across your chest.

BS: Great answer! I think all of Trinity’s coaches certainly understand that responsibility and embrace the challenge and honor that comes along with that. Looking ahead, what are you most looking forward to for the future of Trinity Cross Country?

TC: I'm excited because I genuinely believe the best days of Trinity Cross Country are still ahead of us.

We have tremendous tradition, but we don't want to simply live off that tradition. We want the current generation of runners to add something to it.

We're trying to build a program where expectations are extremely high, where our guys believe they can compete against any team in any race, and where being part of Trinity Cross Country means something much more than any individual goals.

We have around 60 guys in the program right now, and that's something I'm incredibly excited about. There are kids at every level developing and pushing each other.

I want our alumni to come back five or ten years from now and still feel like they're part of this program. I want our current runners to understand they're part of something that existed long before them and will continue long after them.

My responsibility is to take care of it while it's mine to lead, continue moving it forward and eventually pass it on better than I found it.

BS: What advice would you give current Trinity students?

TC: Don't waste the opportunity you have.

Four years feels like forever when you're a freshman, and suddenly you're a senior wondering where it went.

Get involved. Compete at something. Take some chances. Go to the games. Join the cross-country team, join a club, or just do something new. Talk to people outside of your normal friend group. Build relationships with your teachers and coaches.

And don't be afraid to do hard things.

Some of the experiences you're going to appreciate most later in life are the ones that aren't particularly fun while you're going through them. The difficult practice. The class that challenges you. The loss that hurts.

Trinity gives you an incredible opportunity, but ultimately you must decide what you're going to do with it.

I'd tell our students to leave here knowing they gave something back to the place.

Don't just graduate from Trinity.

Leave Trinity better than you found it.