For many, picture day is about looking your very best. But for Santa Clara University’s men’s cross country team, bad haircuts, outrageous mustaches and goofy expressions are par for the course for annual roster photos.
Harvey Chilcott recalled the shocked look on his barber’s face when he went to get his hair fixed the day after he shot his roster photo about a week ago.
The fifth-year master’s student from Tasmania had asked his neighbors to give him a jagged and lopsided curtain haircut — a sharp contrast from what the popular ’90s look worn by a young Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio is supposed to look like — before taking the scissors into his own hands and carving out some bald spots.
While the team has purposefully taken unconventional headshots for 17 years now, last year’s photos went viral on social media. SB Nation, a sports blog owned by Vox Media, even posted a video on TikTok rating some of the photos based on hair and expressions. The ordeal drew widespread praise far beyond the university — and raised the stakes for the 2023-24 season even higher.
Santa Clara Men’s Cross Country team is the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen @edsbs pic.twitter.com/y3LTPMzPgR
— TB (@TBGoPokes) September 25, 2022
“This year the school did a really good job of helping create a fun atmosphere,” Chilcott said. “We had everyone in the room at once, and the photographer would take a photo, and we had all the pictures come up instantly on TV so we could see the roster shots and what it would look like online. Everyone was in stitches.”
The most recent roster photos, which were uploaded to the university’s website Thursday morning, show an assortment of looks, from handlebar mustaches and pigtails to purple hair and mullets. Senior Luke Johnson posed cross-eyed while junior Colin Peattie, who went to high school at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, portrayed his best look of sheer horror.
To prepare for the photoshoot, the team gathered at one of their homes the night before, armed with mirrors, razors and scissors. For sophomore Kyle Berg of Boulder, Colorado, it was his first time ever cutting hair.
“It was a fun experience because most of us don’t have any experience cutting hair, and the goal is both to look crazy, but also salvage a little bit of our reputation,” Berg said. “It’s quite hilarious to attempt to give people haircuts that one, you’ve never done before, and two, you have no idea what the end product will be. So you have to really trust your teammates.”
For both Chilcott and Berg, the tradition is more than just a few laughs.
“We obviously take running very seriously, but it shows that we can have a good time and enjoy the process while we compete in a sport that we love,” Chilcott said. “I think it does show a great amount of team bonding that we can all be on the same page and commit to something as absurd as this.”
As an incoming freshman last year, Berg said he received a group text message during the summer letting him know he would need to grow out his facial hair in preparation for an “ugly mustache.”
“Once you hear that message you know I’m not only joining a competitive team to commit my athletic spirits to, I’m also joining a family and that general camaraderie of I actually love my team because you get this connection that’s farther than just the sport,” Berg said.
Even their coach, Felipe Montoro, has gotten on board with the antics.
“Goofy headshots are a longstanding tradition that is certainly silly, but clean fun,” he said in a statement. “I appreciate our guys not taking themselves too seriously and finding ways to have fun while still keeping their focus on being the best possible student-athletes they can be.”
As part of raising the stakes this year, the team, under the name the Bronco Bunch, has created their own online shop selling mugs, T-shirts, hats and posters with their characterized faces on them.
You can find them at broncobunch.shop or on Instagram and X, previously know as Twitter, @Bronco_Bunch.
