Jesuit’s cross country and track teams have a long rich history of winning, and the way this year has been shaping up so far suggests that this tradition will carry on. The Jesuit Cross Country team’s hard work and dedication in the summer is now beginning to pay off as they transition into the main part of the season.
In the first meet this year, Jesuit took second place with Dillon Smith ’14, Michael Boone’13, and Grant Pittman ’13 leading the pack for the Rangers. In the second meet, the Rangers faced 300 runners from different schools including powerhouses like Plano West and Southlake Carroll. Despite their seemingly untouchable opponents, the
Rangers managed to keep up and compete with these other schools. Luke Kiser ’13 described the team as “promising an
d well-prepared for the first meets and the rest to come.”
Through the third and fourth meet of the season the Rangers were very consistent and did not fall behind. Dillon Smith ’14 led the Rangers and finished 9th overall in the third meet. The Rangers had a thriller in the most recent race, with Smith pulling ahead for the group at the last second, earning them a third place finish and a trophy. Varsity finished second in their division while JV finished fourth, marking a great day for the Jesuit Cross Country program.
Coach, Bob Molyet, optimistically characterized the team as “a team of potential that is constantly improving day-by-day.” The team’s main goal is to succeed in district so they can qualify for the state meet. Connor Garvey ’16, one of the few freshmen on Varsity commented, “The goal is within reach, we need to take it one meet at a time because you can only win them all if you win the first. I know that our veterans know that and they will lead the team.”
Kiser added, “at our rate, qualifying for state will be very possible.” After only four meets, almost the entire team has beaten their personal bests from last year, showing progress and improvement in the entire program. The team’s depth is tremendous, with several runners capable of bringing in big wins this year as displayed already by the likes of Dillon Smith ‘14.
Coach Molyet predicted, “We should be better this year than we were last year because we have many returning Varsity runners,” but went on to add “some runners are staying at the same pace as they were last year which needs to improve.” Despite their success so far, the cross country team is still not firing on all cylinders, with some runners battling injuries. When the team returns to full health, they should be almost unstoppable.
With much of the season still remaining, one can only wait and see if the great expectations of this Jesuit’s cross country team will be met and whether or not the team qualifies for state.
