The day started at 6:00 AM for most runners, arriving at Jesuit by 6:30, for their usual light Thursday workout. As the boys paced the concrete along Inwood Road, everything seemed just like any other practice for the cross country team. The only difference for the team was that the next day, October 26, 2012, the JV and Varsity teams would be competing for the 9-5A Cross Country title.
Before the meet all the runners exuded an air of enthusiasm and confidence on how the Meet was going to fair. Dillon Smith ’14 recollected how district rival, Lake Highlands, had defeated the team in a prior Meet, but was convinced that the varsity team would come back to defeat their rival in the District Meet.
However, in recognizing that the task ahead of the team was difficult, Smith added that, “Lake Highland’s should bring some competition.” Another strong link for the team is Connor Garvey ’16, a promising new member of the Cross-Country team, who despite his naiveté to the high school cross-country circuit, runs on the Varsity Cross-Country team because of his natural running ability and endurance. He commented that he “was aiming for top ten in District,” and that the Varsity would try their best to beat Lake Highland’s at the District Meet.
Head Coach Bob Molyet trusted that his team would do well and his Varsity team would move onto the Regional Meet, seeing that they have been working very hard during both the summer and fall.
At long last, the day of the district meet finally arrived. At the meet, Josh Segal ’13 broke his personal record, despite the unusually long track, extending an extra 800 meters. The first mile of the Meet’s pace was very fast, and the majority of the runners stayed in a pack. That was until the second mile, when Grant Pittman ’13 unexpectedly broke away from everyone and was in first place for the entire second mile.
Unfortunately, two of Lake Highland’s runners caught and passed Pittman, leaving him with 3rd place. Garvey finished in 17th place. Due to the unusually cold conditions, it was a chilling 40 degrees at race, many of the Jesuit runners had trouble warming up their muscles before the race. Despite Lake Highland’s victory, the Varsity team still advances to the Regional Meet, since they placed second.
Speculating about the upcoming Regional Meet, on November 17, Luke Kiser ’13 said that it will be a difficult meet to win because the well-conditioned teams from Houston have been doing so well this year. However, Smith and Kiser believe they can still advance to the State Meet as long as they do their absolute best.
Summing up the District Meet, Coach Molyet said that he was “pleased in a sense that his runners ran well. [And glad that] the team did well as a whole.” Coach Molyet also went on to mention that the District Meet’s results for the JV team spoke to how the Cross-Country program was going in the right direction, and with assets like Garvey, the Cross-Country team will only get stronger in years to come.
