As the cross country regular season drew to an end, Jesuit’s runners looked to finish on a high note, hopeful for an impressive finish at the district meet. The team did just that, finishing in the top two in its final two regular season meets, the Rick Neill Invitational and the McKinney Boyd Meet.
These accomplishments, however, did not come without challenges, as Jesuit’s own XC Classic was cancelled due to weather. This led to a last minute meet at McKinney Boyd, which was scheduled only a day before the race.
The cancellation obviously disappointed the runners, but they responded well, finishing first overall as a team. Individually, Jesuit placed six runners in the top eleven and defeated four other teams in the meet: Allen, McKinney Boyd, Frisco Independence High School, and Brenham.
Connor O’Neill ‘17 finished second, followed by Connor Garvey ‘16 at fourth. Rounding out the top eleven were Michael Spamer ‘15, John Garvey ‘16, Gus Baldwin ‘17, and Miles Burrow ‘17.
Varsity runner Ethan Brownlee ‘16 commented on the XC Classic’s cancellation, saying, “At first, I was very disappointed because it was a chance to showcase the Jesuit cross country team to other schools.” However, upon hearing the news of the new McKinney Boyd Meet, he noted that he “was glad to hear we were running in an alternate meet the next day.”
Coach Doug Robinson, who was largely in charge of organizing the meet, stated, “It was chaotic trying to contact coaches, meet officials, vendors, parents, and fans to let them know of the cancellation.” Despite this setback, he was very pleased with the team’s performance, saying, “Our team responded well with some of their best efforts of the season.”
Although it was hard to top this first place finish, the distance crew came out with another impressive showing the subsequent week. With double the amount of teams to compete against, the Rangers still finished second, placing only behind Flower Mound.
Even more impressive was Connor O’Neill’s first place individual finish. Once again, Connor Garvey placed fourth, and John Garvey, Spamer, Baldwin, and Burrow all finished inside of the top twenty-five.
O’Neill remained humble despite his success, saying that the team could “attribute most of [its] success to [Coach Robinson].” He also noted that “we are all peaking at the right time,” one of the goals of Coach Robinson’s training.
Coach Robinson, impressed with O’Neill’s performance so far this season, spoke about Connor’s success. While O’Neill entered Jesuit at a level above most freshmen, he has still “been ahead of projection,” which is “a tribute to his strong work ethic and competitive nature,” said Coach Robinson.
Besides racing, the team also had its “varsity squad finalized for the district meet,” which was, according to Ethan Brownlee, “a relief.”
Coach Robinson explained the goals of the team’s training: “The training leading up to this point of the season has been to maximize the gains from the previous months of training and to refine our racing strategies individually and collectively.” Later, he noted the success of this method, considering the two top finishes at the McKinney Boyd and Rick Neill meets.
Now, with the regular season complete, district competition remains the only obstacle. Coach Robinson has made it his goal to prepare his runners for the physically taxing district meet. Specifically, he said, “the focus is on quality training at race pace or faster; so the intensity remains high, but the volume is reduced to allow for proper recovery from each session.”
Despite finishing with a satisfying regular season, the cross country team is still hungry for postseason success. And if the regular season has proved anything, it is that Coach Robinson brings his runners prepared for every meet.
