Throughout the season, the Jesuit Rangers Track & Field program has proved to be the district champion and a top competitor at area. In their last two meets, the Rangers competed in the area competition in Mesquite on April 25 and then concluded their season in the regional tournament this past Saturday, May 6.
In the area competition, the Jesuit athletes that qualified were 4×200 relay team, a few distance guys, and several throwers and pole vaulters in the field. The 4×200 team, who exceled in the district meet, featured Garrett Amy ’15, Calvin Fields ’15, Sam Musso ’16, and Adam Holtz ’16. Despite a solid 7th place finish, they were unable to advance to regionals because only the top four teams made it.
Also in area, the Rangers throwers participating in the field events were Adam Bartlett ’15 and Nmesoma Nwafor ’15. Nwafor proved to be dominant in this tournament, taking 2nd in both the shot-put and discus, punching his ticket to regionals. Bartlett, as well as Nwafor, qualified for regionals following a solid 4th place finish in the discus.
In the field as well, pole vaulters Jack Whelan ’16, Dan Carver ’15, and freshman Jake Elrod. Whelan and Carver were able to advance but unfortunately, Elrod was unable to advance. Nevertheless, it is very rare that a freshman even qualifies for area.
The distance runners participating in area featured a lineup of three dominant cross-country runners, Connor “Stillskin” Garvey ’16, Jon Garvey ’16, and Connor O’Neill ’17. All three runners participated in both the 3200 meter (2 mile), and the 1 mile race. In the 3200, the top four runners advanced, and luckily for the Rangers, O’Neill took first, Connor Garvey 2nd, and John 4th.
Following the race, Connor Garvey explained, “taking first, second and fourth place in the 3200 really gave us a ton of confidence going into regionals.” Garvey added, “next year is looking promising for us as many participants in the 3200 are graduating this year.”
In the mile, Connor Garvey set a personal record time at 4 minutes 24 seconds, taking first place, O’Neill took second at 4 minutes 25 seconds. As a result of their dominant performances, both runners advanced to regionals.
When asked about his team’s performance in area, Coach Robinson answered that his team “performed very well and dominated the distance events” He added that he was “happy that the field events did very well too.”
With tough competition in the regionals, Nwafor placed ninth but unfortunately was unable to advance because only the top eight qualified for state. Bartlett, the other field participant, took 15th place and was unable to advance as well. Both Bartlett and Nwafor proved themselves this season, and closed it out with solid performances.
Also in the field, pole vaulters Whelan and Carver competed at the Baylor track. Whelan started things off by clearing 13 feet, but was unable to advance and Carver was unfortunately disqualified as his pole snapped.
In the mile, only the top two finishers advanced to state, increasing the competition. Connor ONeill and Connor Garvey started off well, but neither were able to advance as Garvey took 15th place at 4 minutes 41 seconds and ONeill took 10th finishing at 4 minutes 26 seconds.
Although he could not qualify, Garvey was happy, stating, “we all benefitted from this experience and I know what to expect in the mile next year.”
Later that day, in the 3200, all three distance runners competed, and O’Neill took a dominant 3rd place, Connor Garvey and John were neck and neck throughout the race but John prevailed. Unfortunately, none of the Jesuit runners were able to advance to state as it was narrowed down to the top 2 finishers.
Robinson, as well as Garvey, was happy with his team’s overall performance at regionals. Robinson went as far as to state that his team is “far ahead of where we were at this time last year.”
Overall, Coach Robinson was happy with how the whole season ended up, stating, “there are areas we need to improve on, but overall the guys competed well.” Robinson concluded that “we learned from districts, and area and we now know what to expect for next year.
To say the least, this was an excellent season for the Rangers and next year should be even better.
