Several meters ahead of the nearest competitor, the student gives the rest of his team the strength to finish the relay ahead of Denton Guyer. As he approaches the finish line, he pushes himself one final stretch. His foursome finished the relay 30:50, a strong time for the first meet of the season.
The Luke’s Locker Relays, which fell on Saturday, August 27, is an annual event for cross country teams across the state. This year, both the varsity and JV teams participated in the relays, with two groups representing both of the squads. In the relays, a team of four ran a total of 6 miles, 1.5 miles each. This year, one of the Jesuit foursomes finished in 11th place overall.
Dawson Moore ’18 referenced the strong performances at the relays, noting that “the team has many runners on the rise. Personally, I beat my personal record by over a minute. I think that our team will only continue to perform better as we have only just started the endurance training and we are about to begin our strength and speed training.” Dawson ran on one of the two varsity foursomes, running with Julio Avila ’17, Miles Burrow ’16,
and Joey LoRocco ’16, finishing in 27th place overall with a time of 32:26. As the team becomes stronger, both mentally and physically, they will surely fortify their team chemistry as well as continue to improve their race times.
Southlake Carroll won the relays for the second time in a row, with Strake Jesuit and Hebron finished in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. This year, following a strong performance the previous year, the Jesuit varsity foursomes finished in 11th place and 27th place, compared to last year’s 3rd place finish. The team presents a great amount of potential for next year due to many younger runners on varsity, allowing for more room for improvement.
Connor O’Neill ’17, who has emerged as a leader on the team, acknowledged the strong
performance, recognizing that “the rest of my team did very well and placed 11th overall. Although we didn’t medal, we had around 10 guys with very close times, a good indicator of depth that will last throughout the season. Also, the JV team placed 5th, and I’m very proud of how everyone raced.” With the potential that was demonstrated at the Luke’s Locker relays, the team looks to be as strong as ever.
The cross country season has just begun, and the runners have a long path ahead of them. Their next meet is the Southlake Carroll Invitational, where the team hopes to do better
than their already impressive performance at Norbuck Park this past Saturday. Under the strong leadership of Connor O’Neill and the other seniors, the team should be able to improve both in strength and endurance as well as decreasing their individual and team race times.
Photography courtesy of Bryan Montgomery, Jesuit Dallas
