It’s an early start for the cross country team this morning as they head to their meet in McKinney, making their way to the bus at 6:15 am. The sun has not risen yet and it is still dark, most of the city asleep at such an early time on a Saturday morning. The team, still dazed and groggy, begins loading the bus with the tents and coolers, preparing for the long morning ahead of them. As soon as the runners finish loading the bus, they eagerly get in their seats, most are ready to return to their sleep but a few listen to music on the quiet ride over. As soon as the bus pulls into the meet area, the team unloads the bus and gets the tent set up for the day. After having done so, the team lounges on the tarp, some still attempting to continue their sleep in the brisk and dark morning.
The day begins rolling as the sun starts to come up and Varsity begins warm ups for their race starting earlier on in the morning. Once at the starting line, they run their final warmup strides and begin a prayer followed by a team yell which gets the team fired up to race.
After the shot went off to start the race, the Jesuit varsity runners sped off, looking to find a good starting position in the head of the pack. The course was filled with many difficult and extended inclines, but the runners managed to fight through them and have enough energy to finish out the end of the race strong.
The Jesuit Cross Country team progressively comes closer to their important district meet after performing at the Lovejoy Invitational in McKinney on Spetember 24.
Our Varsity team finished off sixteenth overall and had top finisher Connor O’Neil to carry the team finishing in first place, followed by Joey Lorrocco ’17 coming in as the second runner for Jesuit and then followed by Elliot Ingram ’17. After their race the Varsity runners cooled down and had a well deserved chocolate milk while the junior varsity runners prepared for their race. Unfortunately for the JV runners, their race was postponed and were forced to wait and continue warming up before the start of their race at around eleven. By the time JV was up at the line to start, the conditions had become much harsher. The sun was out shining on the runners directly and the temperature was much higher. The heat, factored in with the humidity and hilly course, made a very challenging race, but the JV runners fought through it, placing seventh overall, with runner Will Kelton ’20 finishing at ninth place overall.
Varstiy runner Joey Lorocco ’17 expressed the difficulty of the course, stating that “the last stretch of the course was a gradual uphill, but our training paid off and many runners on the team used it to their advantage to pass the competition.”
Varsity runner Connor O’Neil ’17 echoed similar thoughts as he stated “The Lovejoy meet was a good meet. It was a tough course, very hilly. Our guys did very well. They really stepped up and were able to take on the hills with confidence. We did hill workouts a lot in the Summer, so we were ready for it. Our team placing wasn’t what we expected, but we keep getting better as we go into championship season.”
After having the Lovejoy meet under their belt, the Jesuit Cross Country team is further mentally and physically prepared for the next race ahead of them. Despite the difficult conditions and placing, the team uses this experience to get a feel for the district meet which will likely have similar conditions, and they also take into account where they are in their training.
