The conclusion of the meet meant yet another strong performance for the Jesuit Cross Country team. The team finished the season strong and performed well enough to compete in the District Championships.
On October 8th, the Jesuit cross country team ran in the Birdville Flyin’ Hawk Invitational, and the team finished in second place in the UIL 9-6A District Championships to qualify for the UIL regional championship.
Birdville Invitational
Jesuit Cross Country came in eighth place at the Birdville Flyin’ Hawk Invitational on October 8th in Hurst, Texas. Led by senior Connor O’Neill, who finished first in his third consecutive tournament, Jesuit finished with 244 overall team points. Flower Mound, the number 5 ranked team in the state, finished in first place in the tournament.
Sam Olden ’17 noted that “the combination of cold weather, a flat course, and fierce competition allowed the rest of the team and I to run one of the best races of the season.” Sam finished 6th in the individual competition, just in front of fellow senior Joey LoRocco, who finished in 8th.
UIL 9-6A District Championships
Strong performances from the whole team led to a 2nd place finish for Jesuit Cross Country at the UIL 9-6A District Championships. Led again by O’Neill, who finished in first place for his 3rd consecutive individual district title, the team finished with 62 team points. Coppell won the team district title, while Lake Highlands ended in 3rd place. These 3 teams have qualified to be the 9-6A representatives at the regional meet.
Junior Dawson Moore noted that “although the team didn’t run the best race, we did what we had to do in order to qualify for the Regional Championship.” Dawson assisted the other team leaders to finish 17 points ahead of 3rd place Lake Highlands at the district championship, sending the team on to Regionals.
UIL Region II
The varsity cross country team finished in 14th place out of the best teams in the region on October 29th, ending their season and coming just short of qualifying for state as a team. Jesuit finished 3rd among the teams from the Dallas-Fort Worth area while The Woodlands won the team championship.
However, Connor O’Neill finished with his 7th consecutive top-5 finish, qualifying for the state championship as an individual. He ran his second fastest time of the season, followed by fellow senior Sam Olden and many other Ranger runners. Olden noted that “I’m proud of the team’s performance, as we worked really hard to make it to regionals. Although we fell short of making it to state, I’m still very proud of the team.
O’Neill said, “It was the last race for the seniors at Norbuck Park. Unfortunately, we placed 14th as a team. It’s tough to not make it to state as a team because we all worked very hard for the past year.” Still, Connor O’Neill will represent Jesuit at the state championship on November 12th. As always, stay tuned for results!
