The Jesuit cross country team started the season off right. Through two meets varsity has collected two top five finishes. The JV teams has been even better, also finishing in the top three in both meets. Through two meets, the Rangers have seen huge improvements in times from both varsity and JV runners.
Birdville Early Bird Invitational
In a fantastic start to the season, the senior tandem of Charlie Thornton and Henry Beckman placed fourth and fifth, respectively, at the Birdville Early Bird Invitational, which was held on August 12 at The Buff in Haltom City.
With a time of 10:16.99, Thornton finished first among Jesuit runners, followed by Beckman in 10:22.81. With a seventh-place finish and a time of 10:39.47, senior Francisco Almaguer was Jesuit’s third-highest finisher. Senior Drew Lamberson came in at number 32 with a time of 11:26.64. Sophomore Ethan Irrobali finished in 34th place (11:28.90), Jaxon Tanner finished in 47th place (11:48.76). And senior Jackson Schutze completed the varsity lineup in 12:15.19. This powered the varsity lineup to a fourth-place finish at the event.
Freshmen led the way in the junior varsity race, with Henry King and Ethan Speer finishing 2nd and 4th with times of 11:28.59 and 11:39.21. The Rangers had 5 runners in the top twenty, with sophomores Kevin Nazareth and Alex Shomin finishing 13th and 14th respectively. Additionally, freshman Aidan McGuire secured a top twenty finish, and Junior Sam Loh rounded out the top 25. These stellar performances were good enough for the JV to bring home the championship, winning by a whopping 46 points.
This was an excellent result for the Rangers and exactly how they envisioned the season starting. Junior Sam Loh was very pleased with the way the season started, saying:
I’m really happy with this performance. All the hard work we’ve been putting in this summer has really paid off and I’m excited to see how the rest of the season goes – Sam Loh ’25
This was one of Loh’s best performances as a Ranger and something he said he’ll look to build on. The rest of the team echoed this sentiment, as many first-time runners were very happy with their first meet.
Greenhill Six Mile Relay
On Saturday, August 26th the Rangers were back in action for their second meet of the season. The Greenhill Six Mile Relay is the only time the team will race in a relay format this season, the team was split into groups of 4.
The varsity lineup consisted of freshman Henry King, sophomore Ethan Irrobali, and seniors Drew Lamberson and Henry Beckman. The team finished third in 6A with a total time of 32:48.52. Henry Beckman ran the anchor leg for the varsity and posted and individual time of 7:33, with Drew Lamberson running an 8:19.
For this meet, the team had two JV “A” teams competing. The first team included three freshman, Ethan Speer, Ryan Lopez, and Andrew Willson, with sophomore Jaxon Tanner bringing it home. The second team consisted of Aidan McGuire ’27, Kevin Nazareth ’26, Joaquin Lopez ’27, and Alex Shomin ’26. The first team of Speer, R Lopez, Willson, and Tanner finished second with a time of 36:22.51. The second team was right on their heels finishing fourth with a time of 37:23.96.
Afterwards, Junior Luke Deshotels, who ran on the JV “B” team, commented on the stellar performances declaring:
This was a fantastic result from all three teams, we couldn’t have asked for a better start, and I look forward to building on it – Luke Deshotels ’25
The Rangers look to continue their strong and are back in action Friday, September 1st at the Fossil Creek Invitational.
Stay tuned to the Roundup for more coverage on cross country!
