Entering into the season, Jesuit’s cross country team delivered two great performances, showing great promise for the rest of the season. Coach Robinson looks to continue his team’s success with his three captains Connor Garvey ’16, John Garvey ’16, and Connor O’Neil ’17.
In the first meet, they ran a strong relay race up against some good competition. After having the lead once, they were beat out by Strake Jesuit and Southlake Carroll. Even though they did not do as well as they would have wanted, confidence is high as they did manage to beat the previous Oklahoma State Champions.
Connor Garvey ’16 was, “fairly happy with the team,” after the race but felt they should have done better and been in the top two. Everyone has high expectations for this year and Connor believes the team can exceed those expectations.
Looking to build on their previous race, the team managed to deliver another solid showing. This time being a 5k, Connor O’Niel ’17 placed first followed closely by Connor Garvey ’16. Connor O’Niel managed to tie his personal record and Connor Garvey blew his personal record out of the water by 19 seconds.
Although the team had two of the top runners, they only managed to get fourth place. Connor Garvey ’16 stated that he was, “not happy with where we finished at fourth place,” but is hopeful they will score better as a team in the future.
Despite not having a top finish, Miles Burrow ’17 was happy with how his team performed, stating, “I’m extremely happy with what we have done in just our first two races of the season. It’s always great to see what our team is made of in our first couple of races and if this is any indication of our team this year, we will have a very very good year.”
Burrow praised the rest of the team, adding, “we have a great coach and a great group of runners, adding a couple of really fast freshman will really help us out. I’m really excited to see what the new freshman Phillip Spamer can do, he’s one of the fastest freshmen I’ve seen in a while.”
Coach Robinson is expecting big things as he feels the team is not yet, “where we want to be at.” He believes there is still, “plenty of work to do,” but he is confident that his three captains Connor Garvey ’16, John Garvey ’16, and Connor O’Niel ’17 can lead his team and present a good example for the other runners.
With a lot more racing left this year, the team looks determined to be more successful in the future. It should be an exciting year so be sure to follow the team.
