For most of the cross country season, Brother Martin’s team was a patchwork of healthy runners when Coach Drew Haro ‘03 could piece them together.

And Haro knew that to take on the state’s most elite teams with a seven-man contingent that included five underclassmen was a challenging task in itself, and it would take a poised and confident effort to compete in the Nov. 17 LHSAA Division I Boys State Championship Meet for a trophy.

But the coach felt more at ease when one of the sophomores on the team assured him that the group was more than ready to give it their all in the three-mile run on the Northwestern State course.

“I was actually pretty emotional talking to them (before the race) when Daniel Bonilla told me, ‘We got you, coach.’ Haro said.

Bonilla, one of three sophomores to score points in the meet, led the Crusaders to their fourth straight runner-up finish behind only five-time champion Jesuit. Crossing the finish line in 13th place, Bonilla was the highest-placed finisher for the Crusaders. He covered the rolling course in 16:04.4.

Every Crusader completed the run in fewer than 17 minutes.

Senior Anders Maitrejean (16:14.9) gave the Crusaders 15 points, followed by junior Caleb Carmouche (16:25.5), 25th; senior William Lionnet (16:26.7), 21st; sophomore Carson Mills (16:30.2), 24th; junior Julien Campos (16:35.9), 27th ; and sophomore Jake Cammarata (16:53.7, who completed the team’s effort with 39 points.

“We knew all season that finishing in the top two in the state would be more challenging, considering all the setbacks with injuries and the flu,” Haro noted. “We were missing Maitrejean and Mills in the district meet, then in the regionals, Bonilla joined them with the flu.”

But in the short period of time between the regional and state meet, the Crusaders’ top runners regained their health and were back in form.

When he spoke to the team shortly before the race, Haro impressed upon them that no one was expected to perform above their capability to meet his expectations. “I told them that we didn’t need superheroes, that they just needed to run for each other, and how proud I was of them for handling the ups and downs of the season so well.”

Assured by his runners that they were ready to meet the challenge, the coach became a spectator.

“As I’m watching the race unfold, I see guys executing an almost perfect race plan,” Haro said. “The team was in fifth place at the one-mile mark, third place after the two-mile mark, and second place at the finish.

“When it was all said and done, our 1-5 split was 26 seconds, which was 11 seconds faster than our best of the year,” Haro pointed out. “I told the team on Thursday that if we were around 30 seconds, we’d like our outcome.

“I’m so proud of these guys. They earned every piece of that runner-up trophy.”