Members of the varsity team traveled to Alexandria this weekend to compete in the Holy Savior Menard Invitational at the Ft. Buhlow Recreation Area. The team turned in their best team race of the season in winning the Menard Invitational with 21 points.
While most of the state traveled to the Walker Shootout, the Crusaders traveled to Alexandria with the explicit purpose of running on the state’s toughest course to prepare mentally and physically for the final month of the season. Senior Chace Edwards and freshman Hayden Courrege took control of the race early and fought each other the rest of the way. Chace led through the first mile, Courrege took the lead in the second mile, and the two raced each other stride for stride in the final mile with Chace pulling away in the final few hundred meters for the individual win. Sophomore Myles Ceravolo ran a conservative opening half mile and then proceeded to mow down the competition over the final 2.5 miles. With half a mile remaining, Myles had crept into the top 10 and managed to finish 5th overall with an excellent performance in the second half of the race. Freshman Benjamin Crowley, whose stated goal for the race was “to run with Myles”, finished 6th overall and 4th for the Crusaders…a mere 5 seconds behind Ceravolo. Seniors Felipe Pelaez and Mason Williams set the tone early for the Crusader pack, racing out in the first mile to the third and fourth positions behind teammates Edwards and Courrege. This aggressive effort was important for the rest of our pack as they were able to keep their sights on these two teammates and move up in the race. With 800 meters remaining, Pelaez was in a dead heat for 3rd place with an opponent from Airline, but struggled near the end after leading the chase pack for most of the race on a tough, hilly course. Pelaez and Williams fought down the final stretch to finish 7th and 9th overall, solidifying an outstanding effort from our #3 through #6 that packed together to produce a stellar split of only 9 seconds. Freshman Marco Perez, in his three-mile debut, ran an excellent time of 17:37 to finish seventh for the Crusaders and 19th overall. The rest of the pack – junior Jonathan Henneberg, senior Grant Belsome, junior Ryan Guillera, senior Logan Betzer, and senior Jonathan Fry all finished inside the Top 50 in a field of 165 runners.
All divisions – junior high, junior varsity, and varsity – will return to action this weekend at our home meet – the Jack Schommer Invitational.
