By Ron Brocato
In a tune-up for the Oct. 30 District 9-5A cross country championship run, Brother Martin’s varsity and junior varsity teams continued their preparation for the home stretch of the season by hosting the Jack Schommer Invitational meet.
Placing two runners among the top 10 to cross the City Park course’s finish line and two more among the top 13, the Crusaders shared second-place points with Newman among the 16 varsity teams in the field.
The result was an impressive showing for the Crusaders’ limited squad, which outscored teams from district rivals Jesuit, John Curtis, Holy Cross, and Rummel.
But the junior varsity squad was even more outstanding, scoring a perfect 15 points in sweeping its boys’ division.
The district championship meet on Thursday, Oct. 30, is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. on the three-mile City Park course.
The Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s State Meet will take place on Monday, Nov. 17, at Northwestern State University (Natchitoches), starting at 9 a.m.
The Crusaders’ junior varsity team will conclude its season by competing in the Metro meet on Saturday, Nov. 1, in City Park.
Coach Drew Haro’s varsity team placed five runners among the top 13 finishers, led by seventh-place Devin Nicks ‘26 16:43.91. Teammate Brayden Bulloch ‘27 (16:54.14) placed ninth, followed by Crusaders Nathan Oubre ‘29 (17:06.11) and Charles Ward ‘27 (17:10.39), who finished 12th and 13th, respectively.
Dutchtown’s 55 points bettered the 57 shared by Brother Martin and Newman for the team championship. The Gryphon harriers were paced by the individual meet champion, Shah Shrey’s time of 15:55.79, the only runner to cross the finish line less than 16 minutes.
The meet provided the opportunity for less experienced runners to gain experience.
“With the district meet on Thursday, our top runners had the weekend off from racing,” said Haro. “That gave us a chance to see some of our next-level guys compete against other varsity competition.”
The respite also allowed the coach to evaluate his younger runners’ improvement against strong competition. And he liked what he saw.
“To finish second behind a strong Dutchtown team was a good confidence boost for that squad.”
In a field of 17 competing schools, the dominant junior Crusaders had a parade of seven runners follow each other across the final stripe in a perfect performance. They teamed to outscore second place Dutchtown by 37 points.
Benjamin Florane ‘29, who was clocked in 17:53.16, was the individual winner, closely followed by freshman teammate William Havnen’s '29 17:57.07, a few steps behind.
Five more runners wearing crimson and gold continued the low point parade by finishing the run in order, led by Caleb Farrae ‘29 (18:07.32), Stephen Boue ‘27 (18:10.23), Hudson Wall ‘26 (18:13.56), Finn Neelis ‘29 (18:39.26), and Jon Havnen ‘29 (18.:42.44).
Their efforts dwarfed Dutchtown’s runner-up total of 82 points.
“The JV team has been a revolving door all year with a bunch of talented freshmen, so to see them (record) a perfect score in their division was exciting,” Haro pointed out.”
Mount Carmel (28 points) and Dominican (65) were the top two finishers in the girls’ varsity division of the annual Schommer Invitational that honors the former Crusaders’ track and field coaching legend.
