The depth of the Jesuit Cross Country teams was on display Saturday at the SJS Subsection meet at Frogtown as they qualified the most athletes to the Section Championships in over a decade. All four teams, Varsity, JV, Sophomore and Freshmen, along with 3 individuals in the freshman race and 4 individuals in the JV race qualified for the Section Championships at Willow Hill next Saturday.

The freshmen ran in the first race of the day and took the top two places along with 5 in the top 9 to easily win their section. Braden King edged Gavin Joaquin for the win with both athletes timed at 11:31. Tyler Offerman was 6th in 11:38, Ian King was 8th in 11:43 and Joey Ryan was 9th in 11:43. Cameron Cleland was 17th in 11:55 and Harley Sherman was 19th in 11:57 to grab the final spot on the frosh team. Julian Curiale finished ahead of all other teams’ 5th finisher and secured an individual qualifier in 21st in 11:59 as did Diego Levenfeld in 26th (12:14) and Jack Ericson in 31st (12:22). The team scored 26 points, well ahead of 2nd place Davis (61) and 3rd place Oak Ridge (105).

The sophomores were led by Michael Chambers, who took 3rd in 11:32. Tommy Gee was 6th in 11:48 and Joe Ryan was 7th in 11:49. Michael Gamette was 23rd and Lukas Crawford was 24th, both in a time of 12:03 to secure 2nd place as a team and a bid to the Section finals. Timmy Canalas was 95th (13:31) and Matthew Jones was 99th (13:39) for the Marauders. Davis won the race with 51 points to Jesuit’s 61.

The depth was on display in the JV race as the Marauders scored a perfect 15 with the first 6 places and 10 in the top 20. Senior Colin Brannan led from start to finish with his 16:47 win. Seniors Bobby Canalas (2nd, 17:14) and Seamus Caslin (3rd, 17:15) were next with senior Todd Russell (4th, 17:24) and junior Talon Krieger (5th, 17:27) completing the sweep. Junior Connor King added a 6th place finish (17:32) for good measure and Junior Demetri Petuskey was 19th in 17:41. In addition, senior Russell Kustic (11th, 17:47), junior Martin Smith (19th, 18:05), junior JT Leach (20th, 18:06) and junior Eric Huitt (36th, 18:45) all qualified to the Championship Race as individuals. Davis scored 68 for 2nd with Bella Vista in 3rd with 92.

The varsity squad implemented pack running to ensure a bid to the section meet. Junior Matt Strangio won the race in 16:17, a step ahead of senior Colin Ryan who took second. Senior Antonio Vargas was 7th in 16:26 while junior Chase Gordon, senior Anthony Rogado and senior Miles Worthen came in 10th, 11th and 12th to secure the victory. The Marauders won with 31 points over Davis, who had 103, and Pleasant Grove, who scored 155.

The SJS Championships will be held November 10th at Willow Hill in Folsom where the four squads will battle for section and individual titles and the varsity team will be looking to place in the top 3 teams to earn a bid to the State Championships.