On Saturday, Nov. 1, the Jesuit High School Sacramento cross country team competed at Jessup University for the Sierra Foothill League Championship, and they secured yet another title. 

Jesuit entered the meet with high hopes after a successful season of consistent training and top finishes, having been ranked as a top three cross country team in America. The Marauders won the team title with 21 points, placing five scorers in the top ten with four runners in the top five. Connor Bilodeau ’27 led the way, winning the race, followed by Kyle Jakary ’26 and Isaac Abbott ’26 with Mathew Ogilvie ’27 and Lucas Alberts ’27 rounding off the scorers.  

“My race plan for this meet was to stay in the front and finish strong,” Connor said. “In our League, there are a lot of state/national performing kids so my goal is to just race them. I stop going for a good time and just stick to racing to my best ability.”

The team was not at peak form either, as Kyle was overcoming a hip injury from earlier in the season.

“I felt a little nervous; I was kind of overcoming a minor hip injury, so I felt like I was a little behind compared to some of the other people,” Kyle said. “It was still lingering in my head, but I really tried to just put that aside and go into it open minded. I’m happy I did because I ended up doing really well, which was a nice confidence booster.”

Issac, who returned after a few weeks away, added to the team’s success with another standout performance.

“I was excited to race again after missing the past few weeks,” Isaac said. “The race plan was to work together as a team and push each other to help us place as high as possible. This was my fourth league championship, so it was nice to go 4/4 especially with this group of guys.”

 Jesuit’s post-season success continued on Nov. 15th, when the Marauders won their third straight section championship, led yet again by Isaac and Kyle.

With all of their runners now healthy, the team was ready for whatever this playoff push was about to bring. Jesuit entered the section championship with all eyes on them, ranked second in the nation and they did not disappoint.

Isaac set a phenomenal time at 15:30.2 crossing the finish line first for the team and second individually. Kyle also had an impressive time of 15:50, finishing third for the team and fifth individually.

After dominating at both the league meet and the section meet, the Jesuit cross country team now sets its sights on an even bigger prize: the state championship.

This year’s state championship meet will bring the fastest teams from all across California together. For Division II, the top contenders include Jesuit – the defending champions –, Woodbridge, and Campolindo. 

The state meet will be held at Woodward Park in Fresno on Nov. 29. This historic 5k course will test the team’s grit, focus, and determination. With their whole season building up to this meet, the team is ready to rise to the challenge and secure back to back state championships.