Cross country titles to Jesuit, MCA

by Ron Brocato

By Ron Brocato
Clarion Herald

Jesuit answered the starter’s gun and didn’t look back as it easily repeated as the District 9-5A boys’ cross country champion on Oct. 31.

There was no trick but all treats on that Halloween afternoon in City Park as six of the first seven finishers were Blue Jays.

Led by the reigning individual state champion Brady Mullen’s time of 14:36.43, Jesuit scored 18 points to top the district field of six teams.

Mullen’s teammate Brady Monahan placed second, some 20 seconds later, and Brother Martin’s Noah Mooney was third. That same trio were the first three finishers at the 2023 state meet.

Other Blue Jays to finish in order from fourth to seventh place were Andrew Nimmo, Nick Accardo, Connor Fanberg and Nicholas Braud.

Mount Carmel was without the reigning state girls’ champion Catalina Richard, who suffered an off-season injury, but the Cubs had a new heroine in Stella Junius, who led her school to the girls’ district championship.

Junius, who placed 10th in the 2023 state meet, finished the three-mile run in 18:08.71 to make her one of the favorites to win this year.

In scoring 19 points in the three-team district competition, Mount Carmel placed four runners among the top five finishers.

Chasing Junius were teammates Lucy Quintana, second; Mary Quintana, fourth; and Carolina Zimmerman, fifth.

Dominican’s Grace Schneider, placed third in leading her school to a runner-up finish.