"Tradition Never Graduates"
Jesuit's boys cross-country is off to another auspicious start in 2007
The Top 7 finishers at this year's "Meeting of the Marauders"
By Richard Gonzalez
Editor, DyeStatCal.com
(AUGUST 25, 2007) -- The Jesuit High School varsity cross-country roster was raided last June.
The bandits made off with just about everything in sight from the acclaimed team that placed fourth at Nike Team Nationals, the highest year-end national finish -- either by race or by national ranking polls -- in the history of California's most successful boys' distance-running program.
This informal Saturday gathering was to signify the quaint, upper middle-class community's attempt to begin assessing the pillaged remains from that since-departed sensational senior class that was several years in the making.
Coaches and runners from the Sacramento suburb snuck under the yellow caution tape and carefully scaled over the rubble to size up the reconstruction process and perhaps gain a head start on the task.
Their findings?
An epiphany: True tradition never graduates.
Despite courting just two varsity returnees from last year's state championship lineup, this weekend's annual "Meeting of the Marauders" intrasquad meet yielded a windfall of good news:
Fourth-fastest team time in race history, bettered only by three previous state championship Marauder teams... second-fastest freshmen team time in school history, trailing only (by two seconds) the historic 2003 crew that graduated last fall... fastest freshmen individual time in race history... second-fastest sophomore individual time in race history... the arrival of a foreign transfer student who placed eighth overall despite joining the team this very same week... either 42 freshmen or sophomores among the 57 finishers. A young team, yes. But those are great signs for the future.
"They definitely looked pretty good," said a former Jesuit coach who was in attendance and has had a good pulse on the team over the last 15 years.
"You will notice that every team in the (Top 10) teams timewise went on to win a state championship except one so it is a pretty good indicator to the hand that has been dealt. ... They could make some serious noise in November."
If so, it'd be a familiar sound. The Marauders have been the most decorated program in the state over the last two decades, including 19 trips to the state meet in the last 20 years and an unprecedented nine boys state team championships.
This year, the Marauders return to Division I, a classification where they also won state titles during the mid-1990s. The two-time defending state Division II champions must challenge Orange County powers Dana Hills, Trabuco Hills and Valencia in aiming to return to the state meet podium for the 5th time in six years.
Perhaps heading their bid this year will be state meet veterans Kyle Lackner and Emilio Garcia, who went 1-2 in the 2.7-mile "Meeting of the Marauders" race.
From there, half-mile track specialist Gio Piccone could develop into a key hill-and-dale performer along with rising sophomore sensation Adam Kelly-Strong, who flashed signs of promise as a 9th grader a year ago.
Two potential key varsity newcomers
to watch are frosh T.J. Brown-Pinizzotto and junior Colin Chapman. Brown-Pinizzotto set a frosh course record at "Meeting of the Marauders" while placing seventh overall. Chapman, who joined the squad earlier this week, was 8th overall. Chapman reportedly won his age group at the U.S. Military European Championships last year.
With only five seniors among the top 57 finishers on Saturday, Jesuit should be strong for a while.
After all, tradition never graduates.
On To The Next Step....
Jesuit Marauder alum currently in college and
reportedly
seeking to make their school team this fall. |
Athlete's Name |
College Destination |
Samir Benouar |
Long Beach State |
Ryan Courtwright |
U of San Francisco |
Scott Donahue |
Loyola Marymount |
Alec Gragg |
Navy |
Jake Kelly-Strong |
Cal Poly SLO |
James Laville |
Kansas |
Scott Matzoll |
Loyola-Chicago |
Phil McKennan |
UC Berkeley |
Alex Nelson |
U of San Francisco |
Matt Palmer |
New York University |
Austin Ramos |
UCLA |
Blake Ramos |
UCLA |
Michael Salvatierra |
Cal Poly SLO |
Evan Watchempino |
UCLA |
"Meeting of the Marauders" race results
- 71:49 team time equals #4 in team history, bettered only by the eventual state championship teams from 2006, 2005, and 1994.
- Junior class team time of 73:43 is third-fastest in history of 11th-graders at the school.
- Freshmen class team time of 83:10 is second-fastest in history to 2003 team that placed 4th at nationals as seniors 3 years later.
Hoffman Park, 2.7 Miles
1 Kyle Lackner 14:04 Sr
2 Emilio Garcia 14:18 Jr (#16 all-time)
3 Gio Piccone 14:21 Sr (#19 all-time)
4 Adam Kelly-Strong 14:26 So (#2 on all-time sophomore list)
5 Robert Leon 14:40 Jr
6 Bryce Yee 14:41 Jr
7 TJ Brown-Pinizzotto 14:42 Fr (freshmen class race record)
8 Colin Chapman 15:01 Jr
9 Willie Diaz 15:03 Jr
10 Michael Sommers 15:27 Jr
11 Henry Stroud 15:38 So
12 Joe Mahoney 15:57 Fr (#6 on all-time frosh list)
13 Nathan Frazier 15:59 Sr
14 Danny Diaz 16:09 So
15 Perry Hansen 16:14 So
16 Ian Dougherty 16:35 Sr
17 Robby Hartman 16:48 Fr (#17 on all-time frosh list)
18 Justin Lobo 16:58 So
19 Samuel Wilson 17:32 So
20 Willy Filice 17:39 So
21 Nick Csicsery 17:41 Jr
22 Travis Carter 17:49 So
23 Preston Daniels 17:51 Fr
24 Colton Misono 17:52 Fr
25 Stephen Crayne 17:56 So
26 Luke Maechler 17:56 So
27 Blake Formanek 18:15 Jr
28 Charlie Stevens 18:16 So
29 Patrick Harris 18:21 Fr
30 Greg Graves 18:26 So
31 Adam Ferguson 18:32 Fr
32 Cameron Skreden 18:38 So
33 Derek Ainsworth 18:39 Fr
34 Justin Haynes 18:43 So
35 George Medina 18:45 So
36 James Oys 18:52 Fr
37 Andrew Burrows 18:56 So
38 Jeremy Verke 19:06 Fr
39 Pat O'Brien 19:11 Jr
40 Eric Frame 19:12 So
41 Greg Cichocki 19:26 Jr
42 Tim Runyan 19:34 Sr
43 Neil Barth 19:35 So
44 Joey Pardini 20:03 Fr
45 John Ricca 20:08 Fr
46 Brandon Torado 20:09 Fr
47 Steven Koll 21:37 So
48 Mark Isidro 21:56 Fr
49 Alex Intagliata 22:20 So
50 Zach McPherson 22:21 Fr
51 Alex Nauman 22:24 Fr
52 Daniel Koumelis 22:36 So
53 Brian Grau 22:58 Fr
54 Shane Ransbury 28:45 Fr
55 James Kornowski 30:20 So
56 Alex Runyan 30:21 Fr
57 Frank Columna 30:49 Fr
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