By Declan McGuire ‘20

On Saturday, Oct. 5, the Crusaders ran ugly at the Pat Savage invite at Niles West. A course that many consider to be lightening fast was not that on Saturday.

But it didn’t stop Crusaders from going out there and fighting through the pain. The varsity team placed 21st out of a whopping 52 schools, the sophomores finished 5th out of 10 teams, and the freshman team finished 7th out of 11 teams.

With over 500 kids in the boy’s varsity meet alone, this meet was jam-packed. The unpleasant conditions of mud, sludge, and slop throughout the course certainly did not help the runners.

However, these fierce conditions couldn’t slow down senior Jimmy Maguire.

A two year member of the program, Jimmy Maguire battled hard to become the top senior on the team. When asked about how he became one of the top guys in the program, Jimmy said,  “This is a sport where in order to succeed, you have to be mentally tough. I think that makes all the difference for me, and remembering that helps me keep going during each race.”

What many would call a grind freak, Jimmy is someone that other guys on the team can look up to and aspire to be like. “He’s been a great addition to the team. Jim is a guy that everyone can talk to, and a runner that you want to strive to be like,” said junior Tom Skrypkun.

Jimmy said, “I think we still have a lot of room to improve this year, but I think we have a great group of guys and if we keep working hard and improving we could have a real shot at going down to state.”

Although he has only been doing cross country for two years, Jimmy has made a huge impact on the team.

He and the team are focused on their upcoming meet at Lewis University, where they will attempt to win the Chicago Catholic League Championship.