By Brian Sheehan ‘25
On Oct. 5, the cross country team competed in the Peoria High School Invitational at Detweiller Park. As a team, we had a great race and took a step in the right direction in achieving our goal of qualifying for state.
The weekend started much earlier than most do for races. The top seven runners left school early on Friday and traveled down to Peoria. We held our practice at Detweiller, checked into our hotel, and finally cleaned up and went for a team dinner at Alexander’s Steakhouse. After dinner, we held a team meeting to discuss the strategy for the race, then it was lights out.
We arrived at the course on Saturday, with each of us knowing what we had to do. When we got to the line, we felt confident and optimistic about the race.
There was never a doubt in my mind that this would be a great race for everyone.
Six out of seven runners set new personal bests: Gavin O’Connor (14:42), Andrew Straley (15:00), Oliver Davis (16:58), me (17:15), Brian Biondo (17:33), and Declan Nieto (17:34).
Senior Gavin O’Connor, the top finisher for the Crusaders said, “I made sure to stay composed through the first mile before really pushing to stay in second the last two miles. I am looking forward to coming back to Peoria to try and set another PR at the state meet.”
The team finished 17th out of 35 teams. It was a little lower than we had hoped but, nevertheless, this race was a step in the right direction.
Junior Andrew Straley said, “I can confidently say our team is better in terms of mentality and overall performance than we were going into the weekend. The weekend was a great demonstration of what we can do, and I’m looking forward to being back at Peoria in a month.”
Our training is set up so we can be at our best for sectionals on Nov. 2. With the performances on Saturday and the team only continuing to get better, we have the potential to do some serious damage when the time is right.
“It was cool getting to race at Peoria again,” said sophomore Declan Nieto. “This weekend was a great team bonding experience and gave a great indication of where we stand going forward.”
The Crusaders will have a solid week of training coming up with a bye-week this week before getting back in action Oct. 18 for CCL at Loyola.
Photo Source: Coach Tom Wazio ‘97
