By Maxwell Griffin ‘26
On Sunday, Nov. 9, members of Brother Rice’s cross country team went down to Peoria for the class 3A state championship.
Aidan Leary ‘26 said, “It was exciting seeing Straley go all the way… I’ve been running with him since freshman year.” Aidan, along with fellow senior Desmond Nieto and junior Kieran McGarry, accompanied Straley on his ride down to show their support.
The 3-hour car ride to Peoria was filled with reminiscence for past races. They talked about the best times and the disappointing ones. They recollected the bus rides they laughed so hard nobody could breathe, and the practices that took them through rain, 95°F heat, and 20°F in the snow. However, the fact that it was all coming to a close still lingered.
Andrew, who is also a 4-year member of the cross country team, felt this race in particular was special. “It’s the last race of my high school career … the last four years lead up to this and I want to make it count,” Andrew said.
Straley ran strong the entire race and went on to take 30th overall, setting a personal best 3-mile time of 14:40:89.
