For the sixth consecutive year, the St. Louis U. High cross country team dominated the MCC meet, not only sweeping the three races, but also claiming the three individual titles as senior captain Nolan Meara (varsity), junior Anthony Zangara (JV), and Nick Alheim (freshman) each won their race.

On the varsity level the Jr. Bills faced down state-bound Class 4 teams such as De Smet and CBC, but were able to pull out a sizable victory, scoring 22 points to DeSmet’s 64 and CBC’s 75.  The team was led by Meara, who ran a time of 16:51 to secure the first place finish. Following Meara was senior Tim Greiner (17:00; third), senior Carter Lowe (17:21; fifth), senior Will Riggan (17:25; sixth), and rounding out the scoring five was freshman sensation Jaden Eglin (17:26; seventh).  

The Bills continued their dominance on the JV level as they perfect scored the race (scoring runners from first place to fifth place), and didn’t allow a runner from another school to crack the top 20.  Not only did the boys claim places 1 through 20, but they were also able to get another three runners in before the 30th place finisher and claim 23 of the 30 medals available.  

This winning effort was led by Zangara, who won his second consecutive race with a time of 17:12.  Following Zangara was junior Charlie Gray (17:29; second), sophomore Alex Bendana (17:38; third), sophomore George Donahue (17:40; fourth), and rounding out the scoring five was senior Brendan Jones (17:48).  The feats that this JV squad has accomplished over the season shows off just how deep this team is, and their performance at MCC’s reinforces that.

After seeing their elders have quite the day for themselves, the freshman team was amped for another chance to show off just how talented they too are.  Alheim won yet another race by way of his 19:07 time, and paved the way for SLUH’s third team victory of the day. Following Alheim was Tristan Kujawa (19:25; second), Jake Fitzpatrick (19:42; third), Preston Eash (20:05; sixth), and Hendrix Fyvie (20:07; seventh).  

The freshman scored a mere 17 points to CBC’c 53, De Smet’s 70, and Vianney’s (100) cementing their status as an elite group of freshman in the metropolitan area.

On Saturday, Oct. 15, the team got the chance to showcase its depth at the Hancock Invitational.  Although eight top runners were held out, the next seven up rose to the challenge of winning a varsity race.  Though the pack was tightly knit through about the 3K mark, George Donahue made a gap on the pack that secured him the third place finish with a time of 17:01.  After Donahue came senior Brendan Jones (17:05.8; fifth) narrowly beating out sophomore Alex Bendana (17:06.1; sixth).  

After these three came sophomore Gus Talleur (17:19; eighth) and to round out the scoring five came junior Noah Evers (17:35; 12th). The V2 squad was able to secure a win over other teams’ true varsity squads, as they scored only 33 points to second place Alton’s 117.

On the JV side of things, the team again was again able to perfect score the race, and to get the first 11 finishers, led by junior Matthew Musial who ran 17:58 to win his first race. After Musial came sophomore Logan Phillips (17:58; second), Lucas Strohmeyer (18:13; third), freshman Nick Alheim (18:17; fourth), and rounding out the scoring five was senior Joel Miller (18:23; fifth). The JV team was able to score a mere 15 points to second place Alton’s 71 points in yet another amazing showcase of the team’s depth.

This week the team is split between two meets with several runners at Buder Park on a historically fast course, and several seniors getting the chance to wear the V2 white jerseys will be racing at the Clayton Invitational at St. Vincent Park.