A group of young men running on the grass.
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MIAA XC Championships 2020

louis November 21, 2020


Friday, November 20, 2020 4:30 P.M.  Nice ,clear day.  Sun setting, cooler as sun went down.  About 55 degrees

The 2020 cross country season certainly did not go according to anyone’s plan.  Yet, the MIAA did the best they could holding an abbreviated competition season, ending with a championship meet that almost did not go off with Johnny O pulling a fast one.  Regardless, seven teams lined up at Loyola for a race just as meaningful as any other.  Coming into the season, Calvert Hall was the defending champion, but Mount St. Joe was undefeated in the dual meet season, including a head to head victory against the Cardinals in late October.

The team battle began to develop approaching the mile.  The field started to separate, but in that lead group, there was a lot of Calvert Hall red, Mount St. Joe purple, and Loyola blue.  Andrew Meyers of Calvert Hall began to pull away from the field after the woods loop, but every other finishing position was still in doubt.  Approaching the 2 mile, Calvert Hall was leading with a score of 38, followed by MSJ with 42, and Loyola with 55.  The first chase pack, separated by 4 seconds, had 2 cardinals, 2 dons, and 3 gaels.  The second chase pack, about 15 seconds behind, had 6 runners, all within 2 seconds of each other.  Here there were 3 cardinals, 1 don, and 2 gaels.

With about half a mile to go, the race was strung out, but the competitiveness was maintained with plenty of runners within a couple breaths of each other.  At this point Calvert Hall was holding on to a two point advantage over MSJ, with Loyola twelve points back.  It was far from settled, and the final 100 meters saw a lot of shifting. Loyola made some big kicks at the end, but it likely didn’t change the final standings.  Charlie Dance and Adam Brocato breaking from the lead pack and going 3-4 largely closed the path to victory for anyone else.  Calvert Hall’s Cameron David and Rory Rutledge sealed the deal, finishing fourteenth and fifteenth overall.

On his team’s win, Head Coach Scott Baker said, “I gave the guys a conservative race plan today. Go 1-2 and then have our 3-4-5 just focus on beating MSJ’s 3rd. Our senior Rory who was a game time decision really came in clutch for the boys. The guys really gritted this out. Shout out to MSJ and Loyola for pushing the competition and making this a spectacular event. Can’t forget Coach Frein for everything he’s done for me.”

Calvert Hall-37

MSJ-43

Loyola-49

 

Video

Photos

https://www.facebook.com/chasingthestandard/posts/180373870425206

Results
1 Andrew Meyers CHC V 15:20 3 miles @ Loyola Blakefield
2 Kevin Zaleski MSJ V 15:45
3 Charlie Dance CHC V 15:48
4 Adam Brocato CHC V 15:48
5 Colin Verett Loyola V 15:52 CHC 37
6 Tony Boscolo MSJ V 15:56 MSJ 43
7 Charlie Doud Loyola V 15:57 Loyola 49
8 Coleman Ruiz Spalding V 16:06 Gilman 131
9 Nick Fabula Loyola V 16:11 St Pauls 157
10 Sean Miller MSJ V 16:11 Curley 170
11 Sean Wilson Loyola V 16:13
12 Will Sakowicz MSJ V 16:13
13 Charlie Butler MSJ V 16:14
14 Cameron David CHC V 16:21
15 Rory rutledge CHC V 16:22
16 Drew Clark MSJ V 16:29
17 Jack Kodenski Loyola V 16:32
18 Noah Allen MSJ V 16:44
19 Spencer Doyle CHC V 16:49
20 Erik Giebler CHC V 16:50
21 Charlue Schlossberg St. Paul’s V 16:51
22 Pieter Heesters Gilman V 16:52
23 Carter Bruns Loyola V 16:56
24 Josh Smoot Curley V 17:01
25 Heath Otenasek Gilman V 17:04
26 Noah Edwards Loyola V 17:11
27 Aaron Meng Gilman V 17:30
28 Nathan Koshy Gilman V 17:37
29 Jamie Edwards Gilman V 17:43
30 Jake Gotlin St. Paul’s V 17:44
31 Beck Wittstadt Gilman V 18:06
32 Nate Perry Gilman V 18:28
33 Tate Seunarine St. Paul’s V 18:47
34 Andrei Turner St. Paul’s V 18:56
35 Jake Burton Curley V 18:59
36 Nick Petrik Curley V 18:59
37 Connor McCarty Curley V 19:05
38 Dillon Schissler Curley V 19:06
39 Timmy Wilcox St. Paul’s V 19:19
40 Evan Cortese St. Paul’s V 19:31
41 Liam Kuhl Curley V 19:59
42 John Gill Curley V 20:04