Hurley Qi ’22

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The Strake Jesuit Cross Country Team finished in tenth place in the Texas UIL 6A State Championship. 

Coming into the season, the team did not have high expectations because of the many departed seniors. “Our team was better last season,” Luke deMahy ’23 said. “but it was different because we had a lot of seniors graduate, so we had a lot of people step up.”

The cross country team marked the official start of the 2021-2022 season at the Pearland Dawson Will Sirmon Short Course on August 14th. The team competed valiantly and won first place in all freshman, junior varsity and varsity levels. 

When asked about the team’s most memorable moment, Luke deMahy ’23 said, “it was definitely the Crusader Invitation home meet because every member was there and we all did well.”

The team continued their hard work and earned good results in the Woodlands Friday Night Lights Meet, Seven Lakes Meet, Strake Jesuit Crusader Invitational Meet, and various other meets. 

The theme of brotherhood can be seen throughout the entire team.

“If we don’t run together, then we can’t win anything,” Nathan Noe ’23 said. “If you don’t have brotherhood or teamhood, your team can’t be successful. We support each other when we run as a team. Running for the team is always good.”   

Running alongside their brothers, the team placed first in the district meet and second in the regional meet, thus qualifying for the state meet for the 15th time in the last 16th years. On November 5th, the varsity team competed at Old Settlers Park and finished tenth place in the state meet. 

“It was a great season. We thought we were in a rebuilding season,” Nathan Noe ’23 said, “We didn’t think we were making it to State, but we did. We really exceeded our expectations.”

After a short week of break, most of the runners will transition to preparation for the track and field season in the spring. Let’s go Crusaders!