From Coach Todd Stewart…
The cross country team was fortunate to compete this fall, and ran at a number of new venues throughout the season. One such place was a newly designed home course on the campus of McQuaid Jesuit. The 3-mile course was tackled by runners at the McQuaid vs. Aquinas dual, a Private Parochial League (PPL) meet, and the PPL Championships. The new and current course record is held by McQuaid senior and captain Connor Kerr (16:56).
While the race calendar doesn’t change much year-to-year, other changes this season included first time dual meets against Fairport, Penfield and Brighton. The team also ran against longtime rival, Rush Henrietta. McQuaid ran a tight race against Fairport, but wound up on the losing end against the defending Section V champs at Center Park in Fairport. In the dual against R-H, Jayson Chichelli ’22, led the field and ran the 4th fastest time on the Center Park course in its 18-year history (16:32). He, along with fellow Knights, secured a strong win against the Royal Comets. Helping in the process was Collin Brown ’23, Jacob Anderson ’22, Dillon Klee ’22, and Michael Himlin ’22. Additionally, Chichelli would lead the Knights once again, defeating Penfield on the Shadow Pines course. Chichelli ran 16:10 to take down the previous course record of 16:11 held by Penfield’s Jona Cuestas. Chichelli was hard pressed by fellow Knight, Brown, who finished in 16:14 (good for #3 all-time). Kerr, Anderson, and Klee rounded out the scoring.
The junior varsity runners would represent the Knights in the battle against Brighton, also held at Center Park. While Brighton punched in the winning score, our young Knights, accompanied by a couple of crafty seniors, hit some of their best times of the season over the very challenging course.
This past Saturday the young Knights also brought home the PPL title in a great team effort. The team was lead by first-year runner Alex Carpentier ’24, who broke the tape in 19:43 seconds. Coach Peres was very pleased at the vast improvements of the athletes he worked with during this short season. The JV Knights were quick to learn, and quick to apply great racing tactics!
The Modified team, coached by Braden Bodensteiner, ended with an undefeated season. In a year where there were no invitationals, the Knights raced in the PPL league meets. They did have one non-league match up with HF-L at Genesee Valley Park. In a battle of black and gold, the Knights wound up with the victory in a tightly contested race. Both teams had 5 runners in the top 10. Kelan Reh ’25, who was one of the top runners in the region last year as a 7th grader, absolutely dominated the runner scene this year for the mods. Congratulations to all of the amazing young men who made us proud! Great season, Knights!