Jesuit opened its final Delta League season on September 27 at Cherry Island Sports Complex. The first race was the frosh/soph boys 1.93 mile race. On a flat course and ideal conditions, the Marauders ran with confidence throughout the race, with the top 7 all running in the lead pack. At the finish, Sophomore John Barreiro led his teammates across the line in 2nd place in 10:07, followed closely by Kyle Jackary 3rd 10:14, Freshman Ryan Tait 4th 10:15, Aaron Beasley 5th 10:17 Noah Nast 7th10:17, Jackson Johns 9th 10:20, and George Vlahos 11th 10:21 with only 10 seconds separating the top 5 scoring runners. In the team scoring, Jesuit finished with 21 points, well ahead of 2nd place Davis 47 points, Pleasant Grove 113 points, Franklin 116 points, Cosumnes Oaks 120 points, Elk Grove 157 points, and Sheldon 193 points. Next up was the Varsity race with Jesuit battling Davis once again after falling to the Blue Devils last Saturday by 1 point. Sophomore Isaac Abbott went out aggressively, taking a lead pack of 10-15 runners through the first mile in app. 4:52. Over the last mile, Davis runners moved up to finish 1-2 in the race but Jesuit was still in contention with Sophomore Isaac Abbot 3rd 15:08, Senior Declan Higgins 4th 15:12, Junior Navin Kadel 5th 15:17 leading the Marauders, Davis put a runner across the line in 6th and Jesuit runner Drake Hoferer finished as 4th man in 15:21. Unfortunately for the Marauders, Davis then put their number 4th, 5th, and 6th men across the line before Jesuit’s 5th man Trevor Felix 15:37. Once all runners had finished Jesuit found itself once again behind the Blue Devils, this time 28 to 32 points. Brady Blum 14th 15:38, Jonah Reynolds 16th 15:53, Chase Cressman 17th 15:54, and Freshman Rafael Jopson 18th 16:07 rounded out the top 9 showing excellent depth. Despite the stinging defeat (the bees were bad with a significant number of our athletes being stung before, during, and after their races), the Marauders had a solid performance finishing well ahead of 3rd place Pleasant Grove 110 points. Despite their 2nd place team finish, the Marauders can still clinch a Delta League title at the Championship meet which will be held at William Jessup the last Saturday of October if they can finish ahead of Davis at that meet. This Saturday, September 30, , Jesuit will compete at the Tom Laythe Invitational at Willow Hill in Folsom where once again they’ll be up against Davis, Vacaville, Whitney, and several other contenders in what promises to be another spirited competition. The first race will be the Frosh/Soph top 10 race at 9:00 a.m., followed by the Frosh/Soph unlimited race at 10:40, the Varsity race at 11:40 and finally the JV Boys race at 1:45 p.m. Photo Credit: Coach Zielke