On September 9, Cistercian had their second full scale cross country meet.  It was the usual 5k distance on a rather tough course. Our varsity team finished towards last in their early morning race, while JV did very well.  JV placed tenth in their race, with John LeSage leading the pack.

Coach Roane had us arrive very early in the morning as with any other meet, so we could warm up for each of our races. One of the more surprising things about this race was the variety of schools there. Cistercian was one of the few SPC schools, while there was a wide range of public schools. The race was in Southlake, across from very large houses, and  this location, to some runners, was far better.  Even though the course was harder, the location was a lot closer than previous meets.

From my perspective, this was one of the most chaotic meets I’ve been in. The amount of people there was insane, which made the start very disorganized. As soon as the starting gun was shot, a massive amount of runners poured into the grassy straightaway. The starting line was a good fifty yards long, and Cistercian was at the direct end of it, which made us the farthest away from the first turn. Although that was tough, we pretty easily overcame this obstacle. Otherwise, the race was rather smooth sailing.I can say that the majority of the team finished this meet close to collapsing, which was a good sign that everyone gave it their all.

The following meet was in Flower Mound, where the course was significantly more difficult.  There were two times during the race when we were confronted by a huge hill that left us exhausted. And the trail itself had a significant amount of sand, which made the course much more difficult, draining our energy. One new thing about this meet was that the Middle School joined us.  Coach Walsh was sick, so Fr. Anthony took his place, and Br. Raphael was also there to take pictures.  These were great meets, and we hope to see you at the coming ones.