Cadets XC competes in Nike Cross Country competition
On November 30, the St. John’s Cross Country team competed at the Nike Cross Country Southeast Regionals in Cary, North Carolina. The meet, which took place at WakeMed Soccer Park, had over 1,000 of the top runners in the region compete head to head. There are seven races that make up the meet, which are the following: Rising Stars, which is the freshman and sophomore race; the invitational/open races which include anyone who is not in Rising stars or the championship races; and finally, there are the championship races which include some of the top runners in the region.
The first races of the day were the boys and girls Rising Stars race. Setting the tone for the day, Kennedy Hayward ‘22 took second place in the girls race. Following her incredible performance, Matias Facchinato-Sitja ‘22 took first place in the boys race. Both received medals at the awards ceremony for their performances.
Following the Rising stars races were the invitational/open races. On the girls side was Tara Anders ‘21 who came in the top 10 and Celia Chorzempa ‘21 who came in the top 21. And on the boys side was Sam Angevine ‘20 who came in the top 21 as well. They all received a t-shirt and recognition during the awards ceremony. Anders ‘21 said, “It was a great meet, I’m proud of my team for being able to extend our season so that we could do our best at Cary, and in the end we all did our best. I’m happy that I was able to meet my own goal for the season and end the cross country season on a good note.”
Finally, the meet came to a close with the girls championship race. Meredith Gotzman ‘23 raced a phenomenal race and came in 22nd. Gotzman ‘23 said, “I liked the course a lot, though the conditions were not ideal, but either way it was fun to experience such a large scale meet and get to race much more experienced runners.”
Overall, the meet was a success for the Cadets with everyone running incredible times and getting to have such a great experience at one of the biggest and most well known meets in cross country. Some of the Cadets also got to meet and get a picture with Craig Engels, a professional runner with the Nike Oregon Project Club.
