MARYVILLE – The Father McGivney Catholic High School cross country team appears primed for a successful season in 2017 after a strong summer of conditioning.
The 2017 season is yet to begin but the Father McGivney Catholic High School cross country team spent the summer conditioning in preparation for the Detweiller at Dark nighttime race that was held on July 28 in Peoria. This open high school based race is hosted at the Illinois state cross country course every June. This year there were 431 male competitors in the boys high school race.
Freshman year for high school boys is usually a tough transition for distance runners, but Father McGivney Catholic High School in Maryville may have the freshmen to conquer the uptick in competition better than any other Class A team in the state. This past Friday, six FMCHS Griffins competed in the boy’s high school race in Peoria which allows incoming freshmen through last year’s graduated seniors to compete against each other.
The Griffins first runner in was incoming freshman Jefferson “Ross” Bushur in a time of 15:58 on the 3-mile grass course. Another incoming freshman, Tyler Guthrie, was next for FMCHS running a time of 17:02. Third for the Griffins was sophomore Zach Brasel in 18:04, fourth was incoming freshman Diego Pacheco in 18:18.
Fifth place was junior Elijah Burns in 19:29 and sixth was senior Dan Jones in a time of 20:22. Incoming freshman Tanner Fox, who is expected to be one of the Griffins top performers, was not able to compete at the race.
With the strong nucleus of freshmen, Father McGivney’s future in cross country appears limitless.
The mostly underclassmen team is excited and cannot wait for the school season to begin, their coach said
The first race of the season will be at the New Athens Invitational on Aug. 21, which happens to also be their regional course qualifier location this year. Being that they are such a young group of runners they have nothing but improvement and growth to look forward to this season and for many to come.
