On Saturday, Nov 26, the Jesuit High School Varsity Cross Country Team will race in the 2016 CIF State Cross Country Championship. They qualified by winning the Sac-Joaquin Section meet on Nov. 12. The team goes into the meet with high hopes, but will face challenges from many strong teams from throughout the state.

The team will also attempt to match the Jesuit team from last year, who ran the fastest time ever for both Jesuit and the Sac-Joaquin Section.

The team, which has been plagued by poor performances and injuries for the past few meets, will need to be at full strength to be a podium contender. They are working hard to prepare for this challenge every day.

As of now, the Marauders are ranked by MileSplit as fifth in the state for Division I. The team of Ben Holland ‘17, Brendan Jones ‘17, Matthew Strangio ‘20, Robert Bell ’17, Nicholas Salonites ‘20, and The Plank’s Colin Ryan ‘19 and Jordan Rahe ‘18 placed sixth at the Clovis Invitational, being narrowly beaten by both Beaumont High School and Madera South High School.

However, the team may be participating without Matthew Strangio, who has been injured for the past few weeks. This would mean Miles Worthen ‘19 would run.

“I think that we have a really strong team going into the state meet and I think that realistic expectations, if we have everyone racing well, is top five in Division I as a team,” Ben Holland said. “A goal that I think we can achieve is top 3 in D1 as a team. Though this would require some great performances out of the team, it is definitely achievable if we go out there and give it all that we’ve got.”

This is most likely their final meet of the season. Nonetheless,the Marauders hope to end on a high note to complement another successful season.