In the immediate aftermath of the boys CHSAA Intersectional Championships, the result was too close to call between St. Anthony’s and Chaminade. Soaked from a day’s worth of steady rainfall, the teams huddled around the finish line and tried to figure out who beat who. Amidst the uncertainty each team’s body language could not have been more different. While St. Anthony’s exchanged high fives and congratulatory hugs, Chaminade’s body language told another story.
In the Chaminade huddle coach Bill Carriero gathered his runners to explain the situation. He told his team how close the race looked, and that it was likely going to come down to only a few points. “We’ll just have to wait and see,” he said, and walked away.
His runners understood. Coming into the race, Chaminade was the clear favorite and had beaten St. Anthony’s twice already this season. Anything less than a sure win would be a disappointment.
When the official results finally came back, Carriero was right, but he was nevertheless disappointed. St. Anthony’s narrowly upset three-time defending champion Chaminade 37-39 in a thrilling race that came down to the final 800 meter stretch.
Seniors Ken Walshak and Patrick Murphy finished 1-2, running 12:55.91 and 13:09.61, respectively, but
just as importantly, the Friars were backed by strong performances from its bottom scorers. Before the race, Coach Tim Dearie said that inconsistency from these spots had been a weakness. “Our problem all season has been our four and five runners,” he said. “They haven’t had their best race in the same meet.”
On this day they nailed it. Thomas Flynn finished fifth, ahead of Chaminade’s number two runner, and seniors Robert Tassey and Nick Brennan each finished ahead of Chaminade’s fifth.
But Chaminade fought hard to the end. Dearie estimated that his team was winning by at least seven or eight points with 800 meters to go and was surprised when he learned his team won by only two points. “They looked shot,” Dearie said of Chaminade’s runners. “But only great teams and good individuals can come back again and find something again, and they did.”
The win was particularly sweet for the departing four seniors on St. Anthony’s, who watched Chaminade beat them three years in a row at this meet. “This was the last time we’d ever run this course,” Walshak said. “Since the end of last season, since the summer, since the beginning of the season, this is the race we wanted to win. It was important.”
St. Anthony’s also prevented Chaminade from making history. A fourth strait title would have been the first such feat at the meet since 1950 when Bishop Loughlin won 11 titles in a row.
Schmidt, St. John the Baptist Win With Ease
By all standards, the finish of the girls championship didn’t quite match the drama of the boys. Junior Colleen Schmidt, of Holy Trinity, ran away from the field early and won by 24 seconds, in 15:07.22. As expected in the team race, St. John the Baptist rolled to their second strait championship, packing four girls into the top ten. They finished with 52 points and beat runner-up St. John Villa Academy by 62 points. Junior Anne Carey led the way for St. John’s with a 3rd place finish in 15:31.19. Carey won last year’s race but is still recovering from an IT band injury that sidelined here for several weeks earlier this season.
Schmidt’s decisive victory was scripted by design with her coach, Jim Muller. They agreed to take the race out hard early because she hasn‘t had a lot of experience running in packs this season, a credit to her winning ways this season. “We wanted her to go out and drop the field in the [back] hills,” Muller said.
Schmidt’s success this season is all the more impressive considering that a year ago this September she was in the hospital suffering the effects of a life-long liver disease. Upon release, Schmidt was hooked to an IV for a month and never fully recovered in time for the champion part of the cross country season. Now healthy and showing no signs of illness, Schmidt continues to improve. On Saturday, her time was 50-second personal best.
Rounding out the top five of the girl’s race were Sacred Heart Academy, St. Anthony’s and Kellenberg.
