Cubs, Crusaders take 9-5A CC titles

By Ron Brocato, Clarion Herald Sports

Halloween is a celebratory occasion for a child after an evening of trick-or-treating – and  also for a senior who won the biggest cross country race of her high school career.

That was the case for Mount Carmel 12th grader Hope Shales, who led the Cubs to the District 9-5A cross country championship at the City Park course on Oct. 31.

Shales’ winning time of 18:54.53 over the three-mile course escorted six Cub teammates to top 10 finishes and a team total of 22 points.

Dominican sophomore Kelsey Major, who finished ahead of Shales in the 2018 state cross country championship meet, took second place in 19:30.19.

It was also a day to celebrate for Jesuit’s Luke Lacour, the boys’ top finisher (16:30.43), but his effort was not enough to prevent Brother Martin from winning the team championship.

Four Crusaders were among the top 10 finishers, giving Martin 35 points in the six-team race.

Lacour won by 2.32 seconds over John Curtis’ Alex Keller and greatly improved the time of 19:32.5 he ran in the 2018 state cross country championship meet in finishing 24th.

Mount Carmel dominated the girls’ field. Following Shales’ lead were Nashia Landry (third place), Grace Elvir (fifth), Theresa Falgoust (sixth), Ashleigh Gallagher (seventh) and Emma Meneses (eighth).

Curtis finished third as a team with 96 points, and Archbishop Chapelle, fourth.

Sophomore Landon Sequeira (16:37.49) was the highest Brother Martin finisher, in third place.

Holy Cross placed third, followed by Curtis, Archbishop Rummel and Archbishop Shaw.