Eric Keppeler '85
Sports Writer
Junior Weston Peirick led seven Marauders in the top 14 as St. Joe’s dominated the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Como Lake Park in Lancaster.
Following an undefeated regular season, the All-Catholic title was the second in as many years for the Marauders and qualifies St. Joe’s for the 52nd annual New York State Federation Championship on Nov. 21 at Bowdoin Park in Wappinger Falls.
“What a beautiful day it was. I don’t think it gets better than this – but if it does, I can’t wait to see it,” said St. Joe’s coach Emily Lowe. “Honestly, somehow this year was better than the last. Watching how the guys worked to elevate and make us into a better team instead of just simply filling the voids was a coach’s dream. It speaks volumes to this group.”
The title was the 34th in program history.
The Marauders finished with a score of 37, well ahead of Canisius (59), Bishop Timon (67), St. Francis (91) and Nichols (109).
Peirick clocked in at 16:43.89, second to Timon’s Padraig Hart (15:58.76).
Junior Jackson Famiglietti was third overall for the Marauders (16:53.27), while junior Oliver Scott was ninth (17:35.03), senior Jayvion Hicklen-Brown was 11th (17:43.14), senior William Kennedy was 12th (17:47.00), sophomore Cashel McCaffrey was 13th (17:52.80) and sophomore Lucas Saldana was 14th (17:55.85).
“We had seven guys finish sub-18 minutes on Saturday,” Lowe said. “I can’t tell you the last time we’ve had a full varsity team in that good of shape.”
Equally impressive, five of those top seven runners should be back again next year, while Lowe can also look to members of this year’s junior varsity squad that also finished first at All-Catholics – including freshman Noah Oliveri, who won the JV race.
Now they turn their attention to preparing for the Fed meet.
“Unfortunately, we had to make a roster change because of a conflict for one returning member – but otherwise, four of the seven have seen the course and the three that haven’t are all underclassmen,” Lowe said. “My hope is that the guys that have been there before can pass down their knowledge since it’s such a unique course – which will help everyone in their preparations.”
The course – not far from Poughkeepsie – is a challenging one, with lots of hills and bottlenecks that make it difficult to catch up if you fall behind early.
When they went to the Federation meet last year, that was the crowning achievement to the team’s first league championship season since 2019. They were happy to be there, and Lowe said they were just hoping not to finish last – although they did, in fact, finish last.
This year, the aspirations are much higher.
“We’re going to hit the hills hard this week and give it everything we have,” Lowe said. “This isn’t just a fun consolation prize for us. We want to earn our spot at this meet and be in the mix of New York State’s best.”