Carlos Zervigon and Eli Sisung race to the finish at the Walker Shootout (photo courtesy Suzanne Kling).

Jesuit’s cross country team finished second in a loaded field at the Walker Shootout on Sat. Oct. 18 in Walker, La. The Jays notched a team score of 81 points, only ten points behind John Curtis, the state’s top-ranked team, and ahead of 5-A rivals Catholic High (90) and St. Paul’s (122).

While generally pleased with the result, Coach Rudy Horvath ’86 was concerned that his team’s  famously tight splits between runners one through five spread out a bit this week. That split had been as close as 11 seconds at prior meets and regularly fell under the 20-second mark. On Saturday, it “ballooned” to 35 seconds, a spread most cross country coaches would celebrate, but not Horvath.

“I was actually hoping to get some clarity today on my roster for state,” said Horvath. “But if anything, the picture is less clear now than it was prior to the race. Hopefully some guys will step up in the final meets and make my decision easy.”

According to Horvath, there are at least ten runners still legitimately in the mix for seven spots in the state meet in Natchitoches in November. Four team members made strong cases for themselves on Saturday against the deep and talented field on the notoriously fast Walker course.

Seniors Michael Schwing and Matthews Vargas finished 11th and 12th overall. Schwing came in with a time of 16:05 for the three-mile course, and Vargas crossed the finish line four seconds later. Hot on their heels were junior Carlos Zervigon (16:18) and sophomore Eli Sisung (16:19). Rounding out the top five on the day for the Blue Jays was senior Patrick LaCour, with a time of 16:40. Also participating for the varsity was senior Ben D’Antonio, along with a quartet of juniors–John James,  Johnny LaForge, John Nimmo, and Nick Slay.