On November 6, the Bellarmine Bells Freshman, Sophomore, JV, and Varsity cross country teams earned four league championships having competed at Crystal Springs cross country course. Coach Patrick McCrystal noted that, “The Bells ran with grit, unity, love, and joy, and that is a tough combination to overcome!”
Coach McCrystal explained that “the Freshman team won the first two League races by slim margins, including a one point victory over Sacred Heart Cathedral in WCAL II, but with the 3rd league race worth double the points, we knew a 2nd place finish would lock up the league title no matter what happened around us.” That is exactly what the team did: finish second in an incredibly tight race and secure a League title.
The team place, points, then top 7 Bell runners with finish place in race are as follows: 1. Sacred Heart Cathedral 46 2. BCP 48 (which gave us 30 League points, winning the League title by 4 over SI and SHC) 3. SI 50, etc. 4. Kyle Suhendra 7. James Jones 10. Rodrigo Casas 13. Quinn Garcia 14. Liam Mains 15. Alex Flores Plancarte 18. Benjamin Ho.
The Sophomores have been the most improved group, collectively, in Coach McCrystal’s 24 years as head coach. They won their 3rd straight League race in dominating fashion, without their top two runners (running JV and V, respectively). 1. BCP 20 2. SI 62 3. Serra 89, etc. 2. Gavin Borer 3. Luis Szarindar 4. Spencer Maffeo 5. Brandon Mai 6.Ronil Shah 7. Sebastian Salcedo 8. Jackson Willard. The Bells had 15 of the first 21 finishers in the race.
The JV team has been dominant all season, and November 6 was no exception, despite various injuries and illnesses. 1.BCP 21 2. SI 68 3. St. Francis 72, etc. 1. Nico St. Angel 2. Dylan Connell 3. Camilo Restrepo 6. Robert Del Rio 9. Aiden Baldock 10. Joe Giacalone 12. Benjamin Speck. The Bells had 14 of the first 25 finishers in the race.
The Varsity “ran our grittiest race of the year”, noted Coach McCrystral, adding “There have been literally tens of thousands of teams that have run at Crystal Springs since it opened in 1972, and yesterday’s effort by your Varsity Bells was the 41st fastest in history, putting the team time in the top .004 percent of all teams that have ever run the course!”
1. BCP 33 2. SI 74 3. Serra 92 4. St. Francis 97, etc. 4. Devansh Shah (16th fastest time in BCP history!!) 5. Zander Verhoeven 7. Shrey Chettiar 8. Stephen Sziebert 9. Ben Penzel 10. Will Burch 18. Duncan Burk