Several top finishers from the LHSAA state cross country championships last week raced at another high-level event over the weekend in Texas.
Brother Martin runners followed their runner-up state finish with a fifth-place team finish Saturday at the NXR South Regional championships in The Woodlands, Texas, where they raced against teams from Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas.
The top two teams qualified for the national championship next month in Oregon. Brother Martin finished one place shy of possibly being selected as an at-large invitee to the national meet, Brother Martin coach Drew Haro said.
Jesuit placed eighth in the team standings. Junior Brady Mullen earned the highest individual placement of a Louisiana runner on the 5,000-meter course when he finished ninth in 15 minutes, 12 seconds.
From Mount Carmel, junior Catalina Reichard finished 14th in the girls race, the highest regional placement for a Louisiana runner in 17:51.
Mullen and Reichard each won individual championships at the LHSAA Division I meet in Natchitoches. Mullen placed high enough at the regional to potentially be selected as an at-large invitee to the national meet, Jesuit coach Cullen Doody said.
Brother Martin will race again Dec. 2 at the Garmin RunningLane championships in Huntsville, Alabama. Jesuit raced there last year and finished fourth.
“This group of seniors we have in particular, I don’t think they want this ride to end,” Haro said. “I think it was a no-brainer for them to want to go to RunningLane. Last year, we won the silver race. I think they’d like to be in the primo race and see what they do there.”
Senior runners for Brother Martin include Daniel Falk, Luke Regan, Eyan Calico and Gabriel Metoyer.
