Meeting of the Marauders is Jesuit XC tradition

2019 XC Season Preview

Aug 23, 2019

For over 20 years, on a typically hot August Saturday at Ancil Hoffman Park in the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael, the Meeting of the Marauders has taken place. The Jesuit High School intra-squad cross country meet serves many purposes and continues several traditions. In addition to the mass start race where all current team members line up and race, regardless of class or division, there is also an alumni race. While cross country runners do not often get big crowds cheering them on outside of the big invitationals, family and friends are encouraged to attend this meet and do so in droves. Coaches speak to the parents, get volunteers to help with the team and share the basics of what being on a cross country team entails. At the conclusion, the top seven runners are recognized as the season opening varsity team.

RELATED MEETING OF THE MARAUDERS COVERAGE

Jesuit High School and Coach Walt Lange are synonymous with a long tradition of success. This will be Coach Lange's 50th year leading the team and over that period of time they have been the most successful athletic program in the Sac Joaquin Section. Just a short list of the team's accomplishments include:

44 League Championships
27 Section Championships
9 California State Championships

Though the 2019 edition of the team will have to find a way to replace five seniors who were among the seven who took the line at the CIF-State Championships last November where they placed fifth in Division I, this is a program that always has solid depth. While the Marauders will undoubtedly be young, they will again be led by one of the top harriers in the nation in senior Matt Strangio, who hopes to follow up a sterling junior year (State 1,600m champion, third place State 3,200m, D-I individual cross country champion and eighth place finish at the prestigious NXN meet, earning 2nd team All-American honors.

"It's an unusual year. We graduated a lot of seniors," Coach Lange said. "We didn't know what to expect with this morning's little event, our little time trial. The results were as we expected, surprising. Our number two guy was probably projected to be the number five or six guy, something like that. ... It's going to be a lot of fun watching these guys develop and see how it plays out over the course of the season."

At the conclusion of the 2.71 mile Meeting of the Marauders race, it was Strangio finishing on top of 66 runners with a 13:20 clocking, establishing a course record and topping his time from last year by an impressive 16 seconds.

Strangio was followed by junior Michael Chambers and a five-runner pack headed by senior Chase Gordon, the fastest returning 800-meter runner from the 2019 State Meet.

"It's nice to have a big roster, big team," Strangio said. "I do like leading these guys. It's a great group. We have a really talented team this year. A lot of young guys.

"We've got a really good freshman that could be better than I was freshman year. He's going to be really good."

In an impressive debut, freshman Jacob Swanson, in his first cross country race, completed the top seven running 14:43.30, within one-second of the fastest freshman time of in the long history of this event and earned a varsity spot for the season-opening Oakmont Invitational.

"It's a team with a lot of potential," Strangio said. "We've been ranked pretty low for some stuff. Fine, we'll be a dark horse. I think we're relishing that. We're working harder than I think we've ever worked as a team to achieve those goals that we have. We want to go to NXN. We want to win State. Is that not possible? I think we can totally get it."

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