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JOIN US AT OUR SEASON & home OPENER THIS FRIDAY!
Hope you can make it to our 2nd annual Toni St. Pierre Invitational at Boulder Ridge Golf Course in St. Cloud this Friday evening! Alumni are welcome to spectate or race, and then join us for post-race food and good times at the golf course clubhouse after the races are over. Women’s 5K is at 6:00pm and Men’s 5K is at 6:45pm. We will be joined by UW Stout, Bethel, UW Superior, Augsburg and Northwestern. With all of our top returners scheduled to race on a fast course and many others looking very fit and ready to race after big summers of training, it should be a fun evening to kick our season off with. Enjoy some highlights from our training camp at Itasca State Park and the first couple St. Michael’s Games events below, and hope to see you on Friday!
Also, for a great read on who Toni St. Pierre (CSB ‘77) was, click here: Toni St. Pierre Just Wanted to Run - RUN | Powered by Outside (outsideonline.com) and here: CSB trailblazer and Title IX honoree, Toni St. Pierre will be featured in upcoming book - College of Saint Benedict Athletics (gobennies.com).
Your 2024 Saint John’s Cross Country team (minus a few) at Itasca State Park.
Itasca state park training camp
We enjoyed four days of some great running in and around Itasca State Park, highlighted by a “magical” (in Tim’s words) long run on our last morning there with a solid group of guys going 16.5 miles and the rest of the team going anywhere from 9-13 miles. The main drive around the perimeter of the park provided a great route that was not only beautiful but also, and more importantly, hard for anyone to get lost on as there were really no other turns or roads to mistakenly go onto. Aside from some great training, the trip was highlighted by lots of lawn games, swimming, volleyball and s’mores over the bonfire. This year was our first year doing an off-campus preseason training camp, and I think it will be a new annual tradition. It’s nice to spend a few days together right away to kick off the season before the craziness of freshmen orientation and the beginning of the school year. A few photo highlights below.
Shots of some of the beautiful Itasca scenery throughout our daily training runs.
St. Michael’s Games Event #1 - Mini Golf
Kicked off the trip and our 2024 St. Michael’s Games by stopping in Baxter, MN on the way to Itasca for a round of mini-golf. Low-score on the team was 41 (+1) by senior A.J. Skinner. Although, a certain coach whose name rhymes with Kaxwell Muzara shot 38 (-2)…
St. Michael’s Games Event #2 - Watermelon Eating Contest
Our 2nd St. Michael’s Games event of the year was the very popular watermelon eating contest. The watermelons were a bit smaller this year, and thus the competition was fierce. Each team had to choose three representatives, or “eaters” if you will, from their team, and in the end the team who chose two freshmen to be eaters took home the W in a time of 6:27.5 — 3rd on the all-time list behind last year’s 1st and 2nd place teams. Congrats to Jaymis Bauer, Aiden Chalmers and Miguel Gaspar-Ramirez for taking home the hardware and, most importantly, the five points for their St. Michael’s Games team.
Miscellaneous Itasca shenanigans.
St. Michael’s Games Event #3 - Canoe Relay on Lake Sag
Upon returning to campus we squeezed in our canoe relay to the chapel and back on Lake Sagatagan on campus. Four team members from each St. Michael’s Games team who did not participate in the watermelon eating contest race to the chapel and back, with two starting at the beach and two waiting out at the chapel. Once the first two get to the chapel, they switch and the second two head back towards the beach. Despite getting to the chapel in 2nd before turning around to head to the beach, the team of Sam Rabaey, Ethan Leonard, AJ Skinner and Cole Stencel (pictured above) took home the win in 13:14.9, just off the all-time record of 13:10.2 from last year set by Vincent Kaluza, Jacob Malecha, AJ Karn and Joe Coffey.
St. Michael’s Games Team Scores
After three events, the team scores are as follows:
1st: 10 points - Beans
2nd: 9 points - Team #4
t-3rd: 7 points - Beginner’s Luck / Los Comodores
24/7/365 Apparel Store
Lastly, for anyone who missed out on the apparel orders these last couple weeks, or if you just want more SJU CC / T&F gear (because who doesn’t?!), a reminder that this store is open 24/7/365 and has all sorts of apparel, coffee mugs, blankets, etc.: SJU Johnnies Cross Country Custom Apparel and Merchandise - Game One (game-one.com)
Hope to see you this Friday evening at the Toni St. Pierre meet, or on October 5th for Tim and Chuck Ceronsky’s SJU Hall of Honor induction.
Go Johnnies,
Maxwell
