News Post

The St. Joseph’s Academy cross country team turned in a dominating performance, placing all seven runners in the top 11, to win the 42nd annual Round Table Run hosted by Episcopal High School on September 12. The meet was held at Highland Road Park.

SJA finished first with a low score of 19 points, easily outdistancing runner-up Episcopal (69) by 50 points. Rounding out the top five were St. Michael’s (88), Live Oak (108) and Zachary High (130).

“This was a great meet for us,” said Coach Mark LaHaye. “Having the whole team together in one location to support one another was awesome. Our top seven were fired up and determined to run faster than they did last week. While we were just shy of our goal of all seven in the top 10, we improved our times across the board. And, to top it off, our second seven crushed the JV race finishing one through seven. It’s hard to be much more dominating than that.”

Senior Sophie Martin led the Redstickers with an overall first-place finish in 8:31.2. Junior Elise Jones finished second in 19:34.9; sophomore Emma Hendry finished fourth in 19:40.3; junior Ava Lemoine finished fifth in 19:44.1; junior Maddie Kate Gardiner finished seventh in 19:46.0; freshman Stella Vincent finished eighth in 19:51.1; and senior Anna Camille Eagleton finished 11th in 20:24.2. 

“I am extremely proud of my own performance and my team’s performance,” Martin said. “I think we had a really good race for it being only the second meet of the season.”

Jones said it was great to once again race at Highland Road Park. “We practice there five or six times a week, so we know every turn and hill like the backs of our hands,” she said. “I think we did a great job of pack running, which is something we implement at practice every day. Our number two-six girls all finished within less than 20 seconds of each other. During a hard race, there’s nothing more helpful than seeing your teammate right ahead/behind you. It really motivates me to keep going and push through the pain.”

Gardiner said that while she struggled personally, the team performed well. “The team did such a great job of stepping up and working together,” she said. “The weather was pretty nice, and I’m super happy with the team’s performance.” 

Lemoine said a hard week of practice netted great results. “It ended up paying off in the end,” she said. “During the race, we were all pushing each other to go harder and faster. I think it was definitely a little harder to race because there were a lot less people there, but we got through it and finished strong as a team.” 

Eagleton also said she wasn’t pleased with her time but was proud of the team’s effort. “We did well,” she said. “We fought hard, and we all ran the best we could, which is all we can ask for. Our JV squad’s performance was especially outstanding.”

SJA’s seven JV runners finished in the top seven places for a perfect score of 15. Rounding out the top five in the JV race were St. Michael’s (69), Episcopal (102), Live Oak (102) and Zachary (119).

Senior Lydia Poche finished first in 19:43.7. She was followed by freshman Hannah Vaughan, second place, 20:00.9, freshman Grace Rennhoff, third place, 20:11.5; sophomore Claire Beyer, fourth place, 20:38.9; junior Amelia Cochran, fifth place, 21:17.0; freshman Madison Mannino, sixth place, 21:23.6; and junior Alexis Napoli, seventh place, 21:47.9.

Next up for the Redstickers is the Ponchatoula High School Invitational on September 19. The varsity race starts at 7:30 a.m. 

Mindy Brodhead Averitt
Communications Director

Photos courtesy of Tina LaHaye