A massive swarm of yellow jackets wasn't enough to stop the Crusader Cross Country team from defeating teams from both St. Mary's of Lancaster (18-47) and Cardinal O'Hara (15-50) at Como Lake Park on Wednesday. St. Francis just edged the Crusaders 28-27 in the closest finish these teams have seen in six years.

Captain Aidan Rivera '27 placed first overall with a winning career personal record time of 17:51.

Brody Campbell '28 and Syd Pratt '28 both had PR times. Campbell with a time of 18:16 and Pratt with with a time of 18:49, each placed fourth and sixth respectively.

Quinn Spurlock '27 delivered a compelling career PR time of 18:56, placing seventh overall.

Rounding out the scoring was Junior, Ben Oswald '27 with another career PR time of 19:47. 

Thirteen of twenty runners set personal records yesterday and close to a dozen were stung by yellow jackets about 300 meters from the finish line.

PR's were set by Vincent Ladori '29 (20:02), Jackson Polino '28 (20:18), Garrett Flaherty '29  (20:25), Peter McGrath '27 (20:34), Alex Teegarden '29 (20:44), Connor Dickerson '29 (21:16), William Cavanaugh '28 (22:31), Sulaiman Abdulhalim '29 (23:26), and Charlie Cannon '29 (25:31). 

The team will take their 3-1 record to the Sunset Stampede Invitational at Evangola Park on Friday, October 17^th at 5:15pm.

Students and families interested in CHS Cross Country and the excellence only found in a Jesuit education at Canisius – ranked as the Buffalo area's "Best Catholic School" by Niche.com – can learn more by scheduling an on-campus experience at cansiushigh.org/visit

This place is special. Let us show you why.

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