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Tigers Finish Third After Bout With Flu

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By BILL WARD, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 18, 2007

DADE CITY - Jesuit coach Greg Maurin is not the type to offer excuses. But after finishing third in Saturday's Class 2A state cross country meet after holding the No. 1 spot much of the season, he knows the recent flu that is running through his squad was a factor.

"We're all sick - some are sicker than others," Maurin said. "It's been a long season, we're all race weary, we've trained really hard, there's been a lot of illness that's been going around, so these last two weeks have been especially tough on our team."

Longtime rival Miami Belen Jesuit turned in a dominating performance to successfully defend its 2A crown. The Wolverines put all five of their scorers in the top 20 to score an impressive low of 42 points. That was 38 ahead of runner-up Naples and 74 better than Jesuit.

Junior Connor Revord led the way for the Tigers by earning all-state honors with his fifth-place finish. After taking 11th place last year, he was pleased with his individual result. But he was more concerned about his team's finish. At the flrunners.com meet in early October, Jesuit had easily beaten Belen. But at that race, the Wolverines' No. 4 man did not run. And Saturday, Belen had clearly reached another level since then.

"Today, Belen came out and ran a great race and we just didn't have our best," Revord said. "We're just going to get back and focus on next year."

In the 2A girls' race, Academy of the Holy Names earned 14th place, led by Stephanie Socias' 63rd-place individual finish. Tampa Catholic, paced by Jaqueline Fricia (67th) and Meaghan Sullivan (71st), took 20th place.

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