Young qualifies for nationals for third time

The St. John’s cross country team had their regional meet in Colfax, Wis., last Saturday. Despite several injuries, the team had many standout performances. The meet was eight kilometers at Whitetail Golf Course. No. 1 ranked University of Wisconsin-La Crosse won with 33 points and St. John’s finished 15th with 394 points.

The team was led by Lloyd Young, who earned his third consecutive All-Region honor finishing in 16th place. The team also had four top-100 runners including senior Tommy Allen, sophomore Aiden Chalmers, first-year Vincent Kaluza and sophomore Nick St. Peter. Excellent performances from younger runners have been commonplace with injuries to older runners.

Head coach Maxwell Kuzara was extremely proud of the team’s performance.

“Overall, we ran well, and I think the majority of our team ran their best races of the year, which is exactly what we’re looking for, obviously. All you can ask for on race day is for the guys to go out there and give it their all, and that’s what we did. I think the guys were happy with their races, and I’m proud of how the team competed,” Kuzara said via email.

Three of the seven runners had season bests with the remaining having good outings as well. Allen, who finished second on the team, had what he felt was his best meet of the season.

“We had to be pretty realistic with our expectations going into the meet given some of the injury setbacks we’ve had this year, but that being said, I feel like the team performed quite well at regions. Lloyd qualified for Nationals, I felt like I had the best race of my season, and a lot of our younger guys ran really well considering it was their first time in the region’s atmosphere,” Allen said via email.

The St. John’s runners have consistently improved race to race this year. This has been Kuzara’s main focus throughout the year. Many of the runners attributed their success in the meet to treating the meet as their last.

“Our team prepared for the meet about the same as any other meet, with the knowledge that this was one of our last, if not our last, race of the season. The team was excited to race and prepared to race hard,” Young said via email.

Young earned an at-large bid for the NCAA Division III Championship this Saturday that will take place in Newville, Pa. This will be his third national tournament appearance, and the team has huge confidence in him.

“With this being Lloyd’s third trip to the national meet, he knows what to expect and knows how to run his best race. I think his race at the Region meet showed all of us that he is as fit as ever and that he is ready to compete. One more week of rest this week will provide the finishing touches, and we are all excited to see Lloyd cap off his season,” Kuzara said.

With that much experience, Young hopes to keep his momentum from the last meet.

“Momentum that can be brought into nationals is a solid regions performance and the motivation to leave it all on the course on Saturday,” Young said.

Although their seasons are over, the team continues to practice with Young to help support his performance.

“We still practice with our entire team until our last man is done competing for the season, meaning for the whole week before the national meet, every one of our 33 guys are at practice like normal to run with Lloyd. A great team tradition and show of support,” Kuzara said.

Despite Young and Allen graduating this year, the team is optimistic about the future due to their star young runners.

“I feel like the future is very bright for this team. We have a lot of young talent, and if they keep developing, they could be really good in the coming years, which is exciting,” Allen said.

Kaluza, one of the first-year runners, also has a positive outlook on the upcoming seasons.

“I would say the future of the team is looking very bright. Like I said before, our regions team was young — three [first-years] and two sophomores along with two seniors. Losing those top two seniors will be a heavy blow, but I feel that us younger guys are ready to step up and constantly improve as a team. With a few solid seasons of hard training, I have a feeling that we will be very good and have a shot to do something really special,” Kaluza said via email.

The NCAA Division III Championship this Saturday will be livestreamed on NCAA.com at 10 a.m.