JESUIT JR. BRADY MULLEN WILL LEAD THE BLUE JAYS AT THE 2023 STATE MEET
If you think Jesuit head coach Cullen Doody has some secret recipe ready to cook up this week in preparation for the 2023 LHSAA Division I Cross Country Championships, which will be held on Monday, Nov. 13 at Northwestern State University, you are sadly mistaken.
"We are going to continue to do what we have done," Doody said. "We are going to stick to the plan and sharpen some things up. To do something different or new-at this point in the season-would not be smart."
It's the same process which served the Blue Jays well last season when Jesuit had a perfect score and placed all seven runners in the top 10 of the state meet-something that has never been in the history of the sport in Louisiana.
After the dominant performance, the Blue Jays, including state champion Jack DesRoches, who is now competing for Vanderbilt University, downplayed the historic accomplishment.
"It's just like any race," Jack DesRoches said last year. "It's exciting. I'm glad it happened, but it's just like any other day. We're happy about today but it's exactly what we have put in. We've been working really hard."
"After last year's state championship, it was very business-like," Doody said. "That's what runners do. They train for three months and then go run a race. In a sport like football you have people who get almost too emotional. It doesn't mean that those guys weren't excited or weren't happy. They were."
Jesuit is coming off a Division 1 Region 3 Meet where Doody was happy with the outcome.
"We did not do what we needed to do," Doody said. "We qualified for state."
Other than that, Doody was pleased with veteran Michael Vocke and freshman Nicholas Braud.
"I thought Michael ran better than he did at district, relative to the runners from Brother Martin's kids," Doody said. "And freshman Nick Braud broke 16:00 for the first time." Those were the highlights in a regional where Doody kept several of his top runners out.
Speaking of Brother Martin, Doody thinks this year's state meet will be a "great, competitive race."
"They're an interesting team," Doody said. "They've had a different No. 1 runner in almost every race. Noah Mooney has been No.1. Gabriel Metoyer has been No.1. Daniel Falk had been a No. 1 for them. Luke Regan is always up there. I think if you key on a certain guy you might miss someone else."
Instead of worrying about other runners and other teams, Doody will focus his Blue Jays on running their race.
"We are going to be where we need to be," Doody said. "We're not going to go out in 4:40 and blindly follow someone who decides to go out that fast."
Jesuit is led by Brady & Brady. While it may read like a law firm, the two have consistently performed at a high level this season for the Blue Jays.
Junior Brady Mullen, who earlier this year became the first Louisiana high school distance runner to break 15:00 on a cross country course. The "other Brady" is Brady Monahan, a sophomore who finished second to Mullen at the District 9-5A Championship. Mullen won with a 14:46. Monahan was second with a time of 15:11.
Other members of Jesuit's district championship team included Lucas Sampedro (15:24), Joe Accardo (15:47) David Quintana (15:56).
Vocke, who won state as a sophomore, was Jesuit's No. 6 runner at district with a time of 16:18.
The Jesuit team has ended where Doody expected them to finish. When asked about a runner who has exceeded expectations this year, he gave a runner from Brother Martin.
"Noah Mooney went from a kid who nobody really heard of last year to someone who can potentially end up on the podium at state," Doody said.
Since finishing as the runner-up to Catholic in 2020, the Blue Jays have won three-straight LHSAA State Cross Country Championships. On Monday, November 13 they are looking to put some more hardware in the trophy case in Uptown New Orleans.
WANT TO READ ABOUT JESUIT'S 2022 PERFECT SCORE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP?