New U-D Jesuit relay team sets records in league meet
· Yahoo Sports
The quartet of U-D Jesuit runners who broke league records together on Saturday, May 9 had not run together in a race all spring, but they had a pretty good idea of the potential they shared.
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In the first race of the Catholic League Bishop Division championship meet at Detroit Catholic Central High School, the Cubs' potential shone through.
The quartet of junior Justin Mkrtumian, sophomore Nick Formosa, sophomore Aaron Wilson and sophomore Eli Kujawski set the Catholic League record and shattered the U-D Jesuit school record with a time of 7:54.14 in the 4x800 relay.
It was the first time the Cubs had run a sub-8-minute 4x800 relay, according to coach Carl Brock, since he began coaching in 2011. Their time beat their previous best this season by 18 seconds.
"I feel like absolute crap, but it's worth it," said Wilson, the anchor leg, after the race.
As Wilson made the final turn into the home stretch, he found himself alone on the track. The closest relay teams to U-D Jesuit were nearly 30 seconds behind. The Cubs teammates crowded the track and ran alongside Wilson over the final 50 meters before erupting into celebration.
When the official times popped up on the Catholic Central video board, the team celebrated together again.
"I'm just so proud of everyone," Formosa said. "This run really reflected the work that we've been putting in over the past couple of months."
Those four runners have all participated in the relay at earlier points of the season, but Brock decided to put his best lineup together for the league championship as they prepare for the regional and state meets.
"We've been trying to see where they would best fit," Brock said. "And today we decided, since we are getting close to the regionals and states, we've got to pull out Voltron and see what happens. And that's what happened."
Along with the 4x800 relay, U-D Jesuit's 4x400 relay team finished first, sophomore Langston Jackson finished first in the 1600m and second in the 800m, and junior Langston Johnson finished first in discus. As a team, U-D Jesuit finished third in the league meet behind Novi Detroit Catholic Central and Toledo St. Francis de Sales.
Behind a strong sophomore class, the Cubs' distance runners helped them achieve success.
"We've gone from a sprint school from when we won it in '22 to having some middle distance and some distance guys coming along," said U-D Jesuit distance running and Cross Country coach Tim Foley.
The good day started from the great run in the 4x800. The time of 7:54 is the seventh-fastest in Michigan this spring. The Cubs also met the standard to race in the New Balance Outdoor Nationals meet in Philadelphia in June.
Formosa, Wilson and Kujawski all ran personal bests in their 800-meter legs to achieve that feat.
"It's all about the culture," Foley said. "They run for each other. And that's in part because of coach Brock. He's instilled the culture and we improve upon it day in and day out. These kids buy into it."
The runners quickly had to switch from celebration mode to recovery, as all four had one more event later in the afternoon. But they first celebrated together while going through cooldowns.
"We all knew we were capable of this, but we didn't realize it, I guess, until we put it together," said Mkurtumian.
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Jared Ramsey covers high school sports for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: New U-D Jesuit relay team sets records in league meet