Several St. Philip alumni are leading their high school cross country teams. Robert Brandt, St. Philip Class of 2011 (pictured at right), is the top runner at Loyola, and had the fastest time of anyone participating in the first league meet of the season for Loyola. At St. Francis, Jack and Adam Lyons (Class of 2011) are two of the top runners, behind only Chris Rodriguez (Class of 2012).  Riley Gilmartin (Class of 2010) finished ninth in a Mission League (Division IV) meet, second on a good Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy (FSHA) team by just nine seconds.

    Robert Brandt won the Bellarmine-Loyola Cross Country meet, leading a sweep by Loyola runners of the podium. Brandt also won the Mt. Carmel/Movin Shoes Cross Country Meet. He  finished seventh in the prestigious Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) high school meet, with a time of 15:01, for a pace of five minutes per (hilly) mile, after clocking his first mile at 4:40.The meet, the largest cross-country meet in the world, featured thirty-eight of the ranked cross country teams in California. Brandt led Loyola to the boys individual sweepstakes (traditionally run by the top runners on each team) win. Brandt finished first among Loyola participants in all of the races Loyola has competed in so far this year. In an earlier meet at the start of the season, Brandt had put in a time of 14:49 in winning the Junior-class race, while putting up the best time posted by any during the meet.

    At the Fastback Shootout meet, Jack Lyons was first to cross the finish line for St. Francis, beating his brother, Adam Lyons by 14 seconds, who finished second for St. Francis. In the Bellarmine-Loyola Cross Country Meet, Chris Rodriguez finished 13th overall, with Adam at 19 and Jack not competing in the meet. At the Woodbridge Cross Country Meet, Rodriguez again led St. Francis, (which he did in all meets he participated in) finishing seventh, with Adam finishing third on St. Francis and Jack finishing seventh on the team. In the Clovis Invitational meet, Rodriguez and Adam went 1-2 in the order of St. Francis finishers, with Jack fifth in the order.

    Riley Gilmartin was on the first St. Philip Cross Country team. She, as a senior, ran her fastest pace for the year so far at the Stanford Invitational Meet, running three miles in 19 minutes, forty three seconds, for a 6:34 pace per mile, finishing fifth on FSHA. At the Mt. SAC meet, she ran the 2.93 mile course in 22 minute and two seconds, good for a pace of 7:31 per mile on the very hilly course. Gilmartin’s best finish among FSHA team members was second at the Woodbridge, where she was 14 seconds behind the leader for FSHA.

    “Ever since [St. Philip] Cross Country started, St. Philip has had top runners” says Coach Chris McNatt. Chris Rodriguez and Robert Brandt were usually among those in the lead and are both still remembered with respect.