Cross Country Controversy

Century campus was abuzz with parents cheering loudly. A football game? A Soccer game? No- it was the Century Cross Country Invite or previously known as the All-City. The Century Invite consisted of boys and girls teams from JM, Century, Mayo, and Schaffer Academy all were competing for the prestigious honor of being the best team in the city.

There was a twist this year, as Lourdes was not allowed to participate. According to the article published by the Post Bulletin, Pressbox View: No Lourdes, no Langlie Scholarship, they were banned from the event due to the unfair recruitment of a hockey player by Lourdes. It has been heard that this particular student was going to attend Century at some point and play hockey for them. Many people are upset that Century punished the sport of cross country for a hockey related incident. Senior from Mayo Billy Schimmel said in an interview “This was a hockey incident so why should we, the cross country athletes, be punished for this? It just isn’t right.”

If kicking Lourdes out of the meet isn’t bad enough, Century changed the title of the meet from the Kevin Langlie All-City to the Century Invite. Now this might not seem that bad but the change in the name upset many of the John Marshall students and parents. In the past, the All-City race has been a memorial race that honored the death of Kevin Langlie. Kevin was a top cross country runner for JM whose life was blooming during his High School years. He was loving and enjoying life to its fullest. Kevin was rock climbing with friends six years ago when he decided to take a picture of his friends climbing a rock face. It is not known for sure but the best guess is that Kevin lost his footing and tripped over a cliff to his death. His family created a scholarship fund in his name that while the meet was named the Kevin Langlie All-City, they would give two senior runners that participated in the race each a $500 scholarship. These scholarships would come from the t-shirt sales at the meet. Some fans feel that Century does not care to honor Kevin since they kicked Lourdes out and renamed the race; therefore the race is not about remembering Kevin anymore. Senior Billy Schimmel also said in an interview “Because it wasn’t called the All-City meet, they didn’t give Kevin the remembrance he deserves.”

However, a race did occur. The boy’s race had 110 athletes run in the boy’s race and junior Riley Macon finished in first place in a time of 16:48. He was followed closely junior by Steven Schimmel. Due to Mayo Varsity team’s overall speed, they clinched their third start victory at this race and made themselves the undisputed #1 cross country team in Rochester. The girls did not come in first, but rather second after putting up an incredible fight from start to finish. Mayo girls placed 2nd overall, just losing to Century. Nonetheless the Mayo girl’s put up a valiant fight with junior Frances Payne placing 2nd running 4K in a time of 15:43 and senior Andrea Louwagie placing 5th with a time of 16:09. Amidst all the drama, the event was a disappointment as it did not honor Kevin Langlie. There is always hope for next year that Century will decide to put their personal feeling aside and realize how important the All-City race is to so many people.

Written by Vince