During the IHSA cross-country regional meet on Saturday, October 24, senior Brendan Jacobs and junior Connor Fagan advanced to the individual sectionals, where they represented the Caravan on Halloween. Fagan finished 83rd out of 140 runners, while Jacobs finished 85th.

Jacobs was a part of the individual sectionals last year, and he felt no pressure in being one of two runners to  represent Mount Carmel in this year’s sectionals.

Both runners attribute their successful season to Coach Dan Burke.  “He (Burke) is a great leader. He is very knowledgeable with running and spreads it to the guys very well,” said Fagan.

Burke expressed his satisfaction with this year’s squad. “The team has made a lot of progress throughout the season.” He attributes that progress, which was shown as the entire team ran career best times at the Chicago Catholic League Championships, to the the team’s willingness to work and push forward.

For Burke, success in cross-country is a lot about mental toughness.”Training for cross-country is not easy; you have guys that have different strengths as runners. Running in that second mile, when you feel the burn, is always going to be tough. But if you can keep going, then it only helps you as a runner.”

According to Burke, this particular team is very young but is in a competitive rebuilding stage that he hopes will lead to greater success in the future.