Ben Quazzo Sports Editor Saturday, October 24^th was dreary and damp. The temperature was in the mid-40’s, making it the perfect day to sleep in and and watch some TV. Outside, the rainwater had compiled, making huge puddles and miniature ponds in the parks around Chicago. Unfortunately for the Romans cross-country team, the 24^th marked the beginning of their journey to qualify for the IHSA state tournament in Peoria. It was the date of their Regional meet, and the site was a 3-mile long course in the LaBagh Woods Forest Preserve. Conditions were very wet. So wet, in fact, that the river bordering the course overflowed, and the course that was going to be used for the race had to get rerouted and remarked before the race so that runners wouldn’t be trekking through standing river water. Once the race started, it was obvious that the poor conditions separated the strong from the weak. From the first stride, the Romans established a dominance that lasted until they crossed the finish line. For the boys, led by senior stars Brendan O’Hara (time of 16:04) and Bowen Tretheway (16:03), the team finished in 2^nd place, easily qualifying for Sectionals the following weekend. The Latin Girls’ Cross-Country team had the same type of team dominance. Though more than half of their Regional team was underclassmen, senior Julia Buford took the lead and won the Regional meet with a time of 18:17, propelling Latin to a second place finish, as well as acquiring a team spot at the Sectional meet the following weekend. The next weekend, Buford and the boys’ team arrived in Aurora at the Oakhurst Forest Preserve, to compete in their sectional race. The top 5 teams and top 5 individuals would qualify for the IHSA state competition. In the boys’ race, O’Hara and Tretheway once again led the way for the Romans, with times of 16:29 and 16:34, respectively. Sophomore Ethan Lee and seniors Matt Schauble and Ian Marshall also put up great times, rounding out Latin’s top 5 individual times used to compute the Sectional team standings. In the end, the times were good enough to place the Romans in 4^th place overall, making them the first Latin School boys’ cross country team to every qualify for the state tournament in the history of the school. In the girls’ race, Buford left her competition in the dust. Not only did she win the sectional race and qualify for an individual state tournament appearance, she was so fast that the next closest competitor to Buford was 10 seconds behind her. However, despite a valiant effort, the girls’ team missed qualifying for state by 1 point. Buford and the boys didn’t have too much time to celebrate their sectional victories. The following Saturday, November 7^th, marked the IHSA boys and girls cross country class 1A State Final. The day before the race, the Roman’s runners left Latin and headed for Peoria, following a final pep-rally salute given to the team by the Latin band. Once they arrived in Peoria, the boys’ moods seemed to get a little lighter and more relaxed. “We were just looking to have a fun time,” said Lee.  As for Buford, who has had 3 more years of experience at the state competition, the tension was slightly higher. “Even though it’s a really exciting race to be at, it is a really stressful atmosphere,” said Buford. Her goal was to finish top 10, setting the bar very high, considering her junior year she came in 22^nd place. “State is so tough because it is such a big race, and everyone starts off so fast that in the past it has been hard to get past the intimidation and stay towards the front.” Though Buford had many obstacles to overcome, when the race began, few things were able to get in her way. Buford ran the 3-mile course in 18 minutes and 17 seconds, beating her time from sectionals by a second. She finished 7^th overall, easily cementing herself as Latin’s greatest girls cross country runner of all-time. The boys, who own the title of the greatest boys cross-country team ever at Latin, had a very solid race. O’Hara and Tretheway finished 41^st and 66^th overall, with other great times posted by Schauble, Lee, and junior Nick Stender. In the end, the Latin boys found themselves in 13^th place overall, an accomplishment beyond that of any other Latin cross country team in the history of the school. Peoria was a great success for both the boys and Buford, and even though Buford will graduate at the end of this year, the boys will look to try and surpass this accomplishment next year. “We will lose three pretty fast seniors, and making state will be harder next year. But if everyone runs over the summer, we could probably repeat. If we do, a bigger pep rally would be nice,” said Lee. 2009 proved to be a memorable year for the Romans Cross Country program, a year that will go down in the record books as the best Latin has ever seen.]]>