At the Bernie Magee Class Meet, one of the most competitive early-season XC meets in the state, Oratory Prep rose to the occasion. With hundreds of kids in every single race and well over 30 full teams competing, OP’s performances set records while also showing the depth of the team.
The meet started with the juniors’ 5k, where Patrick Roberts led the team with a time of 20:12. Closely behind were Matt Sakai and Raphael Fajolle with times of 20:28.8 and 20:29.1, respectively. Following these boys were Camilio Porras and Jake Toto to round out the race. The boys’ efforts not only set the stage for the other 3 grades to compete, but placed them at 21st place overall.
Shortly after the juniors finished up with their race, the seniors began their race, one of the biggest highlights in program history, placing 5th. Connor Bassolino, committed to the University of Richmond, stormed to a third-place finish in 16:02. This performance tied the Oratory senior class record from this meet previously set by Maximus Russo, OP alumni running at UVA, in 2019. This run was not only fast, but also one to be put into the record books. Following Conner’s amazing race, Jame Nolan came in with a 17:09, boasting a blazing first mile split of 4:55. Chase Lynch and Matt Maloba, who were sick at the time, both ran personal records with times of 18:34 (a 15-second drop) and 19:16 (a 13-second drop), respectively.
To follow up the fast senior performance, Henry Salaki was the first sophomore to cross for Oratory in 18:06, setting a new course personal record and placing in the top 25 overall. He was followed closely by Will Trimble with a time of 18:21 (overall PR by 4 seconds), who medaled at 35th, and Chad Vassallo (course PR by 50 seconds), who placed 45th. Levi Barbanell also ran a PR of 23:06 and dropped 11 seconds. With 2 medalists in this race from OP, the team captured 13th place.
Last but not least, the freshman ~2.9k race went down in history. The boys not only impressed individually, but also brought home the team championship, finishing first out of thirty schools. With the biggest race of the meet, OP had 3 medalists, all three being in the top-20. With a 2nd place finish, Robert Dudley ran a 9:52 (5:28 mile pace), followed by Greyson Astle, who placed 11th with a time of 10:25. Closing out the medals for the day, Stephen Polefko placed 17th with a time of 10:33. Will Stirk and Max LaBanca finished out the scoring for this race, running 11:17 and 11:23, respectively.
From Connor Bassolino’s record-tying run to the freshman team title, this meet was a massive success and a great sign for OP as they roll into Shore Coaches.
