Brother Martin and Mt. Carmel Academy, both of New Orleans, won the Invitational Boys and Girls Divisions respectively in Saturday’s Mobile Challenge of Champions meet held at Langan Park on Saturday.

Brother Martin placed five runners in the top 10 to win the Invitational Boys division with 30 points, despite an impressive race from UMS-Wright’s Charles Perry, who won the individual Invitational Boys’ race in an impressive time (and course record) of 15 minutes, 35.53 seconds. Brother Martin’s top finishers were Gabriel Metoyer (third, 16:05.91), Noah Mooney (fourth, 16:10.73), and Luke Regan (fifth, 16:16.96).

UMS-Wright finished second with 66 points, while St. Paul’s was third (79). Rounding out the top five were Darlington of Rome, Ga. (116) and Holy Cross of New Orleans (131).

“I feel like when we come to this meet, we’re relevant with a chance to win and see how everyone else is doing,” said Brother Martin head coach Drew Haro. “As a coach, I always look at what we have coming up. I love coaching the guys we have in the current season, but I always ask where the program’s going to be in the next few years. Fortunately, we have three or four really good seniors, but some of our juniors and sophomores are starting to find their spot.”

Mt. Carmel’s girls scored 48 points, while McGill-Toolen Catholic (73), St. Paul’s (74), and UMS-Wright (82) were second, third and fourth, respectively. St. Thomas Aquinas of Hammond, LA was fifth with 93 points.

For Mt. Carmel, Catalina Reichard was second overall (19:00.26) and Lucy Quinatana sixth (20:24.48). The Cubs placed five runners in the top 25, which helped secure the win. Lucy Cramer of Baton Rouge’s Parkview Baptist was the overall winner in 18:34.81.

According to Mt. Carmel head coach Casey Kiser, running in a pack was very important for the Cubs, who finished fifth in last year’s meet.

“We definitely approached running in a pack during practice,” he said. “We talked about how important it was to close that gap between our one through five runners, and we got to get that six and seven to be just as close on other people’s spots. We’re definitely big on pack running in our program.”

Perry and Cramer each won their Invitational races with ease. In the Invitational Boys’ race, Perry got out front almost immediately and never looked back, while Cramer literally hammered the first mile and did her best to keep the momentum through the finish.

“The plan was to go out easy because I never raced these guys before because this field had a lot of great runners,” said Perry. “But I decided to take off and try and stay in the lead during the race. I got the course record; that was the goal today, and I’m just hoping to keep the train moving.”

“I’ve never been here before, so I was just enjoying the new scenery,” Cramer said. “It was really fun. The plan was to go out (hard). I kind of slid down a little during the race, but I made it up towards the end.”

Brother Martin also won the boys’ Open Division, with the Crusaders’ Jack Collins winning in 16:52.71. Brother Martin scored 37 points, while Baker and Faith Academy (99), Saraland (133) and Gautier (178) rounding out the top five teams.

Baker, led by Lindsey Baxter, won the girls’ Open Division with 44 points. Baxter was the individual winner on 20:58.14, holding off fast-closing Mallary Little of Saraland (20:03.61). Rounding out the top five teams were Saraland (51), Davidson (114), St. Michael Catholic (140) and McGill-Toolen Catholic (147).

Performances of the meet: Without a doubt, they were Perry’s and Lucy Cramer’s dominating runs in the Invitational Boys and Girls races. Perry beat his closest competitor, Spanish Fort’s Winston McGhee, by 28 seconds. McGhee ran a very respectable 16:03.67. In the girls’ race, Cramer beat Reichard by 26 seconds.

Did you know? Lucy Cramer and her sister Molly (who finished third overall in 19:01.36), come from a family which has a solid sports background? Their grandfather, Steve Ripple, was a linebacker for LSU from 1973-77, earning team captain and MVP honors, while their grandmother, Jan Ripple, was a world champion triathlete and a six-time U.S. triathlete champion. Their father, Jayme, swam with Michael Phelps on Team USA’s world championship relay teams in Montreal (2005) and Melbourne (2007), while their mother Kate was a champion pole vaulter for LSU.

Coachspeak: “He was kind of the odd man out as to who we could put into the Invitational Division, so he told me, ‘Coach, I was looking at the Open results from the last few years and I think I can win it.’ So, I told him to go into it with a plan and see if you can execute it. He did a great job executing his plan today.” — Haro on Collins’ win in the Open Division boys’ race.

“We came in fifth here last year, and I told the girls it was the first race of the season and it doesn’t matter — let’s go out and race. They’ve been competitive the whole time, and that’s all a coach can ask for.” — Kiser

They said it: “I was feeling sick earlier this week, so I didn’t feel amazing, but I said (to myself), ‘It doesn’t matter, you got to win.’ I missed two days of practice this week, so I honestly didn’t’ know coming in, but I was fine and I was happy.” — Perry.

“I was just hoping to hold as fast of a pace as I could. I was hoping to go the first mile fast and hold on to it. I slowed a little, but I made sure not to slow too much and to give all I had for the race.” — Lucy Cramer.

“I felt good the first two miles, but in the last mile I was about to fade, but I was able to fight through it. Mallary stayed in the race, and she had a lot of heart. This race helped me to get back to where I was in my 10th grade year.” — Baxter on her win in the Open Division girls’ race.