For about six seconds, as their baton bounced on the track from a dropped handoff at the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field in Philadelphia, it looked as if BC High’s 4-by-mile relay team may have lost out on a rare chance to take gold in the New Balance Nationals Outdoor meet on June 13.
But instead, with a resilient effort from sophomore Greg McGrath and senior anchor Chris Larnard to make up the lost time, the Boston Jesuit Eagles – renamed from BC High because of MIAA policies – saved a 17:15.79 mark to win the school’s first national title.
Junior Shamus Larnard led the pack on the first leg and junior John Wilson came around in third on the second leg, setting a strong tone to eventually beat a field of 60 qualified teams.
They also set all-time school, state and New England records in the event.
“It’s, I guess, just intense gratitude and appreciation (I feel),” said BC High cross country and outdoor track and field coach Seth Kirby. “Beyond being the most talented group, I just feel like they do this sport the way a coach would really want them to. … To say ‘We’re going to do this as a team and set records,’ and to know that it worked out, it just made me feel just intensely grateful to have this group of people I’m coaching.”
“When I crossed the line and realized that we’d won, it was just shock that we had actually done it,” Chris Larnard added. “Now that it’s set in, (I feel) just gratitude looking back over my entire high school career, how much I’ve grown as an athlete, how much I’ve grown as a person because of my teammates and coaches. Being able to do that with a group of guys that we did, it’s just gratitude that I can call myself a national champion now.”
The team didn’t treat the feat as an expectation, but winning the event was certainly a lofty goal they felt was possible if everything in their control went perfectly.
Yet, it didn’t.
Younger brother Shamus Larnard ran a 4:16.73 mile on the first leg, and Wilson’s leg had BC High still in a great position. The team practiced its handoffs a few times before the event started, but McGrath and Wilson couldn’t cleanly execute theirs. McGrath dropped Wilson’s handoff, and as he went to pick it up, he got trampled by the rest of the field and dropped the baton again.
“It was dramatic,” Kirby said. “If the baton goes off the track, you’re disqualified. … He just gets run over, has to run back for the baton, and now we’re in fifth. Then there was a whole comeback thing.”
Chris Larnard was on the infield, watching it unfold. He didn’t see McGrath waver, still handing the baton off in 4:21.17 to keep the Eagles in striking distance.
The University of Pennsylvania-bound senior took care of the rest, quickly running past the runner in second and finished his mile in 4:10.46 to help the team beat the top seed by less than a second (0.83) for the gold.
“I think that really lit a fire for (McGrath) and he was able to make a lot of it back and he gave me the baton (in third place),” Chris Larnard said. “He didn’t choose to let it bring him down, he stayed positive and wasn’t discouraged or anything. So I kind of just took the same mentality into my leg.”
Normally in track and field meets, relays come at the end of the day after individual track events have wrapped up. But in this one, the 4-by-mile was on the first day – which meant the Larnard brothers, Wilson and McGrath would need to risk fatigue in the individual events they qualified for if they decided to go through with it.
Between coming up short of a title in cross country together, and knowing their chances in the relay versus as individuals, they all comfortably committed to the team.
Other programs did not, swapping out top runners while still liking their chances for a strong result.
“For me, it was an easy decision just because it was my last race ever,” Chris Larnard said. “I wanted it to be something special to end with, something to end with my team. … The other guys, they really made the ultimate sacrifice, giving up their individual races for me. I think it is because we didn’t get it in cross country and we know this is our last chance that the four of us will be together.”
“It says a lot about the character of our guys,” Kirby added. “This is like a college showcase. So they were kind of putting their one last stab at attracting D1 interest, they were willing to put that at risk to do what we did.”
BC High competed in the same event last year, but Chris Larnard was the only runner left from that group. The four of them worked at it all summer together in hopes of reaching the stage again.
“My sophomore year, no one from our team went to nationals,” Chris Larnard said. “Even going to nationals was like a crazy big deal. So being able to not only go to nationals, but compete for a national title and ultimately win it, it just shows so much growth from our program. And a lot of people that have been a part of the program for many years, like alumni, they’ve kind of been reaching out. So, it’s been cool.”
