Pool Party

Jesuit High School swimming has been a dominant force for decades, and Saturday (Oct. 31) at The Long Center in Clearwater the team put forth an exceptional effort in capturing its seventh consecutive Region title.

The Tigers swept all three relays and claimed four individual events en route to winning the Region Meet for the 11^th time in the past 12 years. Jesuit’s 508 points outdistanced runner-up Lakewood by 291 points.

Byrne Litschgi ’16 took part in four winning races – two relays and two individual. Litschgi helped Jesuit capture the 200 medley relay, along with Chris Jennings ’18, Matthew Dieffenthaler ’19, and Tommy Shaffer ’16, and the 400 freestyle relay, along with Dieffenthaler, Sam Sands ’18, and John Jansen ’18.

Individually, Litschgi won the 200 IM and 100 backstroke. Other individual winners for Jesuit were Shaffer (100 freestyle) and Diego Perez ’18 (diving). The Tigers also won a third relay, the 200 freestyle (Shaffer, Sands, Will Sands ’17, and Stephen Dawes ’17). Overall, Jesuit qualified 11 swimmers for Saturday’s Class 2A State Meet in Stuart.

The swim team exploits were part of a remarkable fall sports weekend. On Friday morning (Oct. 30) at Holloway Park in Lakeland, John Robbins ’18 qualified for the State Meet in cross country.

Robbins placed 5^th at the Region Meet on Friday, completing the undulating 3.1 mile course in 17:07, helping lead Jesuit to an 11^th place team finish. Also scoring for the Tigers were Tyler Pratt ’16, Harrison Sauter ’18, Dominic Santos ’16, and Myles Hahn ’16.

On Friday night (Oct. 30), the football team defeated Spoto 62-0 to improve to 9-0 this season. Malik Davis ’17 led Jesuit with 259 rushing yards and five touchdowns. The defense allowed less than 50 yards, as Parker Looney ’16 had two sacks and four tackles for a loss, while Braden Gilby ’18 accrued 10 tackles.

Capping things off was the golf team at the two-day State Tournament on Friday and Saturday at the Mission Inn Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills. Matt Ruel ’16, a three-time District champion, capped his stellar high school career with a runner-up individual finish at State. Ruel’s two-round 149 helped lead Jesuit to a 6th place team finish, as the Tigers also took scores from Sean Lanoue ’16, Matt Zloto ’17, Max White ’19, and Connor Murphy ’19.