Come over the bridge spanning the west branch of the lagoon at the Marquette Park Golf Course on the way from the ninth green and make a left.
While making the final kick down the left side of the No. 1 hole, there are trees on the left that have leaves beginning to change colors. On the right is the middle of the fairway where the race began along with cheering teammates, family and friends.
That was the scene Saturday runners faced on Oct. 5 as Solorio hosted the Sun Warrior Invitational, featuring 33 girls teams and 25 boys teams.
“We’re trying to build it up with something new every year,” Solorio co-coach Robert Dron said. “This year, we had a DJ and cheerleaders out here. We’re making it better each year, and the community support has been great for families. We’ve attracted more schools, including some of the top ones in the area, especially on the girls’ side. It’s a big selling point that we’re running on a golf course. Coaches know kids can run faster on this kind of course — it’s almost like a time trial.”
Solorio led the local boys teams, finishing sixth with 242 points. Nazareth was next in seventh with 246 followed by Brother Rice (eighth, 247), Hancock (10th, 268), and Mount Carmel (12th, 365).
Runners compete in Solorio’s Sun Warrior Invitational at Marquette Park Golf Course on Oct. 5. Photo by Mike Walsh
“It was an interesting course compared to others we’ve run,” Solorio junior Rigoberto De La Torre said. “The stone bridges were cool, and it felt great to be the host. It’s nice to see parts of the community coming together with so many other high schools here.
“I’ll just remember how nice it was. It was great to see how many people we had here just to watch us run. It was nice to see all this support and to have a lot of people in general who were here to cheer us on.”
On the girls’ side, Marist (159 points) led the local teams, finishing fifth. Nazareth took sixth with 166, followed by Oak Lawn (12th, 367), Shepard (13th, 406), and Kelly (19th, 567).
Nazareth’s Daniel Lewis was the top local boys finisher, placing fifth with a time of 15 minutes, 53 seconds. Other area runners in the top 40 included Aidan Leary from Brother Rice (29th, 17:30.5), Solorio’s George Cortes (31st, 17:35.4) and Kevin Sanchez (34th, 17:47.4), Nazareth’s Anthony Lopez (38th, 17:57.6), Hancock’s Antonio Olvera (39th, 17:59.5), and Kennedy’s Daniel Stachon (40th, 18:00.3).
“It was really fun having a DJ playing music while we were running,” Cortes said. “Hearing the music helps push you through, and with so many people around, you know you’re never alone. I’ll always remember how great the support was.”
Nazareth’s Kathleen Hardy was the top local girls finisher, placing eighth in 18:10.2. Other local runners in the top 40 included Marist’s Caitlin O’Brien (19th, 19:30.7) and Isabella Brennan (20th, 19:36.4), Nazareth’s Sophia Towne (28th, 19:47.8), Marist’s Mary Stokas (34th, 19:54.8), Oak Lawn’s Molly Sheridan (36th, 19:59.3), and Shepard’s Ayat Tantawi (39th, 20:04.1).
In the final event of the day, Dron finished second in the coaches’ race.
“I was told to slowly build the meet,” Dron said. “We approach it from the perspective of what we valued as runners. We started on time, everything went as scheduled, and we have high expectations from start to finish.”