SJND Cross Country Champs Receives City Proclamation

From Saint Joseph Notre Dame High School

The Saint Joseph Notre Dame High School community filled Alameda city council chambers as it supported the men's cross country team on Dec. 11, when the runners were awarded a proclamation by Alameda's Mayor Marie Gilmore for winning the school's first-ever State Cross Country Championship.

"The men on this championship team run with integrity, skill and they excel not only on the course, but in the classroom and the community," said Gilmore.

The ceremony included designating Dec. 11 as "Saint Joseph Notre Dame High School Cross Country Team Day" in Alameda. To view the presentation of Gilmore presenting the team and Coach Tony Fong with the proclamation honoring their accomplishment, click here.

SJND won its first team state cross country championship on Nov. 24, showing tremendous depth with six of the top runners in the race.

"We all fought to the end," said Gabe Arias-Sheridan, who'll graduate in 2014.

He led the team with a fifth-place finish. He said the team was motivated to support Coach Fong, who lost his wife, Denise, to breast cancer two weeks before the state championship race in Fresno.

Other Pilots scorers were Michael Murphy c/o 2015 (25th, 16:30), Louis Rodrigues c/o 2013 (26th, 16:34), Matthew Murphy c/o 2015 (28th, 16:35) and Sam Levy-Wendt (33rd, 16:43).

"I told all the kids, 'If you are the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh runners, they will be just as important as the top three,'" Fong told the newspaper. He pointed out that Pilots No. 6 runner James LaFollette (43rd, 16:57) beat second-place Flintridge Prep's No. 5 runner.

Fong, in his 18th year coaching at SJND, has experienced an extremely emotional past month.

"We were trying to win (the state race) for Tony," said Arias-Sheridan.