Allstate Sugar Bowl to sponsor Cross Country Classic

NEW ORLEANS – The Allstate Sugar Bowl Cross Country Classic, a new event which replaces the Metro Cross Country Championships, will be held this Saturday (September 30) in New Orleans City Park. The girls’ race will begin at 10 a.m., followed by the boys at 10:45 a.m. The starting line for the City Park Cross Country Course is at the corner of Harrison Avenue and Diagonal Drive in the heart of City Park. Admission is free.

The event will feature nearly 350 student-athletes from 31 schools. Many of the top high school varsity cross country teams (boys and girls) from the region will be in action including four defending state cross country champions: Vandebilt Catholic (LHSAA Class 4A Girls), St. Paul’s (LHSAA Class 5A Boys), Belle Chasse (LHSAA Class 4A Boys) and St. Paul’s Episcopal from Mobile (Alabama Class 5A Girls).

Girls’ Standouts:*
Caroline Lindsay (Fr.), Vandebilt Catholic – 1st in 2016 Class 4A State Championship
Leanna Teuron (Jr.), Vandebilt Catholic – 4th in 2016 Class 4A State Championship
Madison Richoux (Fr.), Vandebilt Catholic – 5th in 2016 Class 4A State Championship
Ying Stock-Brodnick (Fr.), Ursuline – 9th in 2016 Class 4A State Championship
Isabel Valenzuela, St. Paul’s Episcopal – 1st in 2016 Alabama Class 5A State Championship.

Boys’ Standouts:*
Hunter Appleton (Jr.), Brother Martin – 2nd in 2016 Class 5A State Championship
Hayden Courregé (Sr.), Brother Martin – 3rd in 2016 Class 5A State Championship
Jonathan Bertucci (Jr.), St. Paul’s – 6th in 2016 Class 5A State Championship
Stephen Schlottman (Sr.), St. Paul’s – 7th in 2016 Class 5A State Championship
Blake Baldassaro (Sr.), Holy Cross – 9th in 2016 Class 5A State Championship

* Scheduled to compete

Participating Schools: Academy of Our Lady (Girls), Archbishop Rummel (Boys), Archbishop Shaw (Boys), Belle Chasse (Boys & Girls), Ben Franklin (Boys & Girls), Brother Martin (Boys), Cabrini (Girls), Carver (Boys & Girls), Chapelle (Girls), Cohen (Boys & Girls), De La Salle (Boys & Girls), Dominican (Girls), Ecole Classique (Boys & Girls), Holy Cross (Boys), Jesuit (Boys), John Curtis (Boys & Girls), Lakeshore (Boys & Girls), Landry-Walker (Boys & Girls), Lusher (Boys & Girls), McGehee (Girls), Metairie Park Country Day (Boys & Girls), Northshore (Boys & Girls), Pearl River (Boys & Girls), Pope John Paul II (Boys & Girls), St. Augustine (Boys), St. Katharine Drexel (Girls), St. Paul’s Episcopal-Mobile, Ala. (Boys & Girls), St. Paul’s (Boys), Terrebonne (Boys), Ursuline (Girls), Vandebilt Catholic (Boys & Girls).

The winning team in each race will be presented with the Allstate Sugar Bowl Cross Country Classic Championship trophy. The top twenty finishers in each race will receive an Allstate Sugar Bowl Cross Country Classic t-shirt.

A cross country team consists of seven runners per school. The first five runners from each team to finish will determine that team’s score. The overall place in the race of each runner determines the number of points that runner scores for his or her team. For example, first place equals one point, second place equals two points etc. Adding the finish places of a school’s first five (out of seven) finishers will determine that school’s team score. The team with the lowest score wins the meet.

The mission of the Allstate Sugar Bowl is to sponsor and promote amateur sporting events which will foster revenue and spark economic growth in the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. Through its year-round slate of nearly 60 events, the organization has generated over $2.5 billion of economic impact for the city and the state in the last decade alone.