Jesuit senior Brady Mullen started the week by winning the LHSAA state cross country championship.
He ended it by finishing high enough in another race so that he qualified for the Nike Cross Nationals set for Dec. 7 in Portland, Oregon.
Mullen, a two-time LHSAA state champion, finished third on the five-kilometer course at the Nike Cross South Regional meet Saturday in The Woodlands, Texas, making him the top individual qualifier from a race that included top level runners from five states including Louisiana.
Mullen (15 minutes, 11 seconds) and another Louisiana runner, Aiden Monistere (15:23.2) of Parkview Baptist, also qualified for the Nike Cross Nationals as one of five individual runners from non-qualifying teams that advanced to the national meet.
The two top teams automatically qualified for the national meet, and Jesuit -- competing under the Blue Jay Distance Project team name -- finished fourth.
Mullen ended the first mile with more than 40 runners ahead of him but briefly moved into the lead during the second mile, before race winner Caden Leonard (15:02.6) of Carroll XC Club regained the lead and finished more than eight seconds ahead of Mullen.
One year after Mullen finished one place shy of qualifying for the national meet, the Harvard commitment ran more aggressively so that he could get with the lead pack sooner than he might have otherwise.
"I still think I didn't do as well as I could have," said Mullen, who found himself having to weave between several runners so that he could get with the lead pack.
"I kind of had to go off course sometimes because the course was so tight," Mullen said about the one-mile looped course that started on a soccer field and quickly narrowed into a path wide enough for three or four runners through a wooded area.
"It was exciting to see a kid have a plan, follow through with a plan and go for it," Jesuit coach Nick Accardo said. "If you don't win, at least you followed a plan and went for it and tried. He just did it."
Jesuit nearly had a second runner qualify for the national meet when junior Brady Monahan (15:36.1) finished seventh among runners from nonqualifying teams, leaving him two places behind the last qualifier.
Jesuit has won four consecutive LHSAA state team championships, including the Division I title won last week. The regional meet offered another level of competition.
"This whole season has been we're a top four, top five team in the region, probably top three if we have a really good day, and a top 20 team in the country," Accardo said. "On this day to feel like we had a chance, it was exciting."