NEW ORLEANS — Matt Pieri, a standout distance runner and student at Brother Martin High School in New Orleans, signed a cross country scholarship Wednesday with Xavier University of New Orleans.
Pieri finished fourth in the 2007 Class 5A state meet and ninth in the 2008 meet, which was Tuesday. He helped Brother Martin win the 5A state championship in 2007 and finish third this year, and he was the Crusaders' second-fastest runner in both meets.
Pieri's best three-mile time for cross country is 15 minutes, 55 seconds, which he ran as a junior and a senior. That 15:55 pace projects to 26:22 for 8,000 meters, the men's distance at the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championship — and the projected time would be the fastest by a GCAC runner at the championship meet since 1998.
"He will be one of our team's top three runners his freshman year," Xavier coach Joseph Moses said. "He will be a difference-maker at some point, depending on how quickly he adjusts from high school to college competition."
As a junior in outdoor track this past spring, Pieri finished third in the 3,200-meter run (9:58.04) in the Region III-5A meet and fourth in the District 10-5A meet. He helped Brother Martin win team championships in both events.
Pieri — 5 feet 6 inches tall, 130 pounds and a New Orleans resident — has appeared on the Brother Martin principal's honor roll multiple times, is in the National Honor Society and serves as vice-president of the student council. He plans to major in pharmacy at Xavier.
"I'm interested in academics and athletics, and I want to be a pharmacist," Pieri said. "That helped in my decision to sign with Xavier."
Xavier won its third consecutive GCAC men's and women's team championships Nov. 8, and both squads will compete Saturday in the NAIA National Championships at Kenosha, Wis.