Few distance runners in Jesuit lore can replicate the legacy carved out by Jose Libano. A four-year letterman and team captain in cross country and track, Libano’s record-setting high school career led to a Big East championship in college and a successful stint on the professional circuit that saw the former Jesuit standout compete on the national stage.
Libano finished as the individual runner up at the TCIL Cross Country Championships in 1989 and 1991, but he truly excelled on the track. His senior year was marked by a pair of TCIL state titles in the 1600m and 3200-meter runs, but his preeminent achievement was his blistering performance at the 1992 Texas Relays where he set a school record in the 3200m with a time of 9:24.3. The record stood for 14 years, and was notable in that it was faster than the winning time at any of the UIL state meets that year.
Walking on at perennial national running power Providence College, Libano quickly earned an athletic scholarship. A four-year member of the Friars’ cross country and track programs, he found his way into the record books at Providence as well, running the third leg on the College’s record-setting 1600-meter relay team during his sophomore season. That same season, he was a finalist in the 1000m at the IC4A Championships and anchored the Friars’ distance medley relay team at Penn Relays with a personal best mile time of 4:05.
Libano’s senior season included recognition on the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll of Excellence, and maybe more memorably, he finished as the fifth and final scoring member of Providence’s winning contingent at the 1995 Big East Cross Country Championships.
After graduating with a degree in mathematics and secondary education, Libano continued to run competitively with New Balance Coastal TC. He established a new personal best in the 800m with a time of 1:51 in a summer circuit race in Montreal, but the highlight of his post graduate career was qualifying for the 1997 USATF National Cross Country Championships.
