Maine West at Deerfield
DEERFIELD TOPS STRONG MAINE WEST TEAM, MOVES TO 3-0 IN CSL NORTH
Both Deerfield and Maine West came into this meet 2-0, but one team had to leave with a loss. As defending conference champions, Deerfield was the heavy favorite.
The Varsity race started with Deerfield jumping out to a big lead. Senior Josh Puyear and junior Cole Bernstein gapped the field with junior Ryan Bernstein third and the rest of Deerfield’s pack behind him with Maine West’s top runner Jesus Vallejo. It looked like a very cushy win for Deerfield. Puyear kept his lead and won in 15:19. However, Vallejo moved up from the Deerfield pack to Ryan, and then Cole who had fallen back from Puyear. Ultimately, Vallejo outkicked Cole for second place. At the same time, Maine West’s next two runners Adam Gorcyca and Joey Langridge started well behind Deerfield’s pack but moved up just as much as Vallejo did and passed several Deerfield runners each. Each Deerfield runner felt like they lost to more Maine West runners than they expected. Despite the excellent racing by Maine West’s top three runners, Deerfield still had the numbers up front finishing 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7. And because Maine West’s four and five runners were pretty far back, Deerfield still took the victory 20-39. But the story of the day was how Deerfield was a little rattled by the unexpected strength of Maine West’s top three runners.
Showcasing their usual strong depth, Deerfield put 13 runners in front of Maine West’s fourth, and 21 runners in front of Maine West’s fifth. There were some big personal bests in that group. Senior Charlie Hart ran 16:08 for 7th place, junior Evan Morris ran 16:39 for 11th place, senior Zack Greco ran 16:42 for 12th place, sophomore Brandon Barber ran 16:43 for 13th place, and junior David Fisher ran 16:57 for 14th place. For Morris, Greco, and Fisher, this was their first time under 17 minutes. There are now 16 runners on the team who have broken 17 minutes this year, which is the most in at least five years when such records started to be kept.
Deerfield dominated both of the other races.
In the JV race, a lead pack of senior Sam Voigt, and juniors Carter Levinson and Carson Amstutz gapped the field from start to finish. They put on a clinic of team cross country running and pushed each other to new heights. Voigt led the group through the first two miles, and Levinson took over from there, but Voigt held on and eventually passed Levinson at the very end. But there’s no way the three of them would have run as fast without their teammates. Deerfield had the first 13 finishers in the JV race and won with a perfect score of 15-50.
In the frosh/soph race, Lucas Goldenberg won yet again in 11:23. Despite sacrificing a few top runners to the Varsity race, Deerfield had the first six finishers to win 15-49. Stepping up big time were freshmen Dane Brown and Dawid Turos, who both broke the 11-minute barrier for the first time.
Up next for the Warriors is a next Tuesday on the road against Maine East for some more CSL North action.
