Deerfield Opener
DEERFIELD BEGINS THE 2021 SEASON WITH WINS OVER ZION-BENTON, MATHER, AND WARREN ON SENIOR DAY.
This August has felt like an oven most days, and on Thursday the DFDC got to show what has been cooking. Mather, Warren, and Zion-Benton came to Deerfield to kick off the season on a warm 85 degree and humid afternoon.
Deerfield’s five fastest runners will be making their season debut on September 4, so they did not compete. Warren’s top runners were doing the same, and Mather had a couple of their top runners out with injury. But the competition was fierce and Deerfield’s depth was on full display.
In the varsity race, Zion-Benton’s Eric Barajas set the pace in the early going. Deerfield sophomore Dylan Cohen stayed within striking distance for the first mile-and-a-half. When Barajas started to run out of gas, Cohen closed the gap, moved into the lead, and lengthened the lead to eleven seconds over the final mile. This was an impressive varsity win for the sophomore. Cohen spent a considerable portion of his summer at an overnight camp but didn’t miss a beat in his daily summer training, proving that adherence to training is a matter of priorities, not about cans and can’ts.
Senior Evan Morris also had a fantastic season debut. Morris was stranded by himself in third place for practically the whole race. On the final mile, the gap between Morris and Barajas was shrinking, bur Morris ran out of real estate before the gap could diminish. The third place finish in 17:01 showed that Morris’ training is in the right place after returning from a spring injury, and he’s ready to make some noise..
Jonah Satyr, Dane Brown, and Ethan Blacher were the final scorers for the Warriors in seventh through ninth and sealed the team victory. Jack Gordon and Carson Amstutz increased the margin of victory by pushing back scoring runners for all three opposing teams.
On the frosh/soph level, the Deerfield youngsters made a real statement. One top sophomore was out with illness and three others were pulled up to varsity, but Deerfield still pulled off a perfect score by taking the first five finishing spots. The group did not start in the lead, but they worked together in a pack moving up through the field until there were only Deerfield uniforms up front. Newcomer Eric Hogenkamp had a fantastic career debut, likely surprising himself by taking the individual victory. Nathan Wolski, Ryan Jones, Edwin Shi and John Healy rounded out the top five.
John Healy had quite the day beating his best two-mile time from last year by a tremendous 3 minutes and 25 seconds. The other incredibly impressive personal best came from Nick Krishnan who lowered his three-mile best from 22:12 to 21:00.
Not only did Deerfield win on all levels, but eleven new runners crossed their first high school finish lines, which is a special moment. With their first races under their belts, now the work begins to improve upon these times as the season progresses.
