CSL North Quad #1
STRONG PACK LEADS DEERFIELD TO TRIO OF CSL NORTH VICTORIES
The CSL North season is now underway. Vernon Hills hosted the first of three CSL North Quad Meets on Tuesday with Deerfield, Niles North, and Maine West in attendance. Deerfield, the two-time defending CSL North champions, began their quest for a three-peat.
Deerfield was the favorite entering Tuesday, but a Vernon Hills squad that has been surging up the 2A rankings could not be ignored. After tough races three days prior, and a hard workout the day before for some, Deerfield’s goal was to ensure the win, but aim to save their bodies if possible. So the gameplan was for Deerfield’s top seven runners to run directly behind whoever was in the second position for Vernon Hills. Five finishers after Vernon Hills’ #2 (3-4-5-6-7) would be 25 points which would mathematically clinch the team victory.
The race got out pretty quickly, but Deerfield’s pack found their way onto the back of Vernon Hills’ #2 runner after a minute or two. Not too long after that, Vernon Hills’ 3-5 runners began to fade back, making it seem highly probable Deerfield wouldn’t have to make any adjustments to their plan. And not only did five runners finish right on the back of Vernon Hills’ #2 runner as planned, but all seven hung on to finish at virtually the same time. Not too far behind the first seven was Jonah Satyr in 17:46. And although this course was tricky and not so conducive to fast times, Carson Amstutz followed closely behind Satyr in a new PR of 17:52. Fisher Houston also ran an impressive PR of 18:50 for 31st place.
The triple victory puts Deerfield in first place in the CSL North standings, which has been familiar territory recently. Deerfield’s last loss in CSL North action was on September 11, 2018. Since then, Deerfield has been undefeated in six straight Quad meets (including 2020 when Quads were replaced with Duals) and three straight CSL North Championship meets for a total of 33 consecutive CSL North victories.
While varsity’s streak is impressive, Deerfield’s frosh/soph could not have been more dominant on Tuesday. In cross country, a perfect score of 15-50 is achieved when one team puts seven runners in front of the opponent’s first runner. And Deerfield earned a perfect score against all three opponents. In fact, Deerfield put nine runners into the chute before any runners from other teams. Jon Wool had his best race of the season after gapping the field immediately and never looking back. Edwin Shi impressed everyone with his second place finish nearly a minute faster than his old PR.
So far this season, the frosh/soph team has been carried by the sophomore class, but Nick Dowell got himself up towards the front on Tuesday, finishing in ninth place in 12:41 with nobody but teammates ahead of him. Despite the difficulty of the course, Dowell knocked 38 seconds off his two-mile time from just this past Saturday. Ben Freedman also broke his three-day PR from Saturday with a 13:25 clocking on Tuesday.
Deerfield’s frosh/soph team has an impressive streak of their own, winning seven consecutive CSL North Quad meets. This means they have defeated 21 conference opponents in a row.
Next up for the Warriors is CSL North Quad #2 next week against Highland Park, Maine East, and Niles North. Deerfield’s archrival Highland Park is expected to be the toughest obstacle in the way of a third consecutive conference championship. And the Warriors know Highland Park won’t give in.
