Red Devil Invite 2023
DEERFIELD VARSITY HUMBLED AT RED DEVIL INVITE, SOPHOMORES FINISH IN AN IMPRESSSIVE THIRD PLACE
If Deerfield cross country seasons follow a script, then this one is still headed in the right direction following a rough outing at the Hinsdale Central Red Devil Invite at the varsity level. In the prior two seasons, Deerfield’s varsity has underperformed at this meet, and this year followed suit. The Warriors finished in 16th place of 20 teams. The good news is that both of the past two seasons only went up from there and ended in excellent postseason runs.
A lot of caveats are needed before taking 16th place at face value. First, the Red Devil Invite is one of the most stacked invites in Illinois each season. In the nationally-recognized cross country hotbed of the western suburbs, eleven of Illinois’ top-30 ranked 3A teams were at this meet including five of the top ten. Plus the #1 ranked team in the 2A class. So the teams that finished ahead of Deerfield were far from bad. Second, Deerfield held underclassmen down in the lower levels for this meet, so two of the best four finishing times on the team were not in the varsity race. But even considering those two caveats, Deerfield was hoping for a better performance.
The brightest spot for Deerfield varsity was Jon Wool who was the teams top finisher in 45th place in 16:15, a 38-second improvement on this course from last year. Matt Solovy and Ben Freedman ran great races to fill in where expected scoring runners struggled. But besides that, it was a tough result for Deerfield.
While the varsity squad’s difficulties kicked off the day of racing, the mood improved as the lower levels took the course. The frosh/soph race was particularly exciting. Jamie Chandler bided his time on the back of the lead pack containing about 10 runners. As the pack broke apart, he emerged as one of two leaders until the eventual champion broke away from him on a steep downhill. Chandler battled to the line and took an impressive second place in this stacked field. Scott Harvey ran most of the race behind the lead pack, but he picked off the runners one-by-one as they got dropped. Harvey kept his foot on the gas and ultimately passed enough runners to finish in fifth place, which was a shocking result to nearly everyone except Harvey himself. Then the 3-4-5 pack of Sam Chaban, Will Lambert, and Hugo Albrecht-Buehler grouped up nicely and finished between 34th and 41st place, solidifying a third place finish for the Warriors in the frosh/soph race. This was only the second podium finish at any level for Deerfield at this meet after the sophomores won in 2019. Chandler and Harvey were also recognized in the awards ceremony for their top ten finishes.
The final race of the day was the 1.93-mile Open race. Logan Luo ran a crazy fast last mile to finish in 10th place and earn a spot in the awards ceremony. Andrew Calderon also ran a very fast final mile but was too far back in the beginning to be up with Luo and finished in 31st place. Ethan Reich and Jasper Fine both ran their best races of the season to finish in the third and fourth positions for Deerfield. And Edward Minev, despite a nasty fall costing him a lot of time, recovered to finish as the fifth man. The Warriors finished eighth of 20 in the Open race as a team with an all-freshmen scoring five.
There were definitely ups and downs for Deerfield at this meet, but they will learn and move forward. And if the script is the same, this result indicated that a bright future is ahead, both in later this season and for years down the road.
