First To The Finish Invite 2023
DEERFIELD SHOWS STEADY PROGRESSION, FINISHES 16TH IN 3A RACE AT FIRST TO THE FINISH INVITE
The famed Detweiller Park in Peoria was the site of the gigantic First To The Finish Invitational. Cross country teams from across the state travel many hours to compete on the historic course that later hosts the State Championships each November. Deerfield lined up in the 3A race for their first time since they’ve been attending this meet, so they knew they were in for a challenge. Thirteen top-30 teams lined up with them.
Five Deerfield runners got out in less than five minutes for the first mile, which was faster than they any of them had run an opening mile before. Jamie Chandler, Eric Hogenkamp, Dylan Cohen, Jon Wool, and Dane Brown formed a tight pack that stayed together until the second mile. Chandler, Hogenkamp, and Cohen handled the fast pace the best and charged ahead while Wool fell off slightly and Brown fell off harder as he succumbed to an illness he suffered through all week. Then the pack of three broke apart slightly in the third mile as Cohen lost touch. Chandler and Hogenkamp worked together for nearly the entire race. Chandler finished as the Warriors’ top runner in 15:35, and Hogenkamp wasn’t far behind in 15:39. Cohen battled to a 15:50 finish, followed by Wool in 15:58. Then there was a big gap to the fifth and final scorer, which cost the Warriors in the team score. But Nick Dowell stepped up and ran well despite limited running all week due to a hip issue. Dowell finished the scoring for Deerfield with a 167th place finish.
As a team, Deerfield placed 16th. That was a fine result, but not completely satisfying. On one hand, they had four runners under 16-minutes after having zero at this meet last year. It was definitely an improvement after last week’s tough meet in Hinsdale, so the team is moving in the right direction. On the other hand, they felt that accomplishing their goal of qualifying for the State Championships in 3A will require quite a bit more.
In the Open race, Deerfield finished in 9th out of 56 teams. Andrew Firestone led the way for the Warriors and earned a 24th place medal. Will Lambert made a hard charge at the end to secure the 50th and final medal position in 17:07, and Sam Chaban was right behind him in 17:08. Both Lambert’s and Chaban’s times were big PRs. Jon Weissmueller might have had the race of the day for Deerfield improving upon his 18:22 PR to run 17:33. Matt Solovy battled through illness and did not race as well as he hoped, but he was the final scorer for the Warriors. And Charlie Marks finished next in a big PR of 17:45.
Deerfield’s depth is certainly a strength as shown by the high finish in the Open race. Impressively, this was the first time that the 14 Deerfield runners in this meet, including seven frosh/soph runners each year, all finished under 18 minutes.
In addition to the great racing, the annual overnight Peoria trip was a great experience for high stakes racing and fun team bonding.
