CSL South Quad #3 2023
DEERFIELD TOPS GLENBROOK NORTH, EVANSTON, AND NEW TRIER AT HOME ON SENIOR DAY
The rain all morning dampened the course, but the sun came out for a great day of cross country racing and to honor Deerfield’s seniors on their Senior Day. Deerfield hosted Glenbrook North, Evanston, and New Trier in CSL South Quad #3 and emerged with several wins on all levels.
In the varsity race, Nick Dowell led the way. He stuck his nose in the first pack just behind the race leader and battled all the way to ninth place finish. His time of 16:16 was a one-second PR on a day when wet ground prevented most runners from PR-ing. Deerfield’s usual lead pack was intentionally held back by a prescribed pace for the first two miles before unleashing in the final mile. In that final mile, they caught up to Dowell and finished fourth, sixth, seventh, and tenth. With five runners in the top ten, that was enough for Deerfield to secure wins over all three teams by wide margins. Also in the varsity race, seniors Andrew Firestone and Edwin Shi had nice bounce-back races after periods of illness and injury.
The sophomore race was run at the same time as the varsity race to save time due to a possible thunderstorm threat in the evening. Jamie Chandler and Scott Harvey, who both mostly keyed off of varsity runners, were the first two sophomores across the line. Sam Chaban was fifth in the sophomore race, and Charlie Marks had one of his stronger performances of the season to finish seventh. In fact, seven of the first eleven sophomores to finish were from Deerfield as Will Lambert, Hugo Albrecht-Buehler, and Jay Noren finished ninth through eleventh. For the second straight CSL South Quad, the sophomores demolished the competition with lopsided scores against all three opposing teams.
In the freshmen race, the Warriors beat Glenbrook North and Evanston, but fell to New Trier. However, even the matchup with New Trier was close. New Trier runners combined for a 1-2-3 finish, which mathematically clinches a victory in dual meet scoring, but all five of the Warriors’ scorers finished in front of New Trier’s fourth. Andrew Calderon had a great final kick to finish fourth overall, just ahead of Glenbrook North’s #1 runner. Logan Luo was sixth, and Eli Duncan was seventh. In eight and ninth was the always-together duo of Jasper Fine and Ethan Reich. Along with Dowell in the varsity race, Fine and Reich were the only other two Warriors across all races who PR’d despite the soggy conditions. Deerfield also put their sixth and seventh runners, Cooper Baum and Edward Minev, in front of New Trier’s fifth and final scoring runner. The final score on the freshmen level against New Trier was a close 27-30.
All the CSL South teams will see each other again at the CSL Championship Meet on October 14th where they will battle for conference titles and All-Conference honors.
Finally, as the final home meet of the season, the day concluded with a celebration of the seniors. This 11-man senior class joined the team during a covid-restricted 2020 season and worked through many challenges to help take this team to new heights. Their legacy will be long-lasting, but first they will chase high goals in the coming weeks.
