Prospect Invite
DEERFIELD WINS PROSPECT INVITE! 15 RUNNERS TAKE HOME INDIVIDUAL TROPHIES
On Tuesday the DFDC traveled to Prospect High School to compete at the Prospect Invite. The Prospect Invite is awards trophies for the top 35 finishers in each race, so it’s a chance to earn some hardware. This meet mostly serves as a final race for runners who will not be racing in the IHSA State Series, so it’s a competition of depth. It just so happens that depth is a major strength of Deerfield’s this year, and it showed.
Senior Brett Needelman led the way for the Warriors and showed just how much he had improved over the last year. Last year Needelman finished in 27th place in 18:23, and this year he dropped a minute to finish in 17:23 for third place. Junior Mac Cooley finished one second behind Needelman in fourth in 17:24. The Warriors put two more runners in the top ten in freshman Alex Luo (6th, 17:32) and junior Jason Dahlberg (10th, 17:42). Joe Ariano (16th, 18:08) provided the high 5th man finish that the DFDC needed to pull off the team victory and prove that Deerfield has dangerous depth. Junior Elai Spector (18th, 18:12) and junior Micah Plofsky (30th, 18:49) also finished within the trophies.
Deerfield was competitive in the frosh/soph race too, but fell to Prospect by a single point 42-43. Sophomore Ben Zamler was up near the front the whole time and finished the 2.5 mile race in 14:17 for second place. Freshman Lucas Moskovitz perhaps had the best performance of the day finishing in 6th place. This was Moskovitz’s highest finish on the team all season. Sophomores AJ Osborn (9th, 14:47), Joe Healy (11th 14:48), and Jonah Kaplan (15th, 14:50) were the third, fourth, and fifth runners for the Warriors. Then sophomores Zack Greco (19th, 14:58), Brent Meilman (22nd, 15:06), and Ethan Friedman (23rd, 15:10) also earned top 35 trophies.
This performance was a great way to close out the 2018 cross country season for most of the DFDC. Pver the last two months everybody learned that their potential as a runner is beyond where they ever could have thought. This kind of depth and determination will make Deerfield a dangerous team this track & field season and next cross country season.
Following the meet, the team took its annual detour to Steak ‘n’ Shake to celebrate a job well done and a fantastic cross country season.
