Season Starts with Senior Day

The Deerfield Cross Country season got underway with our one and only home meet.  We honored our 2 amazing seniors - Isabell and Mira - before the races began.

The home opener is always preceded by many questions:  has the summer work paid off, how will the freshmen handle the longer races, who will provide the surprise performances???  For 2023, many of these questions were answered positively, adding on to the already present excitement for this season.

The girls 2-mile was the first race.  Many of our freshmen were in this race as it provides a great first experience with high school cross country.  Though many meets will feature 3-mile races, that's a big jump from the 1-mile races our middle schools run.  Maddie Geres and Riley Shafer proved they are ready to cross that bridge.  They were our first two finishers, with Maddie coming in at 14:05 and Riley 14:39.  Riley established a best ever mile time along the way.

In the 3-mile race, it was the aforementioned Mira who led the Warriors.  Mira ran a smart, negative-split race and came in just 3 seconds off an all-time PR.  Two sophomores were next in Natalia and Olivia.  Natalia running strong after being injured is a very positive sign for DFDG (Deerfield Distance Group).  The "who will surprise" question was answered by a trio of freshmen who were simply amazing.  Audrey, Azalea, and Stella finished in that order with times of 20:58, 21:02, and 21:03.  Their performances were very impressive given it was their first high school race and seeing how they stayed together the entire race.  This exciting trio came in and immediately made the varsity team better.