The Deerfield harriers traveled to Concord, NH to race the New England Championship on an unseasonably warm day that featured blustery winds, startling blue skies and looming clouds. The hard truth is that the varsity boys ran hard and came through the first mile in excellent position but then struggled on the narrow trails in the woods for the remaining two miles and fell to seventh place in the league standings. This outcome belies the terrific individual performance of Carson Bynum ’23, who earned a top-20 in New England placement for the second year in a row, capping off an entirely impressive three year running journey here at DA. Also notable were J.T. Gally ’26, who took the third scoring position for the Doors in his first ever season of high school racing, and Alex Ayres ’24, who occupied the fourth scoring position after only cracking into the varsity seven last weekend.
All the varsity boys deserve credit for rallying themselves to put their bruised egos aside to support the junior varsity racers who took to the course with an absolutely ferocious will to succeed and stormed through the field to seize third place in the team standings. Led by co-captain Jackson Collins ’23, the JV squad earned the highest mark since 2010, the last time DA hosted the championships. Isaac Bakare ’24 and Zavi Salomon-Fernandez ’25 each earned top 20 accolades on their way to securing the first and second scoring positions for the Doors. This fantastic JV team result represents bright hope for the future of the Deerfield harriers.
All the runners should be proud of their efforts this season, and the coaches already look forward to the Peter Brush Invitational 2023!