What a week for Boys Track & Field!
To begin with, the 4×100 Meter team travelled to Philadelphia with Coach John Abraham, where they competed in the Penn Relay Carnival’s Independent Prep School section on Friday morning. In spite of an unfavorable sequence of uncontrollable events that left them running from behind, the team stormed back to finish the heat in a close second place, after which they traveled back to Deerfield to compete in Saturday’s meet.
On Saturday afternoon, Deerfield hosted Loomis Chaffee and Hotchkiss for a tri-meet, and emerged with a convincing win of 87 points for Deerfield, 63 points for Loomis, and 23 points for Hotchkiss. Deerfield was led by a school record performance in the High Jump by Wedner Cadet, who jumped 6’7” for the first time after a couple weeks of working at the mark. Wedner was backed up in the High Jump by Chandler Dicks and Max Kainamura, who finished in 3rd and 4th respectively. Dicks also won the Long Jump, with Cadet placing 4th. Jarvis Shema and Songa Rwamucyo took 3rd and 4th in the Triple Jump, and Toby Fernandez took 2nd place in the Pole Vault. In the throws, Joe Metzger moved into second in school history by putting the shot 58 feet, 3.5 inches. Chigozie Oge-Evans placed second in the event, coupling that with a win in the Discus, an event in which Tyler Simon and Alex Volkman also placed.
On the track, events began with an odd 4×100 Meter Relay in which no team scored. Quinn Hampson then ran away from the field for a 4:05 1500 Meter time, and Carson Bynum took 4th Place in the event. Barack Mwesigwa took first in the 110 Hurdles, and Nico Arce and Tino Munochiveyi placed 1st and 3rd in the 400 Meters. Elic Ayomanor and Nick Peltekian finished 1-2 in the 100 Meters, and Hampson took second in the 800 Meters, narrowly losing to a Loomis runner in the final 150. Ayomanor won his second event of the day with a strong performance in the 300 Meter Hurdles, a new event in his repertoire. Chandler Dicks took second in the event, while Aaron Gibbons placed fourth on time, running in the second heat. Ayomanor doubled back and won the next event as well, scoring 1st in the 200 Meters from the second heat. Nick Peltekian placed 3rd in the event. To round out individual scoring, Carson Bynum again took 4th place, this time in the 3000 Meters. Perhaps the highlight of the day was the 4×400 Meter Relay, which saw a closely fought contest run by Munochiveyi, Peltekian, Hampson, and Arce against the team from Loomis. Arce took the baton from Hampson with a few inches of separation and held the gap throughout the lap, crossing in a season-best time of 3:33.65.
The team met again on Sunday morning for their Community Service event. Members of the team volunteered for, walked, and ran in a 2K/5K event on behalf of The Literacy Project in Florence, just outside of Northampton. It was a fun and meaningful bonding moment for the team, and we offer our thanks to the race organizers, as well as to Erin Hutchinson and the Center for Service and Global Citizenship. Deerfield will return to the home track at 3:00 on Saturday, May 7, for a meet against Choate and St. Paul’s.