BOYS RECAP:
On Saturday, April 23rd, the 62nd running of Deerfield’s Hunt Relays brought eleven teams from around New England to Deerfield Academy after a three-year hiatus; fortunately, it also brought our first real taste of beautiful spring weather to the track. In attendance were Andover, Bement, Cushing, Eaglebrook, Hotchkiss, Loomis Chaffee, Northfield Mount Hermon, Pomfret, Wilbraham & Monson, and Williston Northampton.
The Hunt Relays, run in honor of longtime Deerfield Track & Field coach Mo Hunt (who once finished second in the Big Ten Hurdles to a legend named Jesse Owens – thanks for the history, Mr. Brush!), are a non-scoring, developmental meet meant to inspire sportsmanship and the pursuit of team excellence. In that spirit, every event is a relay, with track events taking the form of traditional baton relays, and field events comprised of marks accrued by groups of 3 and 4 jumpers, vaulters, and throwers. With so many athletes and spectators in attendance, the atmosphere was lively on Saturday as Deerfield kicked off a short, three-week home season.
Due to Deerfield having a large boys team this year, each athlete participated in a single event, with only a pair of seniors and a sophomore competing in multiple events during the day. Relay teams performed well throughout the day. Deerfield Boys relay teams placed 7th in the 4×400 Meters, 4th in the Pole Vault and the 4×200 Meters, 3rd in the Javelin, Long Jump, 4×800 Meters and the Distance Medley Relay, 2nd in the Junior Distance Medley Relay and the Junior 4×200 Meters, and 1st in the High Jump, Shot Put, Discus, and 4×100 Meters. Team performances won the day in every event!
The highlight of the afternoon came during the 4×100 Meter Relay. In that event, Nick Peltekian, Alex Haight, Christian Reavis and Elic Ayomanor combined on a historic 42.64 second circuit of the track, smashing not only the existing school record of 43.455, set in 2021, but also the meet record of 42.80, set by Berkshire Academy in 2013. The relay team will follow up on their performance with a run at the Penn Relay Carnival in Philadelphia on Friday. We’ll be watching eagerly for that result!
Deerfield returns to the home track this Saturday, April 30, at 2:30 p.m., for a meet against Loomis Chaffee and Hotchkiss, this time with scoring included.
GIRLS RECAP:
The Deerfield Track & Field team hosted ten school in the Hunt Relays on Saturday, April 23. The Hunt Relays are composed of exclusively relay events, including field events. The weather came through with a beautiful sunny day and all schools were ready to send their teams into different relays to try to win the blue ribbon. The girls’ track and field team was able to compete in every relay event and there were some notable finishes throughout the day.
The field events came first and were scored by adding up the best lengths or heights from three athletes on each team. Kate Kelly made her debut in the throws events as a member of the javelin team that also included Adeeva Alli and Abby Fernald. They were able to grab second place with combined throws of 220’ 2”. Deerfield came in third in the pole vault relay with Isa Cushman, Aly Gonzalez, and Josephine Louis. Josephine PRed in the event with a height of 8’ 6”. Deerfield also came in 3rd in the high jump where Evie Mokarow, Aye Woghiren, and Josephine Louis cleared a combined 12’ 8”. Zoe Gavros, Kami Meier, and Isa Cushman should all be commended for debuted in their field events.
The track relay events started after the field events began. We began with the distance medley and the junior distance medley where both teams had strong times and the junior medley team composed of Lexi Watson, Kamsy Alli, Julia Zhao, and Victoria Lee came in second place. Deerfield’s 4×100 team composed of Jasmine Decossard, Simi Lawal, Kami Meier, and Campbell Fealy nabbed third place with a time of 53.35 seconds. Abby Fernald, Lexi Watson, Jean Jin, and Aerin Lo competed in the 4×800 race and also earned third prize for their efforts. Many competing in their first 200 meter race, Leila Hawkins, Aye Woghiren, Hadley Spater, and Svetlana Deshpande won an impressive first place in the junior 4×200 event. Zoe Gavros, Jenelvis Rodriguez, Alex Gold, and Maddy Slater ended the meet with a strong showing in the 4×200 meter relay.
It was great to host Hunt Relays after 3 seasons and to see the wonderful competition between so many teams. We are excited to host Hotchkiss and Loomis Chaffee next weekend for another fun and exciting tri-meet!