Deerfield, Barrington Boys Face Off At DHS

The north suburbs wanted to get a piece of the cross country action that has been heating up across Illinois this past week. This brought 3A boys pre-season #11 and #18 teams Barrington and Deerfield together on Saturday, along with Mundelein and Highland Park, to compete at Deerfield High School on a quick course.

Frosh/Soph Boys Race

Starting at 8:30 a.m. were the frosh/soph boys. Right from the gun, sophomore Lucas Goldenberg of Deerfield and cruised through a 5:17 first mile. The rest of the top pack was populated with underclassmen from Barrington and Deerfield. At the finish, it was all Goldenberg as he sprinted to a new 16:41 3-mile PR.

Varsity Boys Race

Next up were the varsity boys, the spotlighted race of the morning. It was time to see the showdown between the teams of meet host Deerfield and star guest Barrington. The battle between individual standouts Jason Polydoris of Highland Park and Josh Puyear of Deerfield was also not to be missed.

Through the mile, Puyear was leading and hit 5:02, pulling along a pack of Polydoris, plus Barrington's top six and two other Deerfield runners. Puyear would not let Polydoris get the best of him without a fight. At the two-mile, Polydoris took the lead with a 10:00 split, with Puyear just three seconds behind. Seven seconds behind Puyear was a pack of Barrington's top four with Deerfield's second runner in the midst.

As Polydoris approached the finish, it was a battle with the clock to see if he would run sub-15:00 in his season opener; he ended up running a still great time of 15:01. Puyear was only a few seconds behind and ran 15:06, just one second off of his lifetime PR. Then Barrington's rock-solid pack came through, with four guys running 15:17 to 15:24 -- Jake Ziebarth, Alfredo Arnieri, Joey Furlong, and Grant Ackard. Cole Bernstein, Deerfield's second runner, was in the middle of that pack, running 15:23. It was Barrington's fifth runner, Jack Fitzpatrick, who sealed the win for the Broncos, running just a few seconds ahead of Deerfield's fourth and fifth runners. 

JV Boys Race

This race was a chance for Barrington to flex their team's depth. Straight from the start, a sea of red engulfed the front pack. The race leaders seemed to be all Barrington with a few Deerfield runners sprinkled throughout. The leading group of Broncos ran a 5:26 mile split. Down the finishing stretch, three Barrington athletes were fighting for the win: Majdal Boulos, Joey Drage, and Zach Daniel, finishing respectively in 16:12, 16:13, and 16:13. The JV race was quite remarkable for Barrington, as they had nine of the top ten finishers and achieved a perfect score.

Overall, the Deerfield Boys Quad was a great way to involve the runners in an action-packed local competition. Hopefully, we'll see another face-off between Deerfield and Barrington sometime in the future: neither team was at full strength today. Awesome job to all athletes who competed this weekend and these early season meets are showing promise for a strong mid-season coming up.