Track and field drops to Gunn in first meet of the season

Dami Bolarinwa (16) takes off during the 200-meter race.

Katie Foug

Dami Bolarinwa (’16) takes off during the 200-meter race.

Clara Harrington and Rowan McEvoy

The boys’ and girls’ track teams were trampled by Gunn last Thursday afternoon. The Vikings struggled to seize first place in any of the races.

In the 300m hurdles, Jack Hansen (‘14) got second place with a time of 45.44; however, the boys’ distance team did not place in the 800m race. In the 100m, the boys placed second and third with Austin Cox (‘16) finishing in 11.52 and Marcus Brown (‘14) in 11.57.

As for the girls, Megan Tall (‘14) finished second in the 200m with a time of 26.86. In the 800m, Katie Foug (‘15) came in third in 2:29.89. Additionally, Kelly Swanson (‘15) placed third in the shotput with 18’0”.

The meet, although not ultimately rewarding for the Vikings, held some successful moments for both teams. Anna Dukovic (‘15) and Jessica Branson (‘14) finished first and second in the high jump, both at 4’10”. In the triple jump, Pippa Raffel (‘14) placed first with a jump of 33’4.5”.

For the boys, Aaron Chandler (‘15) clinched first place in the 1600m with a mile time of 4:46.80, followed by Samuel Desré (‘16) at 4:48.19. In the 400m and 200m races, Eli Givens (‘16) easily breezed by the other runners and grasped first place in times of 50.62 and 22.30 respectively.

“My personal goal for the 400 is to get under 50, and for the 200 I want to get under 22,” Givens said. “I just have to start going in the 400, giving it all I’ve got.”

Falling to Gunn during the 4×100 and the 4×400 contributed to the boys’ loss.

“For the 4×100, we just have to work on our handoffs a little bit; the marks were a little off today,” Givens said.

The boys’ throwing team has been working on bringing younger athletes up to the varsity level this season.

“I’m hoping to at least go to Leagues and do well,” throwing coach Haris Sultani said. “Right now it’s kind of bleak in terms of going to CCS, but we still have a couple weeks to work on everything.”

Although the team has lost valuable runners this season, the team as a whole still hopes to maintain the good record that Paly has set over the years.

“We have a number of athletes, both young and old, that are stepping up to the challenge,” Feeley said.

The team will face Mountain View on March 27th.