The highly anticipated track meet against Lynbrook ended in disappointing losses for Paly’s varsity and frosh-soph boys track teams.

"It was a good meet, there were some good surprises," head coach Jason Fung said. The frosh-soph boys ended in a 52-70 lost.

The frosh-soph team, after losing the 4-by-100 relay, swept the 65 meter high hurdles with sophomore Alex Yee running 9.8 seconds, sophomore Jordan Lai running 10.4 seconds, and sophomore Devon Dykwel running 11.7 seconds. They also swept in the 330 meter hurdles with Yee running 45.9 seconds, Dykwel running 46.9 seconds, and sophomore Yoni Zernik running 48.3 seconds. Lynbrook swept in the 100-meter dash and the two-mile.

Paly sophomore Dave DeFilippo placed first in the 800 meters with 2 minutes, 11 seconds.

"We’ve found some of our strengths, in sprinting freshman Nick Weber and in jumping sophomore Jeff Ashworth," Fung said.
Weber placed first in the 200 meter with a run of 24.3 seconds and Ashworth placed first in the triple jump and long jump with jumps of 35’ 7" and 17’4.5," respectively.

The varsity boys ended in a mere ten point loss, 56-66. "It was a lot closer than I expected," Fung said. "There were things we could have done differently, and in the end that’s what it came down to."

Junior Herrel Siller ran the mile and placed first with a time of 4 minutes and 43.6 seconds. In the 800, junior Michael Nordlund placed first and junior David Coughlan placed second with times of 2 minutes 8 seconds and 2 minutes 9.6 seconds respectively.
"Michael was great in the 800, and so was David, who ran the 800 for the first time," Fung said. "If Herrel had run the 800, like he normally does, then we could have swept, and there would have been an extra point."

Although senior Rahsaan Carty placed third in the 200 meters, had the Vikings won the event (200), the meet would have been easier to win. The Vikings still had a chance as it seemed that Lynbrook wasn’t going to run a 4-by-400-relay team, giving the Vikings an automatic five points if they ran. If the Vikings could sweep the two-mile, then they could win by one point. However, the Vikings were unable to as junior Danny Vinson came in first with 10 minutes 34 seconds, and junior Danny Duarte came in third with 10 minutes 49.8 seconds. Lynbrook came in second with 10 minutes 34.4 seconds.

"It sucked that we lost," sophomore Scott Himmelberger said. "Losing this early in the season hurts the team’s morale. We’re going to have to work harder to make up for it later on."

Despite the loss, Fung had positive comments. "All the kids ran well, we made some new acquisitions," Fung said, referring to junior Pierre Meloty Kapella who placed third in Long Jump with 19’ even and senior Ryan Nagao who placed third in Triple Jump. The Vikings throwers dominated in their events sweeping the Shot Put and Discus. Seniors James McCluskey and Nathan Taber and junior Alex Jugant placed first, second, and third respectively.

Lynbrook swept in the High Jump and 400 meters.

Despite the disappointing loss, the Vikings will have an opportunity to compete with Lynbrook at the League Meet.

Next week the Vikings battle Milpitas, a team that is new to the De Anza League. "Milpitas just moved into our league," Fung said. "I don’t know much about them, but they’re always a good team, always competitive."

The Vikings will host Milpitas at Paly on Thursday March 25, at 3 p.m.