Despite missing key players due to minor injuries, the Paly varsity boys’ track and field team emerged from the Viking-Titan clash with a solid 75-48 victory Thursday, extending its undefeated streak to 3-0.
Junior hurdler Pascal Truninger did not compete Thursday due to knee pain, and his absence left senior Mohammed Abid to contend as Paly’s sole varsity hurdler. Nevertheless, Abid braved the challenge of being the only Viking on the track during the varsity hurdling events, placing third in the 110-meter high hurdles in 19.1 seconds and first in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 44.0 seconds.
One Viking’s injury developed during the meet itself. After helping the varsity 400-meter relay to first place, sophomore sprinter Daniel Jones pulled out near the finish line of the 100-meter sprint with a cramp in his right leg.
“He felt a minor cramp coming on,” sprints coach Nick Vanderburg said. “He shut it down like he’s been instructed to do.”
Jones was unable to finish the 100-meter Thursday due to the cramp, and also did not race in the 200-meter he was expected to. He has finished first place in both events in each of the two dual meets Paly has competed in so far this season.
While Jones was unable to continue to run those two races, he has not suffered a serious injury and is expected to be running in no time, according to Vanderburg.
“Nothing is wrong,” Vanderburg said Thursday. “He will be back up on his feet tomorrow.”
Lacking performances from Truninger and Jones, the Vikings still succeeded in decisively defeating Gunn.
Paly’s jumpers had expected an easy win.
“They’re horrible, compared to Mike [Scott] and me and the other jumpers,” junior Bobby Holman said.
Indeed, only two Gunn jumpers managed to place in the top three in any of the three jumping events: one placed third in the high jump and the other placed third in the triple jump.
Holman himself finished first in the long jump at 21 feet, ½ inch. Additionally, although Thursday was Holman’s first time competing in the triple jump since 2007, he went on to claim second in the event at 41-0.5.
Senior jumper Mike Scott was back in action after suffering from an injured ankle earlier in this season. He placed first in the high jump and triple jump and second in the long jump at 5-10.0, 43-11.0, and 20-5.25 respectively.
Paly throwers also faced little competition from Gunn as well; they only surrendered one spot in the top three to one Gunn discus thrower, whose throw was more than 28 feet shorter than Paly senior Dennis Muaka’s first place 135-03.0.
Perhaps the events in which Paly faced the most competition from Gunn were the sprints.
“They have some fast people,” junior sprinter Ariel Arsac-Ellison said of the Titan competition in his events. “A lot of the races were close, like in the 100 and 200.”
Arsac-Ellison ran in four events Thursday, a daunting task for any track and field athlete. Nevertheless, he fared well: as a member of Paly’s 400 relay, Arsac-Ellison helped the team to a win over Gunn, and continued on to a first place in the 400-meter run at 54.7 seconds, third place in the 200 at 23.9, and fourth place in the 100 at 11.8.
“It feels good,” Arsac-Ellison said about his performance Thursday. “I feel like my practice paid off.”
Senior Julius Berezin dueled Gunn senior Dezmon Hunter in the 800, a fiery match-up that has produced nail-biting races for the past two years. Sharing a friendly rivalry, Berezin and Hunter have finished within split seconds of each other during the past two Gunn and Paly dual meets, swapping first and second place with each other as well. Thursday, Hunter was able to claim first at 2:00.0, edging Berezin’s second place 2:01.0.
In the 1600, sophomore Phil MacQuitty and junior Charlie Avis worked together to secure first at 4:34 and second at 4:35 respectively in a complete replication of last week’s dual meet against Monte Vista, during which MacQuitty and Avis took first and second with identical times to this week’s.
Now standing undefeated in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, Paly’s varsity boys’ track and field team will next face Los Gatos High School on Tuesday, April 1 at 5:30 p.m. at the Paly track.