Several members of the Paly boys’ track team raced season bests against runners from multiple states at the Stanford Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, juniors Philip MacQuitty and Henry Jordan, and seniors Paul Brown and Skyler Cummins competed in the distance medley relay. This event consists of a 1200-meter leg, a 400-meter leg, an 800-meter leg, and a 1600-meter leg. The Paly boys finished fourth in the first heat, which is usually the fastest heat, and fourth overall out of the 42 teams competing.
Although the boys had hoped to win the event, they did not feel disappointed about their finish.
“We wanted to win, but we weren’t really sure about our competition,” Cummins said. “With the relays, you can’t tell how fast the other teams are because you aren’t sure if they’ll run their studs, and it’s hard to get accurate seed times.”
On Saturday morning, MacQuitty raced in the mile, finishing fifth in the first heat and 13th overall out of 32 runners. Middle distance coach Joe Ginanni sensed MacQuitty’s disappointment with the race.
“The race went out slow,” Ginanni said. “I think he [MacQuitty] was disappointed in that regard.”
Welsh agreed that MacQuitty had hoped for a faster time.
“Fifth in his heat was okay but I think he’d hoped to run a lot faster,” Welsh said. “I think he was afraid to step up and lead [the race].”
Both coaches also felt that this race was a good experience for MacQuitty.
“It was his [MacQuitty] fastest time this year,” Ginanni said. “In that regard, it was a good race.”
The second heat, which consisted of runners with slower seed times, actually finished faster than MacQuitty’s heat. In MacQuitty’s heat, only four runners finished under 4 minutes, 25 seconds, while eight runners broke 4:25 in the second heat.
Later in the morning, three Paly boys competed in the 100-meter dash. Junior Daniel Jones finished first out of the Vikings and 35th overall in 11.43 seconds. Closely behind him was senior Paul Brown in 11.52 seconds for 40th overall and senior Kasey Fields in 11.86 seconds for 52nd overall.
In the afternoon, juniors Peter Wilson, Josh Newby, and Alex Voet and senior Jay Nguyen competed in the 4 x 800-meter relay. The boys finished 12th in the first heat and 18th overall in 8 minutes, 38.81 seconds.
Overall, the boys felt satisfied with their race.
“We got second to last [in our heat],” Wilson said, “perhaps the most amazing thing ever. We were last until Alex [Voet] passed the Skyline guy. All of us ran okay, but we were nearly last because we were in the fast heat instead of getting third of fourth in the slow heat.”
The entire boys’ team will compete again at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1, against Monta Vista High School on the Paly track.