The Paly boys’ track and field team triumphed over crosstown rival Gunn High School with a satisfying 80-47 win in the last dual meet of the season on April 23, finishing with a 4-2 league record.
Many of the evening’s races were decided by tenths or and even hundredths of seconds, but the Vikings secured a solid win with many personal bests across the board.
A notable performance came from senior Abe Wilson, who competed in the 1600-, 800- and 3200-meter races, as well as the 1600-meter relay, continuing a tradition started by Paly grad Alok Subbarao (’08) last year.
“Yesterday in track, we decided we should have another senior compete in all the distance events,” Wilson said. “Since everyone else is going to Leagues, I decided to do it.”
Wilson set three personal records, finishing the 1,600-meter race in 5 minutes, 3 seconds, the 3,200-meter race in 11:26, and his leg of the 1600-meter relay in 62 seconds.
In the 1600-meter race, juniors Philip MacQuitty and Josh Newby claimed first and second, respectively. MacQuitty’s time of 4:20 is currently the fastest in the Central Coast Section, and Newby’s 4:38 was a personal record.
MacQuitty originally hoped to break the school record of 4:15.4, but he was not too disappointed with his performance on Thursday night.
“I was going for the school record,” MacQuitty said. “I’m not going to make excuses, but today was not ideal conditions. It was my best open time, though, and I haven’t been focused on the mile much, so I can’t be mad, but I shouldn’t be happy.”
Newby was very pleased with his race, as he rallied from behind to claim second place on the last straightaway.
“We ran a really slow first 800 [meters],” Newby said. “I led the first lap super slow. Luckily, someone passed me and picked the pace up a little, but it was still slow. [Junior] Ben Sklaroff had an amazing charge in the third lap.”
Sklaroff’s charge helped Newby pick the pace up, and Newby finished the race with an incredible 64-second last lap.
“I’m definitely peaking right about now,” Newby said. “The season’s training has definitely paid off.”
Newby beat the third place finisher, Gunn junior Alex Johann, by only three tenths of a second.
Johann got back with a win in the 800-meter race, narrowly beating senior Jay Nguyen, who finished second in a personal best of 2:07.
“It was fast,” Nguyen said. “I should’ve beat the guy in first place [Johann]. He was just so close. I could’ve beat him but I didn’t save enough for the end of the race.”
The sprint races were all decided by mere hundredths of a second. In the 100-meter sprint, Gunn senior Charles Chisom pushed past Paly junior Daniel Jones for first place, with both boys finishing in 10.9 seconds. The 200-meter sprint proved even closer. The top three finishers all finished in 22.3 seconds, with Jones in first, Paly senior Paul Brown second, and Chisom third.
Brown also won an individual title with a personal best 50.6 seconds in the 400-meter race.
In the hurdles races, juniors Dustin Na and Steven Kerr finished second and third in the 110-meter hurdles, while Na, junior Evan Gitterman, and Kerr completed a one-two-three finish in the 300-meter hurdles. The races were notable improvements for Kerr, who joined track this season.
“I felt really good about the 110,” Kerr said. “That was my best race. I feel like I’m improving and I wish I’d started doing track earlier.”
In the high jump pit, junior Michael Hueschen cleared 5 feet, 10 inches for the first time this year, claiming second place.
“I almost got it a couple of meets ago, but then I hurt my leg,” Hueschen said. “I was coming back from that [injury], so that felt pretty good.”
In the final individual event of the evening, the 3200-meter race, senior Skyler Cummins finished in 9:29, a personal best.
“It definitely went really well,” Cummins said. “Having Paul Summers from Gunn — he said his coach said to break 9:30, so I just hung with him for the first 800. The night, the good weather, definitely contributed to it. My training’s been going really well.”
This was the final meet for the entire team, but many athletes will continue to the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) championships on May 5 and 7. Although the boys currently have a 4-2 record, Cummins believes that the team may perform better at leagues with all of the top runners competing.
“A lot of the dual meets we sat out,” Cummins said. “Me and Phil [MacQuitty] and our best distance guys didn’t race in a lot of meets, so we haven’t really been all together with everyone racing all out for every meet. I think we’ll definitely do well, but it’s just hard to tell at this point.”
The SCVAL De Anza League preliminaries will begin at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5 at the Milpitas High School track.