Track and Field Dominates Interschols

Senior John Kennealy is handed the baton, and at once he is off. He sprints down the track with long, swift strides and makes his way down the straight-away. Moments later, he winds around the second bend of the track and catches sight of the finish line. His legs begin to burn, his lungs fight for breath, and Kennealy pumps one leg in front of the other until he crosses the finish line, wins the 4x400 race and tops off Exeter boys’ track-and-field’s second Interschols victory in a row.

The Big Red track-and-field team, known by other schools as one of the most dominant teams in the league, did not hold back this season. Immediately they faced tough opponents in St. Paul’s, Groton and Hyde Academy, but nothing could stop Exeter from demolishing every school in its path. Even after the boys’ team nabbed another first place at Interschols and girls’ took fifth, both Big Red teams came back a mere week later to trounce Andover, 121-20 for the boys and 69-62 for the girls, in a well-deserved victory. Whether it was pole vaulting, sprinting, long distance or the discus, Exeter could not be stopped this spring.

“The track season this year was an amazing experience. It was very successful, every single person on the team learned and grew from it, and we are just a big happy family who are now New England Champions,” upper Max Rerkpattanapipat said. “Performances were outstanding this year as well. A huge part of the team Hall of Famed in their respective events and school records were even broken.”

Other team members, dazzled by track-and-field’s flawless domination this year, echoed Rerkpattanapipat’s claims.

“It was the strongest team I have ever seen at Exeter. The team looked great and a lot of people improved incredibly,” upper Holden Hammontree said. “It was amazing to be a part of the team as it congealed into one mass towards the end. You can tell a good track team by way they interact—if the team dynamic is fractured, it will be weaker squad altogether, but we were able to become one unit as a whole, which was pretty important and fundamental to any success we had.”

Other Exonians also noted the impressive refinement of the team’s skills over the season.

“There was a lot of growth, which is always important for the years to come; Big Red was focused starting at the beginning of the season and leading all the way up to interschols,” senior TJ Hodges said. “Our distance, sprinting, and throwing teams were all on point when they needed to be, and it paid off with a championship title. It is exciting to see the seniors on the team finish their careers by scoring points for Big Red and interschols, and it is promising to see the amount of uppers and underclassmen who were so competitive throughout this term.”

Upper Randal Hernandez added, “We trained hard, and were coached properly, peaking just in time for it to really count.”

Not only did the boys’ defy all expectations, but the girls’ came out swinging as well, beating Andover after a difficult loss in the winter track season.

“This season was truly a remarkable one on the girls’ side. Our team this year was phenomenal in that we had incredible talent levels throughout the grade levels, which truly built our team as a whole,” senior Asile Patin said. “After a devastating loss on the girls’ team at our winter E/A, this E/A was definitely predicted to follow suit. However, we ended up dominating the competition.”

After many years of utter mastery in the New England conference, many have wondered what makes Exeter so skilled and strong in their performance, but team members point to nothing except hard work, dedication and a team bond that cannot be copied.

“We are a group that are often competitive with each other, for better or for worse. We are all racers, we are all out there to be number one, and that is why we are this great,” Hammontree said. “When it is time to work out we are there to not only compete with one another but to get stronger, and on race day we are there to drive each other towards the finish line. Other squads just do not have that team drive.”

Rerkpattanapipat shared Hammontree’s views, but also noted the unparalleled bond between members of track and field.

“The biggest component to this team is the love and support and the tightness we have with one another. The team spirit is off the charts,” Rerkpattanapipat said. “We all train hard and push each other during practice, but the closeness we have on this team is something that cannot be practiced, it just comes with the awesome personalities we have on the squad.”

Clearly, these two factors played an instrumental role in Big Red’s success and kept Exonians invigorated even when the motivation was not high.

“At the beginning of the season we were already shaped up to be a very promising team. Our only potential weakness was losing focus in practice and  not staying in a competitive mindset during races,” Hodges said. “That did not turn out to be a problem. We kept each other honest, and many runners stayed focused by racing teammates and competitors they would not normally keep up with, or going for personal records or school records.”

Another presence that helped the team on track was the coaching staff, an additional tool that has led Exeter to victory time and time again.

“Our coaching staff is flawless and they keep us on point every single day helping us improve in the technicalities and our focus and determination,” Rerkpattanapipat said. “We could not have had the success we had without our coaches. They know everything about track and they do a good job of teaching us everything, pushing us in training, and keeping a friendly atmosphere.”

Now that the season is over and the excitement from back to back Interschols and E/a victories has faded, team members are looking to the upcoming years of Exeter track-and-field. Although some incredible talent will be lost as seniors graduate, Big Red has a bright future and rapidly improving young team members, leaving nothing to worry for the ‘14-ers that are moving on to college.

“Next year is looking good for both the boys’ and girls’ teams. There are going to be many key returners and we are also going to get new faces that will positively add to the team dynamics,” Rerkpattanapipat said. “We are looking to have as much success we had this season, if not more.”

Hodges, who is also graduating from the Academy, added, “All factions of the team have returning athletes with great promise. Many of them have already competed at Interschols, and several scored points for the team. We have another great season ahead of us.”