Boys’ Track Trumps Belmont Hill
This past Saturday the Exeter boys’ varsity and JV track teams visited Belmont Hill, an all boys prep school which surrounding prep schools regard as a sports powerhouse. The field events began at 3:30 p.m. with high and long jumps and with the pole vault. Exeter found success in both jumping events, but Belmont Hill was victorious in the vault. The final score was a 99-46 Exeter victory.
The races began at 4:15 p.m. with the 4x1. Exeter sent up two 4x1 teams with the first consisting of seniors Sacharja Cunningham, Marcus Polk, Mason Polk and Tommy Miller, and the second consisting of upper Matt Asante, lowers Philippe Louis and Marvin Bennett and senior Pirapat Rerkpattanapipat. The team comprised of seniors placed first by a large margin, but Belmont Hill got second place because Exeter’s second 4x1 team was disqualified after preforming a handoff outside the handoff zone. In the following races, Exeter placed first in every race besides the 300 hurdles. One of the highlights of the meet was the 110 hurdles, where the first heat needed to run twice. The first time it was run, Belmont Hill forgot to place the fourth row of hurdles and thus delegitimized the results of the race. Despite the mishap, Marcus and Cunningham placed first and second, respectively, in both heats.
“Even though I came in second by 30 feet, it was a nice feeling to break the school record on the same weekend the previous record holder’s class came for their reunion.”
In the throwing events, upper Chudi Ikpeazu broke the PEA school record for the discus throw with a distance of 167 feet. When asked about the feat, Ikpeazu said, “I did it for my team. It was fun. I wasn’t really expecting to because I had messed up on every other throw.” Although Ikpeazu broke the school record, he placed second to a Belmont Hill senior who threw 193 feet, a mark that is fourth in the nation.
“Even though I came in second by 30 feet, it was a nice feeling to break the school record on the same weekend the previous record holder’s class came for their reunion,” Ikpeazu explained. Although Exeter lost in the discus, Big Red rebounded in the shotput, in which Ikpeazu placed.
The meet ended with the 4x4. Seniors Holden Hammontree, Talla Babou, Marcus Polk and Mason Polk ran for Exeter. The 4x4 team had a strong showing, beating the closest Belmont Hill team by about 200m. The boys performed so well that they came within three seconds of tying the PEA record for the 4x4. When asked about what can be done to break the record, Mason Polk said, “We needed a more legitimate meet. The meet was not run well and there were no officials. Also we need to get more rest. We have competed three times in two weeks. We’ll probably get it next time.”
Earlier in the week, both the boys’ and the girls’ track teams visited Governors and faced them in addition to St. Paul’s. Both the boys and girls won. Among the many notable performances, Marcus tied a school record for the 300 hurdles and broke his own record for the 110 hurdles. Lower Gwen Wallace hall-of-famed in the triple jump and lower Grace Pratt hall-of-famed in the 100m, long jump and 300 hurdles.