Earning big points by nearly sweeping the high jump helped the Wakefield Warriors win a third straight Liberty District boys track-and-field championship.
Wakefield won the high-school meet with 135 points. That total included 25 points in the high jump, with the Warriors finishing first, second, third, fifth, seventh and eighth in the event.
“Those were big points there, and helped a lot,” Wakefield coach Jordan Wright told ARLnow.
Another important factor for Wakefield was having athletes place among the top six in every event, including four victories.
“Getting points for the wins helped, a lot of guys performed well and it was a big team thing,” Wright said.
Ben Chapuis was Wakefield’s lone double-winner, in the long jump (21-6) and high jump (6-2), in addition to placing second in the 55-meter dash and running on relays.
Wakefield’s Liam Keish won the 1,000 (2:36.29), was edged at the finish to place second in the 500, was fourth in the 3,200 and ran on the second-place 4×400 relay.
“Liam had a big meet. He is really starting to come on strong as a runner,” Wright said.
Wakefield’s other winner was Travon Buckner in the triple jump (43-9). He also was fifth in the long and high jumps.
Alex Epstein was second in the triple jump and third in the pole vault and 55 hurdles. Chris Gilpin was second in the high jump and fourth in the long jump. Jackson Gray was second in the pole vault.
Mikey Johnson was third in the high jump and sixth in the 55 dash, Noah Gunville fourth in the 1,600, Leonardo Hoil fifth in the shot put and Ricardo Perez fifth in the 500.
Others placing in events for Wakefield were Gabriel Bishop, Taurian Barnes, Logan Ward and Carter Lyons.
Wakefield’s 4×200 relay was third and the 4×800 fifth.
The Washington-Liberty Generals finished second in the meet with 99 points.
For the Washington-Liberty boys, Carson Owens won the 55 dash (6.49) and 300 (35.44) and was second in the long jump. Charles Gent was another winner, in the pole vault (13-feet), as was Ian Crowley in the 55 hurdles (7.73).
Crowley had a busy meet, also placing fourth in the triple jump, seventh in the long jump, eighth in the 55 dash, 12th in the high jump and running on the second-place 4×200 relay.
“Ian can also throw the shot and do the pole vault, but didn’t have time in this meet,” W-L coach John Bacon said.
Second for the Washington-Liberty boys were Brandon Kaplan in the shot, Henry Brys in the 1,000 and Nico Docena in the 55 hurdles. Ben Taho was third in the high jump and Morgan Fritz sixth in the 3,200.
For the Yorktown boys, Reid Dalley had a big meet, winning the 1,600 (4:25.59) and 3,200 (9:37.4) and anchoring the winning 4×800 relay (8:18.89).
