This past Sunday the Westfield Boys Track and Field Team had their season opener at the Ocean Breeze Freedom Games, a highly selective meet showcasing some of the top high school runners from the Tri-State Area.
Kicking off the Day was the 55-meter hurdles where Douglas Gee and Evan Bauer dropped big personal bests of over 1 tenth of a second each. Which head coach Chris Tafelski said would, “Bode well for the shuttle hurdle relay.”
Then quickly was the 55-meter dash where freshman Owen O’Connor set the track ablaze with a quick 7.01 which landed him at #2 on the WHS Freshman all-time list. Followed by senior Charlie Prieto with a 7.07 which although is not a PR is a very strong way to start an indoor season.
After the 55s came the 1600 meter run where the top 3 guys, seniors Ryan Daly, Kaleb Steockmann and Cole Varner all showed why Westfield has one of the premiere distance programs in the state sending shockwaves around the stadium as they threw down 3 top 60 times in the Nation.
The first two came out of the first heat with Daly putting up the 7th best time in NJ, 4:19, and Stoeckmann with a 4:22. Daly said, “This was a really good starting point for the season and I am very happy. Going into it the entire goal was just to get out there and feel what it feels like to race again. The same goes for Kaleb. Time didn’t really matter to me going into it but I can’t complain about those results. Overall I feel like I ran great and I can’t wait to see what the team can do.”
Then just minutes after, Varner had the performance of the day, running a lifetime personal best of a 4:25 mile and winning the second heat. Going into the race Varner believed, “If I just stayed with the front pack the first couple of laps without expending any extra energy I would be in a prime position later on in the race.” And that is exactly what happened. He was in about 5th place halfway through the race, then in the later stages he pushed through and was able to claim a victory as well as a shiny new personal best.
And while all of this action was happening on the track, senior Andrew Geocos put on a clinic winning the Pole Vault at 12 feet.
The Blue Devils will be back in action on Wednesday the 22nd, at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex where they look to build on their success.
