Wave Track Loses in Five- Hour Epic

-By: Sean Gill-

Darien Boys Track lost its first meet of the season but not its confidence in a head-to-head dual meet against Trumbull 78-72 on Thursday. (4/8) Trumbull beat Darien last year 78-72. Darien was looking for redemption entering this highly-anticipated meet. The meet came down to the very last leg of the very last event, the 4 x 400. With Trumbull way ahead halfway through the meet, Darien put together a string of victories on the track to get back into contention, and with the meet hanging in the balance, Trumbull came away with the win by winning the 4 x 400 by less than half a second.
The meet started off in favor of Trumbull when they won the 4x800 and 4x100 relays to jump out to an early lead. Early in the meet, Darien got points from senior captain Sean Gill, 2nd in the 110m high hurdles at 18.0, senior captain Brent Eppley, 1st in the 100m dash, junior captain Stockton McMullin, 3rd in the 100m dash and 2nd in triple jump, and Junior Kevin Keller, 1st in the long jump and triple jump, senior captain Jake McCauley, 1st in the 1600, junior John Conley, 2nd in the 1600, senior captain Walker McKeough, 2nd in discus with a personal record by 7 ft, and Senior Andrew Kristof, 1st in javelin with a throw of 130 feet. However, Trumbull swept (1st 2nd and 3rd) in high jump and pole vault.
The tide of the meet started to turn when Keller won the 400 with a time of 51.04 in a must win situation, and Matt Pik got 3rd in the 400. Following the 400, Gill came back from way behind to win the 300m hurdles at 44.0. Next, McCauley and Conley managed 2nd and 3rd in the 800. At this point, in order to win Darien had to get 1st and 2nd in the 200, sweep the 3200, and win the 4x400 to win the meet by two points.
Darien almost completed the epic comeback, as Keller and Eppley got 1st and 2nd in the 200, and McCauley, Conley, sophomore Charlie Baird, and sophomore Michael Johnston got places 1-4 in the 3200. In the 4 x 400, the final race of the meet, with the meet on the line, Darien’s team of senior Jack Bushell, junior Peter McDonough, Sean Gill, and Stockton McMullin all ran near or better than their personal bests, only to get beaten in the last stretch of the last leg.
Despite the loss, Darien performed well, and looks to bounce back on April 20 against Central, Westhill, and Greenwich at Westhill High School.