On Friday, April 12, in considerably cold weather, the boys varsity track team won their invitational at Naperville North. That same night, the freshman-sophomore track team won their meet at Proviso East by 143 points. It’s safe to say that was a good night for New Trier track.
Some stand out performers from the varsity meet included junior distance runner Peter Cotsirilos, running his leg of the 4 by 800 meter relay in 57 seconds and senior jumper/sprinter Jack MacCarthy, who won three out of four of his events and contributed heavily to the New Trier win. Senior jumper Taylor Alarcon took two first place finishes in both long and triple jump.
New Trier’s athletes at the meet weren’t phased by the bad weather. Typically, distance runners practice in all weather anyway.
While this varsity track season – which started with second semester – got off to only a decent start, the team is picking up steam. With each meet, the team is getting closer to the state meet which occurs in late May.
Part of the team’s mounting success can be attributed to its balanced lineup of runners. “We’ve got a stable of distance runners who are going to be very competitive this year and going to win a lot of races. We’ve got a good team this year and I give all the credit to my assistant coaches and the willingness of these guys to throw themselves into their business,” said head coach Mark Wukas.
The coaches aren’t the only ones who are optimistic toward the team’s chances. Team members are also feeling confident.
“The season’s going well and we have a really strong team this year. This is potentially a conference championship team,” said Alarcon. “We won some pretty big meets this year, including Naperville, so we’re hoping on just keep riding the momentum throughout the conference and sectionals.”
Alarcon set the school triple jump record at 46 feet, 5.75 inches in March.
The next varsity invitational is today in Highland Park.