Noah Schwaeber Wins Octathlon; Scavenger Hunters Get Creative
With wit, creativity and speed, the team of Ziggy Hallgarten, Gabe Pensak, Michael Reid and Noah Schwaeber beat 4 other squads in today’s 2-hour scavenger hunt.
It was the final event in the Jack Scott Octathlon of Champions. By earning 25 points — for finishing 1st, finding the most creative object and completing a 7-point task revealed only at the end — Schwaeber edged out Graham Gudis for the individual title. He earns a $50 gift certificate to Athletic Shoe Factory.
Scavenger hunt items ranged from the Staples High School alma mater and something that is exactly 250 calories, to a vuvuzela, a note saying “Good luck to the 2014 Staples soccer team” from a Westport elected official, and “Joe” (some groups brought in coffee; one came with Joe Pravder).
The “most creative object” — a photo of a player sitting on a motorcycle — was awarded because Schwaeber’s team raced in the final moments to the police station, and got an officer on duty to let them all sit on a cycle.
7 points were awarded for a 2:45 (or better) 840-yard run at Wakeman. No one knew until the end that that was the object that earned all those bonus points. Schwaeber’s group completed that task, as did the 2nd place finishers (Andres Marmelo, Daniel Perez Elorza and Jack Zeldes) and the 3rd place group (Matt Bateman, James Lewis, Ethan Kobak).
In a quirky finish, the 2 groups that got the most objects — Nate Argosh, Kenji Goto, Aidan Wisher, and Patrick Beusse, Graham Gudis, Andrew Puchala — finished out of the running. Each team lost 3 points, for arriving at the finish 3 minutes late.
“It was a great ending to a very competitive Octathlon season,” head coach Dan Woog said. “All the guys organized their events well, and everyone was all in.”
The final standings: Noah Schwaeber (90 points), Graham Gudis (84), Michael Reid (73), Kenji Goto (70), James Lewis (65), Gabe Pensak and Denzel Robinson (55), Ethan Kobak (54), Jack Zeldes (48), Nate Argosh (47), Andrew Puchala (46), Ziggy Hallgarten (43), Patrick Beusse (42), Andres Marmelo (41), Daniel Perez Elorza (39), Aidan Wisher (36), John Fincher (35), Matt Bateman (34), Carl Amacker and Max Hammer (26), Andrew Osorio and Joe Pravder (21), Daniel Brill (18), Grant Sirlin (12), Rees Chang (9), Brenden Price (2), Ben Foster (1).
The Octathlon scavenger hunt competitors. Winners are in front, the 1st 4 from left: Ziggy Hallgarten, Noah Schwaeber, Michael Reid and Gabe Pensak.
