Dominguez, Hoobler, and Gamson Earn Medals at Hinsdale Red Devil Invite

In their second meet of the season, the Highland Park boys cross country team headed to Katherine Legge Park for the Hinsdale Red Devil Invite. 22 teams participated in this meet, including several of the top teams from the Sectional Meet that HP will compete in during the State Series. Due to construction at the course, the varsity and frosh-soph races were 2.9 miles and the open race was 1.9 miles.   

Dylan Dominguez (Jr.) once again led the team in the varsity race. He continues to show that he has developed into a top tier cross country runner. His hard work has helped him medal at his second straight invite. He finished in an impressive 13th place. Last season at this meet he finished in 36th place. Juniors Lucas Hoobler and Henry Gamson earned their first varsity medals of the season with big time performances at such a competitive meet. Hoobler finished in 24th place with Gamson just 2 seconds behind him in 25th place. They both showed tremendous improvement from last season at this meet in which Hoobler finished 132nd and Gamson was 101st! 

The gap to the next HP pack is what the team is desperately working on improving. Usiel Rodriguez (Sr.) was once again the teams 4th runner. At this meet he was only 1:15 seconds behind Gamson after being 1:45 seconds at the last meet. That was a nice improvement, but the rest of the pack was not able to stay with him in the final .9 of the race. Rodriguez went from finishing in 128th last year at this meet to 101st this season. 

The rest of the HP chase pack of 6 were all within 22 seconds of each other. Juniors Josh Brown and Truman Evans finished one place apart. Brown fought through stomach issues to have a much improved race from last week and Evans had a strong kick to catch up to Brown at the end in his first race of the season. Both were well ahead of their finishes from 2023 at this meet. Brown went from 185th to 123rd and Evans improved from 201st to 124th. Logan Liu (Jr.) also had a much improved race from the first meet. He also finished well ahead of his place from last year as he went from 154th to 128th place. Theo Soifer (Fr.) had another impressive race for the Giants. He was just a few seconds behind Liu and raced under 6 minute per mile pace for the 2.9 mile race. Daniel Doyle (Jr.) raced in his first meet of the season and hung with the pack for a good portion of the race. He was 11 seconds behind Soifer and will help make the team better as he pushes his teammates in a battle for a top 7 spot. 

Spencer Pedraza (Jr.) was the next finisher for HP. He had a faster pace per mile at this meet than he did at the first meet going from 6:23 per mile to 6:08 per mile at Hinsdale. Lowell Redmond (Jr.) went out faster than he did at the first meet for mile one and went through the 2 mile significantly faster than he did at the first meet. He even finished the race strong despite losing a shoe during the race. His pace per mile from the first meet to this one went from 6:34 per mile to 6:18 per mile. 

The varsity ended up taking 10th place to finish in the top half of the teams in the invite. The team knows it can be better with hard work and improved racing. It will also help when one of the team’s top runners, Brian Hatoum returns from a hip injury. HP did show strength in their current top 3 as the winning team (Palatine High School) and Highland Park were the only two schools with 3 runners that earned medals by finishing in the top 25. The team needs to stay focused and fierce as they look to improve moving forward.

The next race up for the HP boys was the frosh-soph 2.9 mile race. In the first mile, it was sophomores Makena Duggan and Gabriel Jackson leading the way for the Giants. They went through the first mile in 5:46. Tristan Perkes (Fr.) had a great second mile to pull even with Duggan and eventually out-kick him to finish in 79th place while Duggan was 81st. Duggan finsihed in 197th place last year at this meet. Jackson fell back a bit but still had a strong finish to take 107th place. Joaquin Martinez (So.) was just a few seconds back of Jackson with a strong performance. He finished in 111th place compared to last year when he placed 202nd. For most of the race, Martinez led a nice pack with teammates Shea Jackson (Fr.) and Caleb Haggarty (Fr.). These two freshmen ran very well and finished with the exact same time. They both went out significantly faster than they did at the first meet. For Haggarty, he did this even with running the longer race at this meet. 

There was a bit of a gap to the next pack of HP runners. This group was led by Vasco Liete (So.). Nate Goldberg (So.) and Chase Temple (Fr.) were both with him through 2 miles. All three went through the 2 mile much faster than what they split at the first meet. For Temple, he improved his 2 mile split from 15:02 to an impressive 13:36! After running a 14:46 for 2 miles at the first meet, Charlie Szot (Fr.) went through the 2 mile of this race in 14:01! He also had a strong final 400, showing his speed and toughness at the end of a race. Manuel Jauregui (Fr.) and Jace Bennett (Fr.) battled together throughout the race to finish within a few seconds of each other. They went through the 2 mile split around the time they ran the full 2 mile race at the first meet. 

Overall, the frosh-soph performed well and showed big improvement from all of the hard work they have been putting in. The team’s top 5 gap was only 43 seconds. Each guy that raced in both of the first two meets for the team raced better at this meet. If this crew (along with Soifer from the varsity race) sticks with cross country, and hopefully track & field, during their high school careers, they can have a lot of success. It just takes commitment to the training and to each other to develop into a successful team. 

The final race of the day for the boys team was the open 1.9 mile race. The Giants were led by the duo of seniors Quentin Kelley and Luke Byrnes. The two stayed with 5 seconds of one another the entire race. The finsihed the race in 54th and 63rd places. For Kelley, he improved from finishing in 116th place last year in this meet. David Miller (Jr.) was the next HP finisher. He was not far behind his teammates and finished in 80th place. Joey Naftzger (Jr.) and Dylan Stiller (Jr.) were the next to finishers for the Giants. They had solid races to start their racing this season. This was Naftzger’s first race of the season and for Stiller, it was his first high school cross country race. Robby Mendoza (Sr.) got out well and battled to finish not too far behind Stiller. Danylo Mykolyshyn (Fr.), Theo Hanold (Fr.), and Liam Hsu (Fr.) also each raced in their first high school cross country race. Mykolyshyn and Hanold finished just a second apart for the 1.9 mile race. Hsu battled tough through the line as he is coming back from some leg pain from last week. 

The HP crew that raced in the open did well and had a 1-5 gap of only :53 seconds. The coaches are looking forward to all of these runners getting in a 3 mile race in Peoria at the next meet.