Giants Don't Get Out Like They Need To

The HP cross country team went into the Niles West Pat Savage Invite with the goal being to get out fast into position and race tough from there.   Unfortunately for the varsity, only the top 3 were able to get into position in the first mile like we hoped for.  The paces were suprisingly slow on the new Niles West layout, but senior Jonah Hanig was right with the leader at the mile with junior Angel Estrada and senior Emmett Smith not far behind.  Sophomore Ben Casey and senior Luke Nudelman found themselves too far back at the mile.   They were stuck chasing the packs from Lake Park and Oak Park River Forest throughout the race and were not able to make up much ground.   Hanig was in second throughout most of the race but struggled to hold pace near the end and was passed by Estrada in the final 400.   They finished in 15:37.52 and 15:41.36 for 2nd and 3rd.  Smith was able to move into 5th for the 3A Division (6th overall in 15:47.81).  Casey finished in 16:27.96 and Nudelman was 16:45.51.   Highland Park finished in 2nd place just 10 points behind Lake Park.   It was not the team performance we were hoping for, but the team will bounce back and continue to stay focused on the goals of the season.   Champions show their true identity by how they respond to poor performances the next time they race.

The freshmen ran well and finished in 5th place as a team.   They were led by strong races in the 3A Division by Brett Davidson (8th, 11:42.71) and Joe Pinsky (9th, 11:44.18).   Daniel Arias had his best race of the year almost breaking 12:00 for 2 miles running 12:04.47 finishing in 15th.  Jason Fox broke 13 for the first time finishing in 33rd running 12:52.95.   The scoring was rounded out with Michael Salgado who went out hard and did his best to hang on finishing in 13:49.87 for 63rd place.

The sophomore team knew that their strength was the pack, but were not able to be far enough towards the front to win the meet.   The team finished in 4th place just 3 points out of 3rd.  The top 5 team finishers for HP in the 3A Division were Brady McDougall (10th, 17:28.62), Andrew Huddleston (21st, 17:45.67), Kevin Merkel (25th, 17:53.63), Zack Goldberg (26th, 17:58.84), and Evan Lissoos (27th, 18:00.81).  The team was tied with Saint Ignatius, but beat them on a 6th man tie breaker since Dylan Kahn finish in 32nd (18:15.2) and was ahead of the Saint Ignatius 6th man.  The sophomores know that they have to move that pack up more and stay closer to McDougall if they are going to win the sophomore race at the CSL Meet.