HP Competes With Heart At CSL Meet

The Giants came into the CSL Championship Meet determined to put their best efforts out there and compete with heart.    The team did that in what was another exciting CSL North Championship battle. 

Field Events:

All season the team has been working hard to be able to compete for more points. 

The throwers, after not scoring a point at the Indoor CSL Meet, came through with 9 varsity points and 2 frosh-soph points.  

On frosh-soph sophomore Doug Kirsch was 5^th in the Discus (100’3”).

 For varsity, in the Shot Put, junior Bryan Fiorenza placed 4^th with a 40’10” throw while sophomore Eddie Smoliak was 6^th with a 39’10” mark.   In Discus, senior Owen Henry threw 118’11” for 4^th place.

In the High Jump, junior Shealtial Isreal took 3^rd for varsity at 5’8” while sophomore Rock Cerant won the frosh-soph high jump by clearing 5’6”. 

In Pole Vault, Smoliak took 4^th on varsity with an 11’9” clearance.   On frosh-soph, sophomore Sean Knapp was 3^rd (9’3”) and sophomore Aaron Strauss was 5^th (8’9”).

Isreal was also able to finish 4^th in the varsity Long Jump (19’9”).

The varsity Triple Jump had junior Benjy Rogin placing 5^th at 39’11”.

On The Track:

4X800 Meter Relay – Frosh-soph was solid with each guy running a personal best and finish in 3^rd .  (sophomore Andrew Huddleston, freshmen Daniel Arias, sophomore Brady McDougall, and sophomore Dylan Kahn 8:59.09)

Varsity led off with sophomore Ben Casey who went with the leaders through the 400 at 1:00 and then took off  and left everyone behind him as he ran a 2:01.3 and gained a sizeable lead as he handed to senior Jacob Perl who went out aggressive through his first 400.   He was able to hold the lead running 2:03.7.   Next was senior Enrigue Barragan.   He too went out very aggressive and hung on to run a 2:04.7.    The final runner for HP was junior Jeremy Bloom.    He was all by himself, but still got out hard and finished strong to run a 2:03.8.   The final winning time was 8:13.99, which is the 10^th fastest 4X800 Meter Relay ever run by a Highland Park High School team. 

4X100 Meter Relay – Neither level ran what the team was hoping for.   The lack of quality sprint depth showed in this event.

3200 Meter Run- The frosh-soph race saw freshmen Brett Davidson go after the freshmen school record, but fall short by just under 8 seconds.  He ran 10:17.76 for 3^rd place.   The second HP runner in the race, sophomore Eddie Herz, ran his best race with a huge PR of 10:37.11.   Unfortunately, he was passed at the end and finished in 7^th place.

The varsity race had the deepest and fastest field seen in the CSL North since anyone at the meet could recall.   Two main packs formed by the mile. There was a lead pack of three, including senior Jonah Hanig, and another pack of four a little ways back with senior Emmett Smith.  Hanig battled tough, but ended up in 3^rd place despite running a school record 9:19.72.   Smith battled with the next group and was able to out-kick a Niles North runner for 6^th place in 9:40.53.

110 Meter High Hurdles- On frosh-soph, HP had two hurdlers make it to the finals.   Freshmen Ryan Kriozere finished 2^nd (16.99) and sophomore Bryan Lunardi was 5^th (18.42).

Rogin was the only varsity hurdler through to the finals and he finished in 3^rd place running 15.64.

100 Meter Dash- As usual, senior Andrew Sledd was through to the finals and dominant as he finished in first place with a fast time of 11.14. 

800 Meter Run- Sophomore Kevin Merkel was the only one to score for the frosh-soph.  He ran a strong 2:09.89 to finish in 4^th place.

The varsity seeds for this race had junior Angel Estrada 7^th and junior Griffin Bojan 8^th with 2 seconds separating the 3-9 seeds.   Both Estrada and Bojan got out into good positions through the 400.   With a tight battle for 3^rd through 7^th, Estrada was able to take 3^rd (2:00.02) and Bojan 6^th (2:01.65).    These are PR’s for both runners.

4X200 Meter Relay- The frosh-soph relay had an outstanding anchor leg run by Knapp to help them finish 3^rd (1:42.49).

The varsity were DQ’d in this event.

400 Meter Dash-   Frosh-soph had two runners place out of the slow heat.   Freshmen Max Zavell (5^th, 56.31) and John Hrach (6^th, 56.66).

On varsity, HP had another runner place out of the slow heat as Casey ran a 54.35 to take 5^th while sophomore JP Leskovich took 4^th in 53.33.

300 Meter Hurdles- Kriozere took another 2^nd place for frosh-soph as he ran an outstanding 43.89.

On varsity, HP scored 10 important points as Rogin took 3^rd (43.00) and sophomore Deven Greenleaf was 4^th (43.37).

1600 Meter Run- Frosh-soph did not score much here as Davidson got 6^th place (4:54.09).

This was another deep and very competitive distance race.   Hanig and Estrada were ready to battle as the race went out strong.   The final lap saw four top runners fighting for team points.   In the end Gold from Deerfield pulled away as Beller from Niles North just got by Estrada at the line.   HP took 3^rd and 4^th with Estrada (4:22.69, 5th fastest all-time at HP) and Hanig (4:24.24).   Those top four all showed great heart in that race as this was each of their 2^nd races.   For HP, Estrada was coming back after the 800 Meter Run a few events before and Hanig after running the school record in the 3200 Meter Run earlier in the meet. 

200 Meter Dash- The only HP sprinter to get to the final was once again Sledd.  He once again showed why he is a leader and top sprinter for this team.   With semifinals in the 100 and 200, the 4X100 relay anchor, and the 100 final; this was his 5^th race of the day.   Despite all of that, he still won the race in a 23.02.  

4X400 Meter Relay-The frosh-soph finished the meet with a 3^rd place in the final event (3:49.84) (Zavell, Huddleston, Hrach, and Kriozere).

The varsity team was in a tight battle with Niles North in the team standings and it came down to the 4X400 for finishing in 2^nd place as a team or once again being 3^rd (Deerfield had too big of a lead in the team standings).   Perl had a solid leadoff leg (54.3) as he handed to Greenleaf who ran a great leg as well (53.4).   The third runner for HP was Rogin who was competing in his fourth event of the night.   As he was making the handoff to Leskovich he got the Giants the lead (54.4) and right behind them was the team from Niles North.   Leskovich ran an outstanding split (52.3) to bring it home for the victory in the final event of the evening.

The varsity ended up finishing in 2^nd place with 113 points.  Deerfield was 1^st with 141 and Niles North 3^rd with 108.   Frosh-soph finished in 5^th place just one point behind 4^th.   Despite not winning the championship at either level, the coaching staff was very proud of how the team came out and competed at this meet.   They showed a great deal of focus, determination, toughness, and heart.    As the seniors competed in their last high school conference meet, those returning and the coaches all thank them for their incredible contributions to the Highland Park High School Boys Track & Field Program.   

The next step is Sectionals at Niles West!   For the non-seniors not competing at Sectionals, you have some questions to answer…. what will you do over the next 365 days to help the team win a conference championship?   How committed will you be to working hard in the off-seasons so that you can compete at Sectionals next year?     What do you want your legacy to be??????