Sledd, Hanig, and Estrada Qualify For State Meet

The Highland Park Boys Track & Field Team had several thrills and some disappointments at the 2013 Niles West Sectional. 

State Qualifiers:

Senior Jonah Hanig had an decent race in the 3200 Meter Run.   He battled once again with Deerfield’s Alex Gold.   Hanig was not able to stay with Gold in the final laps of the race, but did run 9:22.27 to qualify for the State Meet for the 2^nd straight year in this event.   He has been training hard and  will be ready to run his breakthrough race at the State Meet.

Senior Andrew Sledd finished 2^nd in the 100 Meter Dash running 10.98 (given the same time as the winner).  Sledd was at his best at this meet after missing last year’s Sectional Meet due to a hamstring injury.   His time was his fastest time and is a new school record.

HP entered Hanig and junior Angel Estrada in a loaded 1600 Meter Run.   The race saw a big pack go through the first 400 meters on pace and then slow down greatly in the second lap.   The coaches of all the runners in the lead pack were yelling to their athletes to pick the pace back up.   They started to do that in the 3^rd lap and then the race really got moving in the final lap.   Estrada was able to finish in 4:21.16 for third while Hanig was in 6^th running 4:22.02.   Those times got both runners to qualify to the State Meet.   Also, those were the 3^rd and 4^th fastest times ever run by a Highland Park High School athlete.   

Other medalists included:

In the 300 IM Hurdles junior Benjy Rogin finished in 4^th place with a strong race running his best time of 41.67.

Sophomore Eddie Smoliak finished tied for 5^th for the Pole Vault clearing 12’3”.

The 4X800 Meter Relay finished a disappointing 5^th in 8:09.3.   Despite this being the 8^th fastest time run by a Highland Park team it was not the time they were expected to run.  The entire race went out surprisingly slow in the first lap.   Sophomore Ben Casey was not able to give HP the strong leadoff leg needed to run the goal time of sub-8:00.   Senior Jacob Perl ran his best split of the year (2:02.1) as he was aggressive trying to get the team back into the race.   Junior Griffin Bojan ran solid, as he too was aggressive in trying to catch the other teams.   The final leg was Estrada who went out blazing and brought the Giants back into the race, but the gap was too big and after going out in a 55, was not able to get past the other teams to make it to State.