Estrada Finishes 10th at State!

The 2013 IHSA State Cross Country Meet was held on a beautiful day at Detweiller Park in Peoria.  It was warm and windy and the field of competition in 3A was deep as usual.   Highland Park's Angel Estrada was competing in his second IHSA State Cross Country Meet.  Last year, he finished in 15:02 for 43rd place. Coming into this season Estrada was the 16th returning runner from the State Meet.   He was determined to do better then that. 

The race got out fast for the first 400 meters and Estrada was right in the mix with the leaders.  He wanted to try to stay near the leaders as long as he could.   At the mile he was just behind the leaders looking strong and relaxed as the pace was not extremely fast.  In the back loop Estrada started to lose some ground as the leaders fought through the wind and tried to pick up the pace .  As he came through the two mile mark, Estrada had dropped back to 15th place. He was determined not to settle just for top 15.  By the time he got to 400 meters to go he had moved up and had his sights set on the runner in 10th place.   Estrada had to dig deep to pull off a strong enough kick to finish in the top ten. With a 65 second last quarter mile, he was able to put 3 seconds on 11th place and finish in 10th place with a time of 14:43. Even though the times across the board were slower then what was expected and hoped for, the important thing on this day was place.   Finishing in the top 10 at the State Meet in Illinois is an incredible accomplishment!  He is the third All-State runner from Highland Park in the past four years.  

Through hard work and determination, Angel Estrada had one of the most successful seasons ever by an HPHS runner.  He won several major meets including Lake County, the CSL North, and Regionals.   With the usual ups and downs of a season, Angel stayed focused on his main goal of doing well at the State Meet. His example this season for the rest of the team has been outstanding.  His mental and physical toughness was something that every runner should strive to attain.   Congratulations Angel Estrada on a wonderful high school cross country career at HPHS!    Your leadership in this program is greatly appreciated.  

It will be a thrill to see what this amazing young runner accomplishes in the upcoming track season.