HP Varsity Comes Together As A Team To Win The Deerfield Duel Meet!

The Highland Park Varsity Track & Field Team came into this year's Deerfield Duel Meet with great confidence. With an off-season of hard work and a strong well rounded team we knew this was a excellent opportunity to finally win this meet after losing for eight straight years. We also knew that it would not be easy and that Deerfield (as they always do) will come at us with everything they have. For the Giants it was about coming together as a team. We had events that we expected big points from and were not able to deliver, but more importantly we had events that we thought we would struggle to score and were able to have guys step up for big points. This was a total team effort and a classic battle with an always tough Deerfield team. Due to the team staying focused and competing tough to the end, Highland Park got the victory with a 68-55 win over Deerfield! Both teams showed great class and respect for each other while they shook hands as the trophy was finally presented back to HP!

Field Events (This was the area in which we knew could give us trouble if we were not on top of our game and if we did not have guys step up with performances they have never had before. The Giants did step up and after being out-scored in 2013 35-10 in the field events, we outscored Deerfield 26-19!)

Shot-Put: We knew Deerfield had at least one 50+ foot thrower, but Coach Downey was confident that he could get at least one guy ahead of their second thrower. Junior Eddie Smoliak was able to do that with a 43' 5” throw for 2^nd place before he headed off to compete in the pole vault.

High Jump: We had heard that Deerfield had a pretty good young high jumper, but senior Shealtial Isreal continued to show his consistency in this event as he cleared 6' 0” to win. Junior Rock Cerant cleared his best height of the season (5' 8”) to finish in 3^rd

Long Jump: HP stepped up big in this event as we went 1-2! Once again Isreal showed great poise as he nailed his first ever 20 foot jump (20' 5”) to win the event. In second place, it was John Manges that beat Deerfield's top jumper by just one inch to pick up crucial 2^nd place points.

Triple Jump: For the third time in the meet it was Isreal stepping up for the team with another big performance as he took 2^nd with a jump of 38' 8”. In three events he scored 13 points for the team! His contribution to the team's victory will always be remembered as an incredible display of staying cool under pressure and stepping up when the team needs you!

Pole Vault: With the recent success of our vaulters we were hoping for something big here. The guys were not able to hit the heights they recently cleared, but they did enough to get 1^st and 3^rd. The top three all cleared 12' 0” but based on misses, Smoliak won and senior Alec Deer took 3^rd.

Track Events:

4X800 Meter Relay: The 4X800 is always an important event as it starts the track events. It was a tight battle throughout as Deerfield had the lead going into the final exchange. Senior Griffin Bojan was the anchor for HP and locked in on trying to run down Deerfield's final runner. After a fast first 400 and Deerfield still having a lead, Bojan started to close and by the time they got to the last lap he was able to pull away for a just over 6 second victory.

50 Meter High Hurdles: Deerfield has an outstanding hurdler on their team, but we have two and we knew the hurdle races would be really close. Senior Benjy Rogin was able to take the race in 6.9 as sophomore Ryan Kriozere took 3^rd (7.0) while breaking his own sophomore record for the event.

50 Meter Dash: Senior Jarae Ward was able to sprint to the victory with a time of 6.1.

800 Meter Run: This was an event we thought would take first, but Nash from Deerfield stepped up for his team and raced with incredible toughness. He was able to hold off a late charge from HP senior Angel Estrada (2:06.2). Junior Andrew Huddleston was able to have a solid race for third place (2:15.2) that took some of the sting away from Estrada's defeat.

4X160 Meter Relay: The Giants got out fast and built a significant lead into the final leg. Cerant had the misfortune of somehow tripping as he came around the final turn and Deerfield was able to take the victory.

400 Meter Dash: We were hoping to outscore Deerfield in this event, but were only able to get a 2^nd and 3^rd finish with junior Deven Greenleaf (:56.5) and senior Jeremy Bloom (:57.8).

50 Meter Low Hurdles: In this hurdle race it was Deerfield that took the victory as HP took 2^nd (Rogin 6.7) and 3^rd (Kriozere 7.0).

1600 Meter Run: We knew we needed to win this race as Deerfield was building some momentum with four straight victories on the track. With Estrada being scratched from the race, it was up to junior Ben Casey to get the job done. Deerfield had a pack that came out strong but that did not rattle Casey or Bojan. Casey and Nash began to break away and eventually it was Casey that pulled away for the victory (4:43.7). Bojan tried to hang on for 3^rd but Kramer from Deerfield got by him with another gutsy effort by one of their distance runners.

200 Meter Dash: Deerfield was able to take the surprise victory but Ward (24.5) and Cerant (24.8) were able to take 2^nd and 3^rd. This was a nice bounce back for Cerant after the disappointment in the 4X160 relay.

4X400 Meter Relay: The Giants wanted to make a statement with the final event and our guys on the relay were unaware of the score and raced it like this is what will decide the meet. Each guy ran with guts and heart and they were able to close out the meet with an almost four second victory. (Greenleaf :57.1, junior Dylan Kahn :59.5, Kriozere :56.8, and Rogin :56.2)

It was great to finally get a win in the Deerfield Duel Meet, but the team knows a lot of work still must be done. Mistakes need to be corrected, athletes need to get healthy, and training must continue to progress. Let's keep focused as we go into the CSL Meet!