HP Takes 2nd Place At Freshmen CSL Invite

After a strong performance on the forth-soph level at the Deerfield Duel just a few days earlier, the Highland Park freshmen continued with a great team effort at the Frosh CSL North Invite at Niles West (hosted by Niles North).  The team finished in 2nd place behind a very strong Glenbrook North team.   GBN was able to win every field event and do well in many of the track events which was too much for the Giants to overcome.   These freshmen know that they need to continue to stay focused and work hard so that they can have a chance to win the outdoor Frosh CSL North Invite.   

Below are some of the highlights for the team:

Field Events:  

Long Jump:  Deven Robinson took 4th with a 15'1" jump.

Triple Jump:  Dondi Penick got a 2nd place finish with a 36' 9.75"

High Jump:  Aaron Jaffe cleared 4'10" to take 5th place

Pole Vault:   This was our highest scoring field event as we went 2-3.  Jared Levine 8'0" and Gabe Strauss 7'6"

Track Events:

3200 Meter Run:   Jonathan Rosenfeld was able to cruise to the victory with an 11:18.7 while teammate Matthew Drummond, who was with Rosenfeld early, faded to 4th 11:38.8.

4X800 Meter Relay:  David Heller was pulled out fast as the DF and GBN team took off from the start.   On laps 3 and 4 Heller struggled to keep pace but was able to have a stronger last lap to keep us in 3rd with a 2:34.5 split.   Charlie Skurie ran an outstanding leg to get us into 2nd place and close on the leader as he ran a personal best 2:29.6.   Our third leg was Ian Goldberg who worked to close on the leading DF runner.   Goldberg caught up and then put on a big kick the final lap to run a 2:32.1.  He gave the baton to Spencer Litow with a nice lead.   Litow got out well, but the DF runner was closing fast and looked like he would eventually take over the lead.   Litow was not going to let that happen.   When the DF runner caught up to him he just refused to relinquish the lead and he battled into the final lap.   At that point Litow made a big push coming onto the back straightaway and just kept driving all the way past the finish line with a big personal best split of 2:29.6 to give the team the 2.2 second victory in 10:05.0.

55 Meter High Hurdles:  HP went 1-2 with Zev Motew 8.8 crushing the field and Nick Kirsh taking second in 10.1.

50 Meter Dash:  In a very tight race at the finish, the timers gave Ben Davis 5th place with a time of 6.9.

800 Meter Run:   Matthew Casey took 4th in 2:22.3 and Harrison Freeman was 6th in 2:26.9.   Both boys ran tough races and battled throughout to pick up points in a very competitive field.  

4X160 Meter Relay:   Motew had a great lead-off leg, but the team ended up 3rd (1:27.8) due to some strong competition combined with some mental errors on two of the other legs of the relay.    

400 Meter Dash:  The Giants took 4th (Ari Weisenthal 1:03.1) and 6th (Jaffe 1:04.1) to pick up a few points.

55 Meter Low Hurdles:  Motew once again took 1st (8.2) and Kirsh took 6th (9.9)

1600 Meter Run:  Rosenfeld and Josh Drummond pulled away from the field early and ran together the entire race as Drummond tried to get by Rosenfeld off the final turn, but could not get past.  They ran 5:07.3 and 5:07.6 for 1st and 2nd.    The exhibition 1600 saw a Highland Park pack take to the front and finish 1st-5th with those guys running their best times along with a couple other Giants running their best times further back in the pack.   The top 5 included Matthew Drummond (5:29.9), Josh Peters (5:38.7), Heller (5:38.8), Skurie (5:38.9), and Goldberg (5:44.5). 

200 Meter Dash: Davis was able to pick up a few more points for the team as he took 4th in 26.9.

1600 Meter Relay:   This was a thrilling race for HP.   Bryce Levin had not run a 400 yet this season and was chosen to start us off.   He ran a tough lead-off leg and kept us in the mix with the top 3 teams with a 1:02.0.   Next up was Josh Drummond and he battled with a Niles North runner for part of the race until he moved up on the leader from GBN.   He handed off to Rosenfeld into the lead after running a 1:00.1 split.   The runner from GBN flew by Rosenfeld on the back stretch, but Rosenfeld kept his composure and continued to battle back and eventually go by the GBN kid to hand of to Motew with a nice lead and a 1:00.3 split.   At that point, Motew put it away running an outstanding :56.7 split as the team finished in 3:59.3.

The future looks bright for the Highland Park Track & Field Team!   We need these freshmen to have a passion for the sport and a willingness to put in the time and effort over the next several years to continue to take this success to new heights.