CSL North Varsity Outdoor Champions!

It has been a long time since Highland Park has won the Outdoor CSL North Track & Field Championship Meet. After two meets with not so great showings by the Giants, the team came together with their best overall team performance at the CSL Championship. The varsity won the meet with 162 points to beat out Deerfield (131) on the Warriors home track. It was a total team effort with guys stepping up with big performances in nearly every event.

This was a special victory due to how long it has been since Highland Park has won the outdoor championship. It was also a very special victory because Coach Caines coached his last CSL Championship Meet as head coach of the Highland Park Giants. After years of success as the head coach, he will be stepping down and hopefully staying on as an assistant coach. Under his leadership the program has seen great success and is at its strongest in terms of character, participation, and performance.   In his final year as Head Coach in cross country and track & field he guided his teams to the CSL North Championships in cross country, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field.  More important then the victories and team successes, is the level of character he has taught to all of his athletes.   He is an outstanding leader with an incredible passion for coaching both track & field and cross country.   It will be a challenge for any coach to live up to the high standards he has set.  

Field Events: As always, it is in the field events that successful teams get their momentum going and need big points to win championships. Below are some of the field event highlights.

Shealtial Israel once again came up big for the team in a championship meet. He took 2^nd in the High Jump (5'10”), 3^rd in the Long Jump 19'6”, and 5^th in Triple Jump 38'4.75”.

A huge performance came from Kelshawn Shields in the Long Jump as he was able to get 2^nd place with a 19'6.5”.

Eddie Smoliak has continued to have big performances in the Pole Vault. He won the event with a personal best 14'3”. This ties him for 5^th on the Highland Park All-Time Top 10 list.

Other Field Event point scorers included Alec Deer (Pole Vault 5^th 12'0”), Roc Cerant (High Jump, tied for 3^rd 5'8”), Doug Kirsh (Discus 6^th 122'2”), and Smoliak (Shot Put, tied for 4^th 43'6”).

Distance: The distance runners did not perform well in the last two meets and were looking to make a statement at this meet to show that HP has the best distance crew in the CSL North. They did that by having no distance runner finish worst then 4^th place in any of their events!

It started with the 4X800 Meter Relay team running a great race. They took 1^st place to give HP the start to the track events they were looking for. The team was led off with an outstanding run by Andrew Huddleston who ran a big personal best of 2:04.7 to stay close to Deerfield's first runner. Dylan Kahn got the handoff and also ran a personal best (2:07.5) to give HP the lead handing off to Grant Greenberg. Greenberg has had his struggles with injuries over the years, but really stepped up to run a tough race with his personal best (2:10.5) to keep the lead. The anchor was Kevin Merkel who ran a 2:08.9 to seal the victory.

Angel Estrada was entered in a 3200 for the first time this season with his only objective being to win. The win came easier then expected as he was able to cruise in with a 9:53.7. Estrada is starting to look more like the runner we saw in cross country this past fall. An injury late indoors had put him behind in his training, but he is coming on at the right time. James Rector wanted to prove that he belonged in this varsity race by scoring points. He was struggling after mid race as he was in 6^th place with 7^th place closing in on him. As he entered the last lap it was apparent that the three runners in front of him were having trouble keeping up their pace and that is when Rector made his move and began to pass runners. He moved past two runners but could not catch a third one as he finished in 4^th place with a personal best of 10:06.18.

The 800 Meter Run was a tight race as it came into the last 200 meters. Griffin Bojan moved into 3^rd place after the final turn when teammate Jeremy Bloom had a big burst down the final stretch to pass him. The duo finished 3-4 with Bloom going 1:59.31 and Bojan 2:00.21. Bloom is the first 800 runner at Highland Park to run under 2 minutes for an 800 since 2009.

In the 1600 Meter Run Ben Casey was running fresh and Estrada was coming of the 3200. Casey took control of the race from the start and by the third lap started to put distance between himself and Deerfield's top distance runner Charles Nash. Estrada was a few seconds behind them. As the race came into the final lap, Casey had a sizable lead and Estrada was starting to really pick up the pace. Estrada flew by Nash and started to close on Casey. They ended up 1-2 with Casey at 4:25.02 and Estrada at 4:26.92. It was a thrilling race to watch and a sign that these two outstanding distance runners are ready for something special at Sectionals next week.

Hurdles: HP hurdles have been one of the big highlights of the season. With a strong 1-2 punch, we knew we could get big points in the hurdle races. Unfortunately, Ryan Kriozere injured his big toe and it was unsure what he would be able to do or if he could even compete.

In the 110 High Hurdles both Benjy Rogin and Kriozere made it to the finals, but you could see the pain in Kriozere's face with each stride. In the final they went 2-4 with Rogin at 14.98 and Kriozere at 15.9. In the 300 IH Rogin took 2^nd in 40.82 while Kriozere was 6^th in 43.58. These were gutsy races by Kriozere who is only a sophomore but showed tremendous heart and determination as he stepped up for the team.

Sprints: The sprint events were an area we knew we needed to improve on from the indoor season. The team was able to get much more out of the sprints this meet.

In the 100 Meter Dash, Jarae Ward (4^th 11.78) and Rogin (6^th 11.97) picked up solid points for the team. Ward also came back in the 200 Meter Dash with another 4^th place in 24.3.

In the 400 Meter indoors, HP did not score. Outdoors, Deven Greenleaf ran an aggressive race to get 2^nd place in 53.51.

The 4X100 and 4X200 Meter Relays did well. The coaching staff always tells the relay teams that the first priority is to make clean exchanges. HP was able to do that and the 4X100 took 3^rd place in 46.23. In the 4X200 (Sammy Coan, Rock Cerant, Mark Gilling, and Kirhee Cooper) the Giants ran a clean race while Deerfield and Niles North had some trouble with their final exchange and HP took first place in 1:36.73.

The 4X400 Meter Relay is an event that HP takes a great deal of pride in. We try to put four guys on this relay that can represent HP Track & Field with focus, toughness, and of course speed. It was a thrilling race. Bloom, who had recently lost his spot on the relay after a poor meet, was looking to show he belonged on the relay. He had a super lead off leg as he ran 52.7 to replace the injured Kriozere. He handed off to Greenleaf who raced tough with a 53.5. Bojan was next and came off the final turn right with the runners from Deerfield and Niles North, but then put on a burst to hand off to Rogin with the lead as he ran 52.5. Rogin closed it out for the victory with a 52.3.

The strong team performance, which was a collection of many outstanding individual performances, puts the Giants in a good place heading into Sectionals.