Team Takes 3rd at Antioch Invite

The Antioch Invite is a great opportunity for the team to compete at a great facility on a 200 meter track. This year the Giants had many freshmen and sophomores able to take part in the meet and have some quality performances.

Here are some highlights from each event:

4X800 Meter Relay: We had a freshmen relay entered that were going after the Highland Park High School freshmen indoor record of 9:14.7, set in 1979. The lead off was a gutsy run by Fitz Laurie (2:11.0). He handed off to Damian Campos who ran his first 800 of the season and split a tough 2:15.6. Next was Nate Amster who was also running his first 800 of the season and ran a strong 2:17.9. The anchor was Sam Falberg and he ran a PR of 2:22.4. The team finished with a final time of 9:07.1!

55 Meter Dash: In this race, junior Mark Gilling ran 7.03 and senior Rock Cerant ran 7:06. These FAT times converted, put both sprinters on the Highland Park High School All-Time List for the 55.

55 Meter High Hurdles: Junior Ryan Kriozere and sophomore Zev Motew went 1-2. These two hurdles continue to be consistent and run fast times. It will be exciting to see what kind of success they will have the rest of the season.

1600 Meter Run: Junior Joe Pinsky raced tough to earn a PR running 4:56.87. Freshmen Alec Glazier also had a strong race in this event running a big PR of 5:09.94.

4X200 Meter Relay: The varsity relay for HP ran very well (despite some sloppy hand-offs). The team of Motew, Kriozere, senior Deven Greenleaf, and Gilling finished in 1:38.62 for 3^rd place.

400 Meter Run: Junior Greg Schorsch and sophomore Victor Camacho had nice break through runs in this race. They ran 57.62 and 57.71.

800 Meter Run: Senior Kevin Merkel had a good first race for this season with a well raced 2:09.44. This is well ahead of what he ran here last year.

200 Meter Run: Cerant had another fast race as he ran a 24.64 in this event to take 8^th place.

3200 Meter Run: Junior Brett Davidson was hoping the race would go out in a faster first mile with some strong competition. The first mile was slower then he wanted and he had to really work to push the pace at the end of the first mile into the second mile. It was still a solid time for his first race of the season as well as a big PR of 9:47.25.

4X400 Meter Run: The Giants took first place in this event with the team of Kriozere (54.1), Greenleaf (54.4), Campos (58.7), and Motew (55.3) for a total time of 3:42.77.

Shot Put: Senior Eddie Smoliak had a distance of 41'0.5” to lead the Giants.

Long Jump: Motew jumped 19'2” for his best jump of the season and an 8^th place finish.

Triple Jump: Senior Zander Grayson led the team with a 34'3” jump.

High Jump: Cerant finished 4^th as he cleared 5'6”.

Pole Vault: Smoliak easily won the event by over a foot with a 14'6” clearance and then tried 15'0” using a new pole and had a close attempt on his 3^rd and final try.

The team ended up finishing in 3^rd place behind Warren and Grayslake Central. Each meet the team is improving and the coaching staff hopes that with hard work this trend with continue.