CSL North Indoor Conference

At the 2015 CSL North Indoor Championships, Highland Park finished a disappointing 4^th place on both levels. GBN won the meet on both levels.

The Giants know that they need to work harder then ever to compete with the top teams in the conference. Those teams are loaded with speed, strong field events, and team depth. The team did improve on their performance at the Deerfield Duel Meet by executing better and having more guys step up with strong performances.

Field Events:

This is still a big area of weakness for HP. On the varsity level points were scored by senior Rock Cerant in the High Jump (tied for 3^rd at 5'8”), senior Eddie Smoliak who won the Pole Vault (13'0”) and took 6^th place in the Shot Put (41'5”), and senior Sean Knapp who tied for 5^th in the Pole Vault (10'6”). Much more work needs to be done in these events so that we can score more points. The addition of the Discus outdoors should help.

Frosh-soph got points from sophomore Nick Kirsch in the Triple Jump (4^th, 35'5”) and Long Jump (6^th, 16'9”), Michael Steczek in the Shot Put (5^th 36'6.5”), and sophomore Jared Levine in Pole Vault (9'6”).

Hurdles:

With sophomore Zev Motew not competing due to injury, it was junior Ryan Kriozere that was the teams lone varsity hurdler. He took 2^nd in both hurdle events (55 Meter High Hurdles 7.8, 55 Meter Low Hurdles 7.4).

On the frosh-soph level, Nick Kirsch took 5^th in 8.81.

Sprints:

This is another area in which the team needs to improve greatly. On varsity, senior Sammy Coan and Cerant went 4-5 in the 200 Meter Dash (25.0, 25.1), Knapp and senior Deven Greenleaf too 5-6 in the 400 Meter Dash (55.5, 56.5).

The frosh-soph got points from sophomore Ben Davis (50 Meter Dash 3^rd, 6.4, and 200 Meter Dash 5^th , 25.7). In the 400 Meter Dash, sophomores Victor Camacho and Ari Weisenthal took 2nd and 4th (57.4 and 59.0).

Distance:

The varsity 3200 Meter Run was the event that HP got the most points out of. Junior Brett Davidson and senior Ben Casey too the lead from the start and pushed the pace throughout. Nobody else was willing to go with them and one Niles North runner tried to close the gap at the end, but could not. Davidson was able to out-kick Casey as they went 1-2 (9:46.0 and 9:46.1). They came back with a 5-6 finish in the 1600 Meter Run (Casey 4:37.1, Davidson, 4:37.6). Senior Andrew Huddleston had a strong showing in the 800 Meter Run as he finished in 5^th place at 2:04.1.

The frosh-soph got a win from freshmen Damian Campos in the 800 Meter Run (2:11.7) and sophomore Ben Bloom battled to a tie for 3^rd in 2:15.6. HP got a 2^nd place from Sophomore Charlie Skurie in the 3200 Meter Run (10:46.7) and a 6^th place from freshmen Alec Glazier (10:54.0). Skurie came back to take 3^rd in the 1600 Meter Run (5:04.9) and sophomore Josh Drummond got 6^th (5:13.3).

Relays:

The exchanges were better at this meet, but still need work. On varsity, the Giants took 3^rd in both the 4X160 Meter Relay and the 4X800 Meter Relay. They ended up 4^th in the 4X400 Relay. The 4X400 and 4X800 relays need some of the members to be more reliable, making sure they get the team into good position and don't make tactical mistakes.

The frosh-soph took 2^nd in the 4X800 Meter Relay as Bloom run a gutsy anchor leg to finish less then a second behind GBN. The 4X160 Meter Relay and the 4X400 Meter Relay both ended up 3^rd.

The entire team knows that they must be more focused then ever. Each member of the team must do his part to train harder and do all of the little things to make them the best athlete they can be. That starts with making sure that everyone gets in the proper training over spring break and comes back with a determination to prove that we can compete with the top teams in the CSL.