Despite Rain, 1600 Meter Runners Shine At Dan Horyn Invitational

Highland Park High School entered a new meet this year as they competed in the Niles North Dan Horyn Invitational. The weather was gloomy with a chance of it getting worst, but the Giants were ready to compete.

Varsity:

110 High Hurdles- Junior Ryan Kriozere continues to have success in the hurdles. He took second place and ran 14.96 which is in the all-time top 5 at HP in this event.

300 Hurdles- Kriozere took 3^rd in 41.31.

400 Meter Run- Senior Devin Greenleaf ran a solid race and finished 3^rd in 53.07.

800 Meter Run- Senior Andrew Huddleston got out slower then needed in the first 400 but still finished strong to take 4^th with a 2:03.42.

400 Meter Relay- The team of Greenleaf, senior Dylan Kahn, senior Ben Casey, and Kriozere finished in 4^th place running 3:34.73.

Discus- Senior Doug Kirsch had a throw of 133'7” to take 2^nd place.

Pole Vault- Senior Eddie Smoliak won with only a 13' clearance. He still needs to get used to the larger pole and get back clearing the heights we know he is capable of.

1600 Meter Run- The meet had a special invitational 1600 in which had a field with some of the top runners in the state. Ben Casey just missed qualifying for this heat, but due to a late scratch of an athlete, he was able to get in. He took advantage of this great opportunity. The rain really started falling as Casey got out well and stayed near the leaders going into the final lap. Casey tried to go for the lead and ran a gutsy race as he finished in 7^th in the heat. His time was a huge personal best as he finished in 4:20.75. This is the 5^th fastest time run by a Highland Park athlete. Only Jim Weinert and Jonah Hanig have run faster times.

Junior Brett Davidson also had an incredible race. He had a very strong finish as he won his heat in 4:30.83.

Junior Varsity had relays and field events at the meet.

4X800 Meter Relay- the team ran very well as they finished in 2^nd place in 9:11.58. The team consisted of sophomore David Heller, freshmen Sam Falberg, junior Alejandro Gutierrez, and sophomore Matt Drummond.

JV Discus- Seniors Zack Goldberg and Jeremy Turley took 2^nd and 4^th with throws of 97-9” and 92'5”.

Frosh-Soph:

400 Meter Dash- Sophomore Steve Weathers took 6^th in 57.02.

800 Meter Run- Sophomore Alex Abreu ran his best time as he finished 4^th in 2:10.81.

3200 Meter Run- Freshmen Nate Amster finished in 6^th place with his best time of 10:24.71.

4X400 Meter Relay- HP finished in 3^rd place with a time of 3:46.38.

Pole Vault- Sophomore Jared Levine took 3^rd clearing 9'0”.

Discus- Sophomore Joey Sereda took 2^nd with a throw of 107'11.5”.

4X800 Meter Relay- The Giants were hoping to be pushed more in this race, but ran away with the race winning by 17 seconds. The team of sophomore Ben Bloom, freshmen Fitz Laurie, sophomore Matthew Casey, and freshmen Damian Campos ran an 8:39.22.

1600 Meter Run- Freshmen Fitz Laurie ran an outstanding race to break the Highland Park High School freshmen school record. He finished in 2^nd place with a time of 4:39.57.