Improvement As A Team Shown At CSL North Championships

The CSL North Conference Championship took place at Niles North High School. Overall it was a solid showing for Highland Park and the line-ups we put together. The Giants had several standout performances, some were expected and others were a pleasant surprise.

Field Events:

Varsity Pole Vault had senior Eddie Smoliak winning the event with a school record 15'3” vault. Senior Sean Knapp just missed placing as he took 7^th at 10'9”. On frosh-soph, Jared Levine took 3^rd with a 10' vault.

The jumps have been an area the team has struggled all season. HP only did not get any points in the 3 jumps. The frosh-soph showed some hope for these events in the future. Sophomore Mason Kuhlmann tied for 6^th in the High Jump at 4'8”. In the Long Jump, freshmen Michael Menaker took second place with a 17'8” jump while sophomore Nick Kirsch was 6^th at 17'2”. The Triple Jump had Kirsch taking 2^nd at 37'11”.

The throws have done a nice job this season and it continued at conference. Sophomore Joey Sereda won the discus by nearly 10 feet with a 125'5” toss. In the varsity shot put senior Ben Kessler had a big PR on his final throw to take 5^th place. He threw 45'.

Sprints:

The only sprinter to make it to the finals in the 100 or 200 was sophomore Ben Davis and he made it in both. He placed 6^th in the frosh-soph 100 Meter Dash (12.34) and 4^th in the 200 Meter Dash (25.24). On varsity, junior Mark Gilling just missed making the finals. As these two sprinters continue to work hard and get stronger, they can get HP crucial points in the short sprints!

The 400 Meter Dash on varsity had senior Deven Greenleaf running 52.4 and taking 4^th as Gilling just missed scoring as he took 7^th (54.79). On frosh-soph, HP had a good showing as sophomores Steven Weathers and Ari Weisenthal took 2^nd and 5^th (55.5 and 57.13). Having two guys score in events is what is needed to be a championship team.

Hurdles:

Both varsity hurdle events had junior Ryan Kriozere taking second place to one of the top hurdlers in the state. Kriozere ran 14.74 in the 110HH and 39.75 in the 300IH. The frosh-soph hurdle races had Nick Kirsch taking 5^th in the 300IH (47.04) and 6^th in the 100HH (19.18).

Distance:

This has been one of the stronger areas for the team and the Giants were able to get some decent points in these events. The 3200 Meter Run on varsity had four very strong runners battling up front for the win. In the end, junior Brett Davidson took 3^rd in 9:37.54. The frosh-soph 3200 was a race in which freshmen Nate Amster and Alec Glazier took it out aggressive and nobody had the courage to go with them. Glazier led the first few laps until Amster went by him. At the finish it HP 1^st and 3^rd as Amster ran 10:31.17 and Glazier was at 10:48.45.

The varsity 800 was another very competitive and deep race. Senior Andrew Huddleston took 6^th running 2:01.08. Freshmen Damian Campos ran a very strong race as he finished 8^th in 2:02.7 to improve his own freshmen school record in the event! On frosh-soph HP took 1^st and 3^rd. Sophomores Alex Abreu (2:06.72) and Matthew Casey (2:10.16) ran strong races to help the Giants score 16 points. The future of HP middle distance looks strong if all of these guys stay focused and work hard over the next few years.

Senior Ben Casey had a nice bounce back race in the 1600 Meter Run after a disappointing Lake County race. Casey won the vasity race in 4:23.43. Davidson ran an outstanding race to double back with a 5^th place in 4:29.25. On frosh-soph, sophomores Charlie Skurie and Josh Drummond both ran personal bests as they took 3^rd (4:53.37) and 6^th (4:55.32).

Relays:

Varsity 4X800 had a strong lead-off leg run by sophomore Ben Bloom (2:01.8), but the middle two legs lost too much ground and despite a strong anchor by senior Brady McDougall (2:06.3) finished in 4^th with an 8:29.72. The frosh-soph relay we put together did not look like they would finish that high up based on their best times. Each guy on the relay ran tough and they took second place in 9:28.86 (Sam Falberg, David Heller, Hayden Schott, and Alex Rooney).

Varsity does not have the depth in the sprints to finish near the top of the sprint relays. The guys battled and took 5^th in the 4X100 and 4^th in the 4X200. The frosh-soph took 3^rd in both short sprint relays (4X100 47.86 and 4X200 1:40.14).

The varsity 4X400 ended up 5^th (3:39.71) despite a strong 52.2 lead-off leg by Greenleaf. The frosh-soph 4X400 took a close second in 3:47.29 (Weathers, freshmen Ben Zavell, Falberg, and Abreu).

Varsity finished the meet in 4^th place as a team just 9 points behind 3^rd place GBN.

The frosh-soph took 3^rd as they were only 4.5 points behind second place NN.

The team has the opportunity to do great things the next few years if those returning are willing to make the commitment to be the best track & field athlete they can be. That means training in the off-season if not doing another sport and getting a few more athletes to join track & field to help build our depth in several areas.