HP Varsity Takes 2nd Place at Wheeling Invite

After not running in any invites the past few weeks, the team was looking to sharpen up for the CSL Meet and State Series.   The Giants wanted to get out well on the new course at Heritage Park for the Wheeling Wildcat Cross Country Invitational.   The top varsity runners did all at getting out in the first 400 meters despite some tough turns.   Senior Brett Davidson got with the leaders which included several top runners in Illinois.   The pack was led by freshmen Jose Reyes.   He has been running strong and was able to have a fast first mile.  The coaches would like to see more of the pack go right with Reyes in these last several meets of the season.   Davidson stayed with the lead pack as it shrunk down to just 4 runners going into the final mile.    With about a half-mile to go he pulled up next to Matt Pereira of Lake Zurich to try and make a run for the win.   Pereira started to pull away in the final stretch, but Davidson battled back to finish just .9 seconds behind him for 2nd place in 15:08.1.   Reyes then came in at 16:13.2 for 20th place.   The next several runners in for HP need to work to stay closer to Reyes.   Sophomores Alec Glazier (16:27.6) and Nate Amster (16:28.2) ran well and were less then a second apart in 26th and 28th.   Not far behind them was junior Charlie Skurie running tough in 29th (16:33.7).   Junior Jonathan Rosenfeld struggled again with a bad side stitch and took 33rd (16:40.5) as sophomore Fitz Laurie took 35th (16:41.7) in just his second race back from injury.   The team took 2nd place behind a very strong Lake Zurich team.    This was a good test for the team and a nice confidence builder as wellgoing into the CSL Championship Meet next week at Glenbrook South High School.   

Brett Davidson Interview

Video Highlights

In the Open race the Giants took 5th place and were led by senior Joe Pinsky in 12th place (17:26.4).  The freshmen running in the frosh-soph race had an off race, but look for them to bounce back at the CSL Meet.