Improvement Shown At GBS Quad Meet

The Highland Park boys track & field team showed improvement as they competed at Glenbrook South in a Quad Meet vs. Conant, Glenbrook North, and Glenbrook South.   This was a nice opportunity to compete at a facility just like GBN’s where the conference meet will be held.

The throwers had another strong showing as they continue to work hard and improve as a group each meet.  They were led in the Shot Put by senior Tucker Thompson as he won the event.  He had an outstanding series of throws and finished with a big personal best of 47’.  His previous best was 43’6”!   Junior Michal Steczek also had his best throw which was 41’10”.   Sophomore Zach Auerbach got over 40 feet for the first time as he threw for 40’9”.   Senior Ben Udell just missed hitting the 40 foot mark as he finished at 39’2”.

The pole vaulters also had a good day with several personal bests.   They were led by junior Bobby McCraren.  In his first year on the team he is learning the technique of the Pole Vault quickly and cleared 10’ as the crossbar stayed on despite some bouncing when he hit it on the attempt.   Freshmen Ben Kirsch continues to improve as he cleared 9’.

In his first meet of the season since joining us after a 6th place finish in the state wrestling finals, junior DJ Penick won the Triple Jump with a 39’3.75” leap.   Junior Nick Kirsch also had a solid performance as he got 37’3.5”.

Junior Zev Motew led the HP long jumpers as he got 18’8.25”.   This was one of 4 events he competed in.  He also won the 55 Meter High Hurdles in 8.0 and had good performances in the 200 Meter Run (25.5) and anchored the 4X400 Meter Relay (56.2).   

The short sprints for the team were led once again by senior Mark Gilling (50m 6.2, 200m 25.1) and junior Ben Davis (50m 6.4, 200m 25.3).   

Sophomore Alec Glazier had an outstanding race in the 3200 Meter Run.   He battled throughout the race with a runner from GBS and ended up in second place but ran his best time and the 2nd fastest time ever in the GBS Fieldhouse (10:08.7).  Junior Juan Estela also had a very good race as he finished in 10:27.4.

In the 800 Meter Run, junior Jonathan Rosenfeld led the very large field of runners to win in a time of 2:11.3.   Sophomore Alex Frank was the next finisher for HP as he ran 2:16.3.

The 1600 Meter Run saw several standout performances for the Giants.   Sophomore Fitz Laurie was able to hold off a late charging runner from GBS to win in a very good time of 4:39.6.   Senior Brett Davidson was running his first race since having mono earlier this winter.  He ran a gutsy 4:40.7 which is a nice starting point as he begins to work his way back to being one of the top distance runners in the state.   Sophomore Nate Amster was the next HP runner to finish with a 4:49.8 and he was closely followed by junior Matthew Casey in a 4:51.4.  Both of these are wonderful times for these two runners.  Another highlight of the 1600 was seeing freshmen Noah Canel run an intense race to break 6:00 for the first time running 5:55.7.

Still, much work needs to be done, but it is exciting to see the progress being made.    The coaching staff is looking for even bigger things from a fairly young team.   Everyone needs to stay focused, train hard, and compete with confidence.