HP Frosh-Soph Win Deerfield Dual Meet

The Highland Park Frosh-Soph team showed that the future of the track & field program is in good hands.  Despite several sophomores and freshmen being pulled up to the varsity level for the Deerfield Dual, the HP team was able to get the victory 70 to 53.  They did this with a well-balanced team effort.

Getting a good start in the field events is crucial for trying to win a meet.   The Giants were able to outscore Deerfield 28-17 after the field events.  

Freshmen Amir Fakhari (5’2”) and Alec Parthe (5’0”) went 1-2 in the High Jump.

Sophomores Luke Crawford (16’10”) and Tristin Razetti (15’.5”) took 1st and 3rd in the Long Jump.

Crawford also won the Triple Jump with a 34’ jump, while freshmen Ben Kirsch was 2nd with a 32’5” mark.

Kirsch was also the winner of the Pole Vault with a 9’ clearance and Jakob French took 3rd at 8’0”.

In the Shot Put, HP did not get any points, but freshmen Steven Wajda threw over 30 feet for the first time at 30’2” to take 4th place.

The track events saw Highland Park build their lead with many more strong performances.

The HP 4X800 Meter Relay team, which consisted of all freshmen, competed well but lost to Deerfield by just 5.4 seconds.   

Parthe tied for 1st (8.3) in the 50 Meter High Hurdles while freshmen teammate Joseph Beaudet was 3rd in 8.8.

The 50 Meter Dash saw Crawford win his third event as he ran 6.5.  Fakhari finish in 4th place with a time of 6.7 which was the same as 2nd and 3rd places times.

In the 800 Meter Run, freshmen Chris Cizek just missed a top 3 spot by .2 seconds as he took 4th in 2:33.0 after running on the 4X800.

The 4X160 Meter Relay ran very well and had clean handoffs to win in 1:25.7.  The relay included sophomore Andrew Derdena, Crawford (winning his 4th event), Razetti, and Fakhari.

The 400 Meter Dash saw HP take another 1-2 as sophomore Ben Zavell (59.5) and French (59.7) scored the big points.

Our talented hard working freshmen hurdlers took 2nd (Parthe, 8.1) and 3rd (Beaudet, 8.2) in the 50 Meter Low Hurdles.

The 1600 Meter Run had freshmen Richard Heller, just joining us recently after his swim season, taking 2nd place (5:21.1) and freshmen Jack Schulman finishing in 3rd (5:35.7).  

Derdena ran an inspired race in winning the 200 Meter Dash (27.1) while Fakhari, in his fourth event, took 3rd (27.8)

The final event on the track was the 4X400 Meter Relay and the Giants ran away with the victory by nearly 20 seconds.   The relay consisted of French, Derdena, Razetti, and Zavell.   

The coaching staff is very excited to see what this group of hard working freshmen and sophomores can do over the next few years.  They could become one of the most successful teams in Highland Park High School history if they make the commitment to be the best athletes they can.   They need to continue to show great character, work hard, be enthusiastic about being a track & field athlete, and care about each other.  The sky is the limit for this talented group of young men.

“Nobody said it would be easy, they just said it would be worth it.” -Unknown