Rosenfeld Earns Medal As Team Takes 7th In Peoria

Highland Park went on the annual overnight trip to Peoria to compete in the First To The Finish Invite on the famed Detweiller cross country course.  As always the trip is a key team building experience for the program.   It is also a great opportunity for the team to test itself against some of the top teams in the state.  This year the 50 team field featured 10 state ranked teams from Illinois and one from Indiana.  Everyone that competes on this usually very fast course is looking to run big personal bests.   This year, the course was a mess with the Peoria area being hit with significant rain the days leading up to the meet.   Due to the sloppy course the meet was just about competing and places.  

With so many competitors in the race, the team knew it would be a challenge to keep the varsity pack together.   Despite the crowds, several of the GIANTS got out well.  The team was led through the 2 mile by juniors Fitz Laurie and Alec Glazier.  Not far behind them was the duo of sophomore Jose Reyes and senior Jonathan Rosenfeld.   The rest of the pack had fallen back with junior Nate Amster and senior Charlie Skurie near each other followed by the pack of seniors Matthew Casey, Juan Estela, and Ben Bloom.   Not too far behind that trio was senior Hayden Schott.  The final mile displayed Rosenfeld’s toughness as he pulled to the front of the pack by several seconds to earn a medal in 44th place.  Then, HP had Reyes, Laurie, and Glazier finish within 2 seconds of each other in 64th, 65th, and 68th.  After that, the gap was much too big for the team.  The final places for the rest of the boys in the varsity race were as follows: Skurie 124th, Amster 135th, Casey 142nd, Estela 178th, Bloom 199th, and Schott 251st.  Despite not running a great overall team race through the top seven, HP finished 7th as a team and were the 6th place team from Illinois.  This showed a glimpse of what this team is capable of if everyone has their best race on the same day.   

With the course conditions causing times to be slower this year, the place comparison to last year showed the progress of many of our runners in the varsity race.   Here are the finishes from last year: Rosenfeld 96th, Reyes 133rd, Laurie did not race, Glazier 125th, Skurie 147th, Amster 108th (this year he ran in just his second race since coming back from an injury), Casey 168th, Estela 290th!, Bloom 145th, and Schott did not run in the varsity race last year.   Many of the guys had huge improvements in their finishing places.  Those that had an off race today will bounce back in our next meet.   The team must remain focused on their goals and on pack running.  

MileSplitIL Varsity Race Highlights

The open race finishers were led by senior Josh Drummond who raced tough despite dealing with shin pain this season.  He was followed closely by sophomore Jordy Mazza.  Matthew Drummond also had a solid race as the next HP finisher.  The top freshmen finisher for the team was Jake Margolick with an 18:49.1.   Despite the adverse conditions of the course several team members ran significantly faster compared to last season at this meet: sophomores Jack Schulman 19:40.9 to 18:30.5, David Halfin 21:06.5 to 19:45.5, Andrew Biondi 21:16.9 to 20:34.2, Noah Canel 22:24.8 to 21:53.7, and Kevin Cunniff 24:15.6 to 22:45.3.  Another GIANT that had a big race in Peoria was Jack Gonzalez.  He ran 22:53.6, which is nearly a one minute personal best.    

The team is continuing to work hard and improve.  Everyone must do their part to help the team reach their lofty goals this season.  It has been a great first several meets of the season.  Time to step up the training and racing to a new level!