Antioch Invite

The Antioch Invite is gives the team a chance to compete on a 200 meter track, which is a nice change from the 160 meter tracks. The meet takes place at the University of Wisconsin Parkside Field House. The HP team has been hit by the flu bug, so the line-up was a little smaller this year for the meet. Despite that, the Giants had many strong performances. Below are some of the highlights.

Sprints:

In the 55 Meter Dash, junior Michael Menaker led the way for the team and ran a 6.98.  Senior Ben Davis was just behind him in a 7.06. Both of these times make it onto the Highland Park High School All-Time Top 10 List for the event.  Not too far back was senior Keith Greenwood (7.15) and junior Ryan Brinks (7.23).

In the 400 Meter Dash, sophomore Jose Reyes executed a great race as he ran a personal best :56.72! The next HP finisher was senior Ari Weisenthal (:57.1). Sophomore Luis Oleachea ran a personal best 1:00.34.

The 200 Meter Dash once again saw Menaker (:24.31) and Davis (:24.54) lead the way for the Giants. These are both impressive early season times with Menaker once again making the All-Time List. Greenwood had another solid sprint race with a :25.27.

The 4X400 Meter Relay competed well with several guys running personal best splits. The A team had junior Andrew Derdena (:58.4), sophomore Jakob French (:57.5), junior Ben Zavell (:58.3), and Weisenthal (:57.0). The B team had Reyes (:57.2), senior Matthew Drummond (:59.1), Oleachea (1:00.8), and junior Fitz Laurie (:56.0).

Hurdles:

HP had only two hurdlers competing at this meet. Sophomore Joseph Beaudet ran a 9.65 for the 55 Meter High Hurdles. This was over a second faster compared to last year. Freshmen Eduardo Monk ran 10.35. Both solid times for our young hurdlers.   

Distance:

After having to scratch one of our 4X800 Meter Relays, the team put together four guys that battled tough and had several personal bests. The team of four seniors included Charlie Skurie (2:14.9), Hayden Schott (2:19.9), Matthew Drummond (2:15.3), and Matthew Casey (2:15.7).

Freshmen Ryan Rosenfeld ran in his first 800 Meter Run of his high school career and took a risk by going out hard and just competing with the leaders of his heat. He was not able to hold the fast early pace, but battled throughout to finish with a really nice freshmen time of 2:21.22.

The 1600 Meter Run was an event the team knew would have some success. With three entrants (Laurie, Reyes, and senior Jonathan Rosenfeld), the trio looked to work together to run fast. Laurie and Reyes stayed close just past the 800 and the Laurie pulled away and was able to finish in 2nd place with a 4:34.46 personal best time. He was the top HP finisher for this meet. Reyes finished in 4:41.69 while Rosenfeld came across in 4:51.98 with some leg issues that caused the coaches to have to pull him from the 4X400.

Juniors Nate Amster and Alec Glazier were also looking to work together in the 3200 Meter Run to get some fast times. Both runners took a risk and went out hard for the first 1600 and had some struggles trying to hold their pace. Amster battled tough in the second mile and finished with a personal best 9:59.56! Glazier came across the line with and indoor personal best of 10:05.91. Look for some really fast times this season from these two distance runners.

Field Events:

Junior Zach Auerbach led the way for the HP throwers with a 41’9” toss compared to 39’6” in 2016 at this meet. Senior Joey Sereda had a strong final throw to get 41’4”. Last year at this meet he only hit 34’3”!

The Long Jump saw HP get two more jumpers over 18’ in this event. Junior Luke Crawford went 18’3” while Brinks was 18’2”.

Greenwood had a good day in the High Jump despite having to wear trainers instead of spikes for this event. He cleared a personal best 5’6”.

The Pole Vaulters had three guys clear 10’6” (Zavell, sophomore Ben Kirsch, and senior Bobby McCraren). Last year Zavell and McCraren cleared only 8’0” and Kirsch had a NH.

The team continues to progress in all areas and knows that they have more to show as everyone gets healthy and keeps working hard. It is going t o be an exciting rest of the 2017 season for the Giants!