HP Takes 2nd Place At CSL North Frosh Invite

The HP freshmen took 2nd place at the CSL North Freshmen Invite. A very strong and deep Glenbrook North team won the meet. The Giants showed that they are a well-rounded team with the ability to be a championship team if they continue to make the commitment to the program.

Riley Shallenbarger moved between three field events and had success in each while showing a joy to compete. In the Long Jump he took 2nd place with a leap of 17’6.75”. He then took 3rd place in the High Jump clearing 5’0”. Finally, he had a several inch personal best in the Shot Put with a 28’8” for 8th place.

In only his second meet competing in the Pole Vault, Simon Auerbach won the event with a personal best clearance of 8’6”. Andrew Kerpel finished in 6th place at 6’6”.

Giovanni Volpentesta finished 5th in the Long Jump at 15’11.75”.

Chris Lee had a 31’7” throw in the Shot Put to take 6th place.

In the Triple Jump, Gabe Kirsch to 4th with a 30’7.5” jump.

On the track, the Giants did well including having multiple athletes score in many events.

The only other team member to win an individual title was Volpentesta. In fact, he won two titles! In the 50 Meter Dash, he won with a time of 6.2. He finished .4 ahead of second place in the finals. Volpentesta then went on to win the 200 Meter Dash. He ran a 24.6 which is a new HPHS Freshmen Record for the event. The old record (24.8) was set in 2003 by Matthew Kornblatt.

Ari Kaden ran a tremendous race in the 400 Meter Dash. He ran under 60 seconds for the first time with a :59.6 for 3rd place. Mason Goldstein also ran a personal best as he won his heat in 1:04.8 to take 8th place.

The field in the 800 Meter Run was deep and HP had two runners right in the mix. Tyler Carlson took 3rd in 2:16.5 while Jason Werneth was 5th with a 2:18.9.

The dynamic duo of Jason Polydoris and Erik Anderson scored big points for the team in the 3200 and 1600 Meter Runs. The 3200 had a great battle with Polydoris and his rival Josh Puyear from Deerfield. Polydoris led nearly the entire race with Puyear getting by him and holding him off in the final lap (10:15 and 10:15.3). Anderson was able to pull away from a runner from GBN to take 3rd in 10:47.4. In the 1600, it was the same result as Polydoris led until the final lap.  After getting passed, he tried to get by Puyear at the end but couldn’t get by and took 2nd in 4:56.8 while the DF kid was 4:56.7. Anderson again held off the same GBN kid to take 3rd in 5:09.5.

Evan Diethrich finished 3rd in the 55 Meter High Hurdles with a time of 9.8.

The Giants also had two solid 2nd place finishes in the 4X800 and 4X400 Meter Relays. The 4X800 took 2nd by 6 seconds with a 9:36.6. Kaden led off with a 2:22.9 followed by Levi Pasikov running a 2:21.2. Goldstein was next with a 2:26.5 and the relay finished out with Albert Klayman running a 2:36.0

The 4X400 Meter Relay finished in 4:03.1. Kaden led off again and ran a 1:00.7 handing off to Carlson who ran a :59.9. Polydoris ran his leg in 1:02.4. Werneth ran a great 1:00.1 anchor leg to nearly catch GBN as they finished just a few tenths of a second ahead of HP in 4:02.7.

This is an exciting freshmen class with talent, toughness, and great character. Big things to come from this crew over the next several years!