Indoor Season Ends At CSL North Invite

Highland Park ended up in 4th place on both the Varsity and Frosh-Soph levels at the CSL North Indoor Championships. Though this was a disappointing team finish, the Giants had many strong performances on both levels.  

HP had a great day in the Pole Vault. On varsity, both junior Ben Kirsch and senior Ben Zavell had personal bests. Kirsch cleared 12’6” to take 3rd place. Zavell got over 12’ for the first time to finish in 6th place. On Frosh-Soph, sophomore Pano Drosos got a season best and tied his all-time best going over 10’0”. Freshmen Simon Auerbach finished tied for 7th at 8’0”.

Senior Zach Auerbach threw an all-time best 45’11” in the Shot Put to finish in 4th place. Junior Will Pfeffer had a big personal best with a toss of 37’4” for 9th place. Freshmen Chris Lee just missed scoring in Frosh-Soph with a 34’5.5” throw to take 7th by 1.5 inches.

Freshmen Riley Shallenbarger jumped 18’4.25” in the Long Jump to take 3rd, just .25 out of 2nd place on the Frosh-Soph level.

In the 3200 Meter Run, the Giants game plan was to push the pace. In the Varsity race, Senior Nate Amster took control from the start with freshmen teammate Jason Polydoris going right with him. Amster won the race in 9:51.28! Polydoris hung on after the fast start to take 3rd place in 10:08.64 just 2 seconds off the HP Freshmen Record. In the Frosh-Soph race, freshmen Erik Anderson battled with a runner from Deerfield. With just two laps to go and being a few steps behind the DF kid, Anderson made a decision to go for the win and went by with an aggressive move to take the win in 10:39.11. Freshmen Levi Pasikov ran his first 3200 of the year and finished with a great kick to pull away from a runner from GBN to finish in 4th place with a 11:05.63. Pasikov was just 4 seconds behind 3rd place.

In 1600 Meter Run the Giants worked to do the same thing as the 3200. Junior Jose Reyes took the lead from the start and pushed the pace as Alex Gold from Deerfield tried to stay with him. Reyes was able to hold on for the victory in 4:37.18. Amster came back with a very strong race after a grueling pace in the 3200 to take 3rd place in 4:40.5. In the Frosh-Soph race, Anderson and freshmen Jason Werneth went to the front at the start. It was a tight battle with seven runners. Werneth had a tremendous kick to take 3rd with a huge personal best of 5:06.53 (just 2 seconds behind 1st place). Anderson gave it his all and fought hard to take 6th place in 5:11.16.

In his first race of the season, junior Jordy Mazza raced to 6th place in the 800 Meter Run in a time of 2:15.57. Freshmen Tyler Carlson finished just behind him in 7th place at 2:16.79.

In the 50 Yard High Hurdle races, junior Joseph Beaudet took 4th place in 7.43 for Varsity. On the Frosh-Soph level sophomores Max Kaplan and Eduardo Monk took 2nd (8.06) and 5th (8.40). The Varsity 50 Yard Low Hurdle race saw Beaudet taking 5th in 7.36. Monk and Kaplan took 3rd (7.81) and 4th (7.92) on Frosh-Soph.

In the Varsity 50 Yard Dash, HP took 3rd and 4th place. Senior Michael Menaker finished in 5.89, while freshmen Giovanni Volpentesta ran 6.01. On Frosh-Soph, sophomore Kolton Jacobs finished with a 6.29 for 5th place.

In the 200 Meter Dash Menaker took 3rd place with a time of 24.87 while senior Andrew Derdena was 6th in 25.52. The Frosh-Soph race had sophomore Emre Gulpinar taking 3rd in 26.57 as freshmen Evan Diethrich was 4th with a time of 26.72.

Both HP 4X400 Meter Relay teams took 4th place. The varsity squad consisted of Reyes 57.1, Zavell 58.4, Carlson 59.2, and Mazza 56.5 for a 3:51.4. The frosh-soph had freshmen Ari Kaden 1:00.7, Monk 1:03.3, sophomore Hector Salas 1:03.0, and Werneth 1:00.9 for a 4:08.0.

The team will need more contributions in several areas if it hopes to make run at an outdoor CSL North team championship. Commitment to the details will be key to success.