Giants Win Meet Against Niles North On Both Levels

After finally being able to compete in the first meet of the season, the Giants came back with their first CSL dual meet of the season. The team traveled to Harms Woods to compete against Niles North. Due to specific restrictions set in place by their school district and the forest preserve, the team was only allowed to bring 20 runners. Each team had a chance to run the designated distance and then compare times after. A unique format that both teams followed, yet still performed at a high level.

In the Varsity 3 Mile Race for HP, the lead pack included seniors Jason Polydoris and Erik Anderson along with freshman Nate Wehner. The three worked together for two miles and looked strong and comfortable before really getting after the final mile. Polydoris pulled away to finish in 15:57 with Wehner not far behind in 16:05 for another impressive performance. Anderson finished with a new personal best of 16:21. Their pack was followed by more quality team racing by the Giants. Senior Jason Werneth and sophomore Noah Jackson finished with the same time (17:05) as Werneth was just in front of Jackson. Both runners battled tough to finish with their personal best times and will be under the 17 minute barrier soon. Sophomore Angel Zeferino bounced back from a sub par performance last meet to run 33 seconds faster in a personal best 17:16. Sophomore teammate Alex Bradshaw had a nice improvement running 17 seconds faster than last meet to finish in 17:21 for a new personal best. Freshman Barak Goldstein had an outstanding race with a 32 second personal best, running 17:28! Senior Max Friedman ran 12 seconds faster this meet as he ran a 17:30. This pack will have a major impact on the success the team has this season as their consistent hard work continues to pay off. They will push each other to be better as they battle to be in the team’s top 7. Sophomore Noah Apley battled through foot pain to run a solid 18:24 followed by an improved race from junior Alejandro Seiden in 18:32. Senior Ari Kaden made a big jump from last week by running 50 seconds faster in 20:15! Senior Max Laky, running in his first meet of the season, came across the line in 20:43. Senior Alex Kelley (in his first cross country season) ran well and improved on his times from any previous workouts to finish in 21:15. When the times were compared with those of the Niles North runners, HP won the meet 15-47 taking 1st-5th place! 

The Frosh-Soph 2 Mile Race included six freshmen from Highland Park. Doug Anderson went right to the front and ran a very strong race. He completed the course in a fast 11:37 in the wet conditions. The next HP runner was also sub 12 minutes as Lukaas Nalas ran 11:50. Nolan Schott had a great race and was able to run 12:49. He was followed by Oliver Baterdene. He improved his time for two miles by 19 seconds and just missed breaking 13 minutes with a time of 13:05. Alex Rosen battled close behind Baterdene to finish with a 13:10. Connor Edelstein had a big improvement as he went from 13:52.4 to 13:30! The freshmen had a great team race and once again when times were compared to Niles North they won 24-31. Anderson and Nales went 1-2 while Schott was the 3rd freshman in the race. 

This was another meet that displayed the hard work that was put in over the summer by both groups of runners. It also showed that the team has a talented young core that should continue to improve on the successes the team will have this season. Big things to come for the GIANTS!