Varsity Sweeps CSL Quad Meet While Frosh-Soph Loses By One Point To Maine East

The second and final CSL Quad of the season for the Giants took place at Maine East High School. It was vs. Maine East, Maine West, and Vernon Hills. The team looked to sweep the meet on both levels. 

The frosh-soph 2 mile race saw Robby Mendoza and Usiel Rodriguez go out fast at the front of the pack. The rest of the team found themselves in great position early in the race as well. Rodriguez ended up moving into 2nd place and held that until the finish with a time of 13:02. Mendoza crossed the line in 4th place at 13:13. Hopefully, these two will be under 13 minutes by the conference meet on the same course. Charles Ludington raced very well as he took 6th place in 14:14. Just behind him was Mateo Diaz with a fast 2nd mile and strong kick to beat a Maine West runner and take 7th place in 14:11. Brian Hatoum had a great race as he ran 14:29 to finish in 10th place. Mason Zoeller continues to show impressive improvement as he ran the 2 miles in 15:57 while taking 15th place. The lone sophomore racing for HP in this race was Ryan Griffith and he finished in 18th place with a personal best time of 18:03. All of the Giants raced to times that averaged near or faster than their timed mile run with the team at the start of the season. They continue to show that hard work pays off and that if they stay committed to consistent training for 4 years, they can be a great team. HP ended up beating Maine West and Vernon Hills, but lost by one point 28-27 to Maine East.

In the varsity 3 mile race, the Giants looked to focus on racing with their packs. The front pack of 6 got out together through the mile with sophomore Nate Wehner controlling the pace. After that, Wehner maintained the pace with only junior Angel Zeferino and sophomore Barak Goldstein able to maintain a reasonable distance until the final mile. Wehner pulled away for 1st place in 16:07. Zefernio tried to beat Maine East’s number one runner, but despite a great effort ended up in 3rd place at 16:24. Goldstein held on for 4th in 16:39. Junior Noah Jackson closed a bit on Goldstein but ended up in 5th place with a 16:45. Senior Alex Brown struggled in mile 2 but came back strong in the final mile and battled to the finish in 7th place in 16:53 just getting edged out by a Maine West runner. Junior Alex Bradshaw had an off race but still finished in 17:13 for 13th place. Look for him to have a big bounce back race at the next meet. Freshman Carter Livermore had a very fast final 400 of 1:08 to come in 13th place at 17:13 despite a slow first mile. 

The next 4 runners to finish for HP were all sophomores and are looking to make the top 7 this season and be some of our top runners next year as well. Doug Anderson finished in 15th place with a 17:39. Nolan Schott ran a personal best time of 17:50 for 19th place. Schott has run a PR in every race this season except for the Libertyville Invite. Yonatan Grafinkel was a few seconds behind in 17:56 for 21st place while Eli Neiman finished in 18:01 to take 22nd place. 

Senior Alejandro Seiden had a breakthrough race for the season, running an 18:17.  Another pack of sophomores finished next with Andrew Kern (18:51), Ethan Love (18:58), Connor Edelstein (19:03), and Zach Coren (19:08) all running well. The next HP finisher was junior Enrique Lipezker in 19:57. He has been running well as he improved his personal best of 20:40 from the last meet. Not too far behind was sophomore Eddy Picazo with a strong finish to run 20:10. 

Junior Finn Davis ran a personal best 20:48 as he too had a strong finish. Junior Davide Albiani tied his best 3 mile time with a 21:03. Sophomore Tyler Rosenthal was just behind him in 21:05. Junior Ramey Heimgartner ran well, finishing in 22:18 with junior Andrew Arzac finishing next in 23:25. Seniors Ethan Nicolaz-Davidson and Marco Schulze came across the line in 25:37 and 25:52. 

The varsity team won easily against all three schools. With only losing to Deerfield in the two CSL quad meets, the Giants have given themselves an opportunity to win the overall conference championship by winning the CSL North Invite in a few weeks. It will take extreme focus and commitment to doing everything needed to be at their best when it is time to race.