Giants Compete at GBS

The Giants competed in a quad meet at Glenbrook South. This was another track that does not allow the athletes to wear spikes. The meet also included two unique distances for races on the track (a 1000 meter run and a 300 meter dash). HP had some solid performances as the team continues to develop.

Field Events:

Highland Park had 7 jumpers competing in the long jump and 6 in the triple jump. The team is looking to produce more points in these two jumps to help the team become more successful. In the LJ, sophomore Malachi Calliste jumped over 20 feet again. He got a mark of 20’.25”. After that there was a pretty big gap. Senior Peter Soutsos was the next best jumper for HP at 17’3.5”. Freshman Tommy Huyler had about a 10 inch improvement as he went 13’11.25” while frosh teammate Austin Colegio improved by 1 foot 3 inches to go 13’4.75”. In the triple jump, Soutsos led the way with a 36’6.25” mark. Several first time triple jumpers had solid marks as well (freshman Quentin Kelley 31’8.25”, sophomore Tyler Rosenthal 29’10.25”, Colegio 28’.25”, and Huyler 27’8”).      

In the high jump, juniors Darius Robinson and Christian Billetdeaux led the way. Robinson cleared 5’0” and Billetdeaux got over 4’9”. Freshman Liam McKenzie competed in the high jump for the first time and cleared 4’6”.

HP had three pole vaulters clear 7’2”. Freshmen Gavin Flory and Dylan Dominguez along with junior Enrique Lipezker. Hopefully, as they get more experience, the vaulters will make some big breakthroughs. 

Sophomore Dmitry Derbedyenyev competed using the spin for the first time in the shot put and got a personal best. He threw 37’6.75”. Junior Colin Chase had a few inch personal best with a 33’11.5”. Freshman Eli Perkins got his first experience competing in the shot put as he threw 26’.25”. Sophomore Jon Bacci competed in his first meet of the season and got a personal best 20’5.75”. Freshman Julian Chroman did the shot put for the first time in a meet and got 20’1”. The team is still looking for more throwers to build the depth in this event as well as the discus outdoors.

Track Events:

Junior Noah Jackson led off the 4X800 meter relay in a strong 2:09.7 for a big lead. The rest of the relay team members (junior Angel Zeferino 2:20.9, senior Alex Brown 2:25.0, and sophomore Connor Edelstein 2:26.4) were unable to hold the lead by the end and finished in second place.

Senior Peter Soutsos won the 55 meter high hurdles in 8.6. Junior Finn Davis raced to a personal best 9.7. The team is going to have more athletes work to become hurdlers to help build some depth in the hurdles. 

HP had 26 sprinters competing in the 50 meter dash. The team was led by sophomore Lukaas Nales in 6.2. This was his first time racing the 50. Calliste was next in 6.3 followed by Robinson in 6.4. Eight other runners for the Giants all ran personal best times or tied their best. Sophomore Zach Liss (6.7) and freshman Tyler DePaolo (6.7) ran personal bests. Junior Eddy Picazo tied his best time in 6.8 while junior Oliver Baterdene ran his best time in 6.8. Billetdeaux raced in the 50 for the first time this season, going 6.9. Freshmen Dylan Dominguez and Sam Kee also ran teh 50 for the first time this season and also ran under 7 in 6.9. Others that ran their best were senior Joshua Longo (7.2), freshman Leo Tellez-Medina (7.2).  Freshman Alberto Ocampo (7.2) and Austin Colegio (7.8) tied their best times.  

In the rarely raced 1000 meter run, sophomores Nate Wehner and Barak Goldstein went out with the leader. The GBS runner went on to break their school record as Wehner took 2nd in 2:40.6. Goldstein was 3rd in 2:45.9. Brown came back after the 4X800 and ran 3:03.1. Junior Gabe Ramos went out aggressively, but faded to finish in 3:43.5.

The varsity 4X160 meter relay ran their best time of the season with a 1:19.0. Calliste had another strong lead-off leg. Nales ran an impressive 2nd leg to keep the Giants in the lead. Liss had a great hand off and narrowly held the lead. Senior RJ Guhl got passed by a GBN runner on the exchange and battled back to nearly catch him in the end. The freshmen relay had solid hand-offs as well. DePaolo led off and got the baton to Kelley. Kelley ran well and handed off to Gavin Flory. Huyler anchored the relay to a 1:28.8.

The 400 meter dash had a few HP runners racing the event for the first time. The race was highlighted by Joshua Longo running nearly 3 seconds faster then last meet going from 1:06.8 to 1:04.0. Colin Chase battled tough to also get a personal best by over 2 seconds (1:08.2 to 1:05.7). 

Soutsos came back to also win the 55 meter low hurdles race in 8.1. Davis and Baterdene both ran 9.0 in the race. 

In the 1600 meter run, freshman Carter Livermore led the way for HP with a 5:02.8 in his first race of the season. Zeferino ran 5:05.8 after competing in the 4X800. Senior Ted Zinox ran a personal best 5:21.9. A group of freshmen ran sub 6 led by Usiel Rodriguez in 5:35. Brian Hatoum had an impressive race as he went out aggressively and ran a 5:36. Robby Mendoza finished in 5:55 followed by Charles Ludington in 5:57. Freshman Mason Zoeller came through in 6:14. Junior Ramey Heimgartner ran a 6:26 with sophomore Ryan Griffith close behind in 6:33. Senior Marco Schulze ran well to finish in 7:10.  

In the 300 meter dash, the Giants were led by Liss in 42.5. The next 4 sprinters for HP beat their times from a timed 300 in practice. Depaolo (46.1 to 43.5), Flory (44.3 to 43.7), Liam McKenzie (46.6 to 44.6) and Owen Murphy (48.9 to 45.7). Colegio competed in 4 events at the meet and ran 50.4 followed by freshman Adam Slavin in 50.5. Julian Chroman ran a 53.3 to in his 3rd event of the meet. 

Highland Park had four 4X400 meter relay teams. It was highlighted by a team of sophomores going for the sophomore record. Calliste led off in his first time running 400 meters this season with a 57.1. Wehner raced to a 56.6 split followed by a personal best 56.5 by Goldstein. Nales ran the anchor in a fast 53.4 to finish in 3:43.5. This missed the record by .1! More to come this season by these great sophomores. In the other relays, Guhl had the fastest split with a 56.0. Also, Livemore and Kelley (1:00.7 and 1:01.4) ran impressive splits as freshmen racing this distance for the first time. 

There were some nice progress made by the team in this meet on a small track in which athletes are unable to wear spikes. Big improvements still to come as the team prepares for the final meets of the indoor season. 

The nominations for Giant of The Meet included:

Quentin Kelley - 4 events: great relay legs in the 4X160 and 4X400 relays, TJ of 31’8.25”, and competed in HJ

Joshua Longo - 50 PR, 400 PR, great team leader

Colin Chase - Shot Put PR, 400 PR while battling tough against other runners. Also helped clean up equipment for GBS and was extremely supportive of his teammates.

Malachi Calliste - 4 events (LJ, 50, 4X160, 4X400), went over 20 ft again in LJ and was willing to do the 4X400 to help go for the sophomore record.

Zach Liss - 50 PR, 4X160 great handoff, led the team in the 300

Brian Hatoum - raced extremely tough and took a risk in the 1600 and in the 4X400

Giant of The Meet: Colin Chase