HP Falls To Strong Deerfield Team

After not competing in the Deerfield Dual meet the past two years due to COVID, the meet was back on in 2022. This meet is always an intense battle between the two high schools in District 113. The Giants came into the meet ready to compete against a very talented Deerfield program. Despite some great efforts, both the Frosh-Soph and Varsity fell to Deerfield.

Meet summary: 

Pole Vault -

Since Highland Park does not have an indoor pole vault pit, the results for the meet were decided by season bests this season up to the meet. On frosh-soph this allowed HP to earn the top 3 spots. The Giants finishers were freshmen Gavin Flory (7’2”), Dylan Dominguez (7’2”), and Adam Slavin (6’6”). On varsity, HP took 3rd with junior Enrique Lipezker clearing 7’2” earlier in the season.

High Jump -

Freshman Lincoln Seidman was able to clear 4’10” to take 2nd place on frosh-soph. Sophomore Nolan Schott cleared 5’2” to finish in 2nd place on varsity. Junior Christian Billetdeaux also cleared 5’2” but finished 4th based on misses.

Shot Put - 

On frosh-soph, HP took 3rd and 4th with freshman Eli Perkins throwing 23’4 and sophomore Jon Bacci going 18’9.5”. Despite a personal best 35’5.5”, junior Colin Chase finished in 4th place for varsity. This is an event that the team needs more depth in to help score more points. 

Long Jump - 

Sophomore Tyler Rosenthal took 2nd place for frosh-soph with a jump of 17’1”. Freshman Quentin Kelley had a personal best 15’11.75” for 5th place. Freshmen Adam Cohen and Austin Colegio also had personal bests of 15’.25” and 13’9.75”. Perkins had a jump of 13’8.5”. Junior DJ Robinson had over a 1 foot PR to take 1st for varsity. Junior Malachi Calliste took 3rd place going 18’8”. Senior Peter Soutsos got 17’.75”.

Triple Jump - 

Quentin Kelley came back in the TJ to take 3rd going 32’4.5” for a new personal best. Rosenthal finished 5th by going 30’9” for his best mark. Perkins got his personal best with a 28’7.25” mark. Colegio got 27’6.25” for the event. On varsity, Robinson got 3rd place by going 36’11.75” and Soutsos took 4th with a mark of 35’11”. 

4X800 Meter Relay - 

The frosh-soph battled tough in a tight race with DF. Sophomore Connor Edelstein had a strong leadoff leg with a 2:22.2 before handing off to freshman Usiel Rodriguez. He ran a 2:25.8 to keep HP in the lead. Sophomore Yonatan Garfinkel (2:29.8) raced in his first meet of the season and kept the team close with a gutsy run before handing off to freshman Carter Livermore. Livermore ran an impressive 2:13.2 to give the team the victory by running down DF(9:31.5) on the final lap to finish in 9:31.3.

DF has a group of impressive distance runners and they showed that in the 4X800. HP was hoping they could match up, but the first 2 legs pulled away to a big lead for DF. The Giants team consisted of junior Noah Jackson (2:13.9), sophomores Doug Anderson (2:12.5), Nate Wehner (2:08.4), and Barak Goldstein (2:18.8). 

50 Meter High Hurdles - 

Highland Park only had one hurdler in each of the frosh-soph and varsity high hurdles races. Sophomore Oliver Baterdene won FS with an 8.95 while senior Peter Soutsos won varsity in 7.99. These were great wins for the Giants, but having only one entry at each level showed that the team needs more hurdlers this season and years to come.

50 Meter Dash -

Deerfield has some really good sprinters and the Giants were hoping to get some points out of this race at both levels. On frosh-soph, Tyler Rosenthal took 3rd in 6.74. Freshmen Lincoln Seidman and Tyler Depaolo were 5th and 6th in 7.12 and 7.13. In the non-scoring heats, sophomore Eddy Picazo led the way with an impressive 6.85 followed by freshman Liam McKenzie at 7.11. The rest of the non-scoring frosh-soph also ran well

On varsity, HP also got a 3rd place with Calliste running 6.4. He was followed closely by Robinson and Lukaas Nales (6.52 and 6.525). Junior Christian Billetdeaux also ran sub 7 with a 6.88. Senior Josh Longo ran a 7.29 while juniors Geoff Buck and Santiago Pozo ran 7.55 and 7.59.

800 Meter Run -

Sophomore Brian Hatoum showed toughness in his race as he took 3rd place with a 2:24.5. Sophomore Ben Kerch ran in his first meet with a 2:34.0 and freshman Mason Zoeller crossed the line in 2:48.7. The varsity race only had Barak Goldstein racing for HP. He was not able to hold on to a top 3 finish as he took 4th in 2:10, just 1 second behind 3rd place. 

4X160 Meter Relay -

Both the F/S and varsity 4 lap relays ran incredible races. Each runner fought for their position and gave it their all to help their team be successful. The frosh-soph got a strong leadoff leg by Tyler DePaolo. He handed off to Lincoln Seidman who fought to keep the Giants in good position. Eddy Picazo also had to fight for position and got the team the lead. Quentin Kelley was able to run a great anchor leg to give HP the victory. Varsity got another super leadoff leg by Malachi Calliste. He handed off to Darius Robinson who had to battle DF to get the baton to senior RJ Guhl. Guhl made the pass around the DF runner to give HP a commanding lead. Sophomore Zach Liss raced with intensity to hold off DF for the win. These were two impressive performances by both HP 4X160s! 

400 Meter Dash -

Connor Edelstein had a good race to take 3rd with a 1:02.6 while freshman Gavin Flory ran well in his heat to finish 4th overall with a 1:02.7. The Giants were expecting big points in the varsity 400. Sophomores Lukaas Nales and Doug Anderson battled to go 1-2, but Anderson got tripped up on a turn and ended up 3rd in :57.8. Nales was able to take the win in :54.6. Noah Jackson took 4th in :58.4. Senior Josh Longo ran his best race of the season with a 1:03.9. Juniors Enrique Lipezker and Colin Chase raced each other to the line to finish in 1:07.0 and 1:07.6.

50 Meter Low Hurdles -

Baterdene delivered another great hurdle race and won the low hurdles in 8.43. Lincoln Seidman took 2nd in his first hurdle race with an 8.95. Picazo also raced in the hurdles for the first time and finished in 4th at 9.39. Peter Soutsos was outkicked and took 2nd in 7.84 for varsity.

1600 Meter Run - 

The frosh-soph 1600 did not go as well as the team was hoping. HPs top two runners (Carter Livermore, 5:34 and Usiel Rodriguez, 5:43) were coming off the 4X800 and did not have their best races. Sophomore Ryan Griffith and freshman Charlie Ludington ran PRs of 6:12 and 6:17. On varsity, Wehner went with the leader until he had about a few laps to go before taking off and pulling away for the victory in 4:36. Senior Alex Brown ran 5:06.0, Schott finished at 5:30.2, and senior Ethan Nicolaz-Davidson crossed the line in 7:19.1.

200 Meter Dash - 

The frosh-soph had many notable performances. Picazo took 2nd in a 26.5 PR. Rosenthal and DePaolo both finished in 27.2. Five other Giants raced in the non-scoring heats and ran PRs! Liam McKenzie (27.4), Gavin Flory (27.6), Adam Cohen (28.9), Austin Colegio (31.4), and Julian Chroman (31.5). Great performances on a track not known for fast times. Calliste raced to the win with an impressive 24.33. Zach Liss ran an incredible race to give an extra push down the final stretch to take 3rd place in a personal best 26.61. Billetdeaux took 5th in 27.3 and Santigo Pozo crossed the line in 30.0. 

4X400 Meter Relay - 

The 4X400 is always the ultimate culmination of every track & field meet. The Giants delivered with exciting relays on both levels. Sophomore Zach Coren finished up his Mock Trial competition to arrive in time to lead off the frosh-soph relay. He ran a :59.0 before handing off to Quentin Kelley. Kelley fought hard to run a 1:04.2. Baterdene stepped in for the team and had an aggressive start to the race to get the team in good position going into the final leg. Carter Livermore raced a great anchor leg to give HP the victory by .4 with a 4:06.0. The frosh-soph had a second relay that raced well too. It consisted of Brian Hatoum (1:06.0), Mason Zoeller (1:21.2), Charlie Ludington (1:10.0), and Ben Kerch (1:06.8). The varsity dominated DF to win the final event on the track! Anderson led off with an impressive :55.3 to give the team a lead. Guhl kept the lead with a :57.7. Wehner continued to grow the lead with a :56.6. Nales brought the victory home with a :56.1. 

Even with the exciting finish to the meet and varsity winning 5 of the last 6 events on the track, Deerfield won on both levels. The meet had many bright spots for the Giants. The team will need to continue committing to and trusting the process to improve this season and in seasons to come. HP has a young team that has the opportunity to do great things this season and beyond. 

The nominations for Giant of The Meet included:

Frosh-Soph

Lincoln Seidman - 4 events: 2nd in HJ, 2nd in LH (first time racing hurdles), 5th 50m, and 1st running an strong leg on the 4X160

Oliver Baterdene - great efforts in the hurdles taking 1st in both the HH and LH. Was put on the 4X400 last minute and stepped up to run an aggressive leg to help the team win the relay

Eddy Picazo - 4 events: 2nd in 200m, 4th in LH, #2 FS runner for HP in the 50m, and gave the team the lead on his leg in the winning 4X160 relay

Varsity

Zach Liss - ran great anchor leg for the winning 4X160 relay, made gutsy push at the end of the 200m to take 3rd, and did LH for the first time and finished 5th

Darius Robinson - 4 events: 1st with PR in LJ, 3rd in TJ, 4th in 50m, and ran 2nd leg on winning 4X160 relay

Giants of The Meet: 

Frosh-Soph winner -  Oliver Baterdene

Varsity winner - Zach Liss