Giants Compete at the Niles North Invite

The Niles North Dan Horyn Invite was scheduled for Friday, but due to predicted heavy rain and severe thunderstorms, it was moved to Saturday. The team performed well on a hot and windy day. 

Field Event Highlights:

This invite allowed for field event competitors in varsity, frosh-soph, and a JV division. 

In the throws, sophomore Dmitry Derbedyenyev had a big day with personal bests in both the discus and shot put. He took 4th in the discus with a personal best 120’6”. He also scratched on a huge throw that would have won the event. In the shot put he threw 37’6.5”. Sophomore Larry Jenkins had a personal best in the discus as well with a toss of 107’10”. 

Derbedyenyev also had an outdoor personal best in the high jump at 5’3.75”. Junior Christian Billetdeaux cleared 5’1.75” which is just a little off his best.

Junior Enrique Lipezker got a personal best in the varsity pole vault with an 8’0” clearance. Sophomore Dylan Dominguez tied his best by getting over 8’0” and tied for 6th place on the frosh-soph level.

In the varsity triple jump, junior Darius Robinson got an outdoor personal best 39’1.25”. 

Robinson took 5th in the long jump with a personal best 19’9” jump. Sophomore Malachi Calliste was 6th at 19’5.5”.   

Track Event Highlights:

Both the varsity and frosh-soph 4X100 meter relays ran season best times. The frosh-soph team of freshman Tyler DePaolo and sophomores Oliver Baterdene, Zach Liss, and Eddy Picazo raced to a :47.80. The varsity squad consisted of Calliste, Robinson, senior RJ Guhl, and junior Paul Eam. They ran :44.95 for 6th place. 

Senior Alex Brown and junior Angel Zeferino battled in the front back of the 3200 meter run. Late in the race the pack strung out. Brown had a great last lap to end up taking 2nd place in 10:41.72. Zeferino put in a big effort to help keep the pace going mid race and hung on for 7th place in 10:57.83.

Senior Peter Soutsos ran another sub 17 110 meter high hurdle race to take 4th place on varsity in 16.77. Baterdene ran a personal best 20.32 on frosh-soph.

In the 100 meter dash, Liss raced to a personal best 12.92. Last year he was running the 100 in the 14s. 

In the 800 meter run, Zach Coren tied his personal best running 2:09.6 for 4th place on frosh-soph. Junior Noah Jackson finished 5th on varsity in 2:06.88.

Once again in a sprint relay (4X200), both the frosh-soph and varsity ran season best times. On frosh-soph, the team of sophomore Tyler Rosenthal, freshman Quinten Kelley, Liss, and Picazo came across the line for 5th place in 1:41.03. The varsity team of Calliste, Robinson, Guhl, and Billetdeaux took 4th place in 1:36.71. 

Sophomore Sean Lopez ran a personal best 1:03.82 in the 400 meter dash on the frosh-soph level. His previous best was 1:05.64.

The 300 intermediate hurdles produced 4 personal bests for the Giants. On frosh-soph, Dominguez won the event in an impressive :45.98. Baterdene came in fourth running :47.26. On varsity, Soutsos crossed the line in :45.52 while Guhl ran a :45.64. 

In the 1600, HP got a personal best time and 4th place finish in the varsity race from sophomore Barak Goldstein. He had a strong final 2 laps to finish in 4:42.21. Freshman Charlie Ludington also ran a personal 5:43.45.

Calliste came back with a great race in the 200 meter dash to take 6th place on varsity with a personal best :24.18 into a headwind. 

The frosh-soph 4X400 meter relay took 3rd place in 3:54.1. Quentin Kelley led off in :58.0 followed by :57.7 for Coren. Sophomore Connor Edelstein split a 1:02.1 and Dominguez had a great anchor leg of :56.4. The varsity team was missing a few of its regular guys, but those that ran battled tough. Guhl led off in a :54. Goldstein split a :56.9 while Eam, who was put in last second, ran a :57.6. Jackson anchored a personal best :54.9 for a final time of 3:44.9.

Overall it was a good meet for the team despite missing several key guys due to the change of date for the meet. The team will have a busy upcoming week and will look to have even more improvement as they are getting close to the final stretch of the season. Commitment to the details and taking care of themselves will be key to a successful final few weeks. Big things still to come for the Giants!

The nominations for Giant of the Meet included:

Dylan Dominguez - Tied PR in PV for 6th place on FS, 1st in the 300IH with PR :45.98, and anchored the 4X400 with a :56.4 PR split.

Malachi Calliste - 4 events: led off 4X100 and 4X200 to season best times, 6th in the LJ, and 6th in 200m with a PR :24.18.

Paul Eam - Anchored 4X100 to season best time, ran near PR in 100 meter dash with a headwind, and stepped in for the team to run on the varsity 4X400 with a :57.6 split.

Dmitry Derbedyenyev- Did 3 field events: HJ (5'3.75"), 4th place in varsity discus with a PR of 120'6", and had a shot put PR of 37'6.5". 

Zach Coren- 4th in the frosh-soph 800 with a PR 2:09.6, PR in 4X400 running a :57.7 both gutsy tough races.

Alex Brown- Ran the varsity 3200m and 1600m, placed 2nd in the 3200 with a tough last two laps and big kick. 

Noah Jackson- Battled tough in the varsity 800m for 5th place in 2:06.88, ran a PR :54.9 on the 4X400.

Giants of the Meet:

Varsity - Dmitry Derbedyenyev

Frosh-Soph - Dylan Dominguez