More Improvement Shown by the Giants at the Lake County Invite

The 21 team Lake County Invite is always a big test for the Giants coming into the final weeks of the season. It is an opportunity to compete in a Sectional like quality meet. The team finished 10th.

Field Event Highlights:

In the discus, sophomore Dmitry Derbedyenyev threw a solid 113’7”. Junior Caden Hellrung had a personal best throw of 96’6”.

 Sophomore Larry Jenkins had an almost 2 foot personal best in the shot put. He took 11th place with a throw of 42’6.25”. 

HP vaulters both tied their personal best as freshman Dylan Dominguez cleared 8’6” and junior Enrique Lipezker got over 8’0”. 

Sophomore Malachi Calliste took 8th place in the long jump despite a bad back. He jumped 19’11”. 

Track Event Highlights:

The 4X800 got things started with a solid 6th place finish in 8:54.22. The team was led off with a strong start by sophomore Zach Coren. He finally got past running 2:09 with a 2:07.5 split. Sophomore Connor Edelstein tied his PR with a 2:16.8. Senior Alex Brown took advantage of the opportunity to earn a spot in future 4X800s with a 2:11.3 split. This was a 3 second PR. Freshman Brian Hatoum anchored by going sub 2:20 for the first time in 2:18.8.

The 4X100 meter relay team (Calliste, junior DJ Robinson, senior RJ Guhl, and junior Paul Eam) came in 5th place with a solid time of :45.44.

Freshman Carter Livermore and sophomore Nolan Schott got the chance to race at Lake County and took full advantage. Both young runners ran personal best times. Livermore ran 10:04.46 for 11th place and Schott ran 11:03.51. 

Senior Peter Soutsos took 5th in the 110 meter high hurdles with a 16.76. Junior Finn Davis ran sub 20 with a 19.89.

Juniors Paul Eam and Christian Billetdeaux ran solid times in the 100 meter dash at 11.96 and 12.41.

Despite getting boxed in badly during the race, sophomore Barak Goldstein and junior Noah Jackson ran personal best times in the 800 meter run. Golstein took 8th in 2:01.86 while Jackson was 10th with a 2:02.11.

Sophomore Lukaas Nales ran a personal best time in the 400 meter dash to take 2nd place by .01. His time of :50.50 is a new HPHS sophomore record for the event. Sophomore Doug Anderson took 5th place with a time of :51.58.

Dominguez took 10th place in the 300 meter intermediate hurdles and just missed the HPHS freshman record. He ran a personal best time of :44.06. Soutsos ran a personal best as well in :45.28.

In the 1600, sophomore Nate Wehner took 8th place running a 4:26.61. Freshman Usiel Rodriguez raced to a personal best 4:51.41.

Nales came back with a :23.23 to take 6th in the 200 meter dash. Eam raced to a personal best :24.39 in the event. 

The 4X400 did not include the team’s two fastest 400 runners, but still was able to take 6th place in 3:40.23. Dominguez led off in an impressive :54.2. Jackson ran a :54.3 and got the baton to Coren. He ran a strong leg in :55.8 despite being told last minute that he was needed in the event. Guhl anchored the team with a :55.6. 

The Giants continue to improve and are showing that they are ready for something special at the conference meet. All team members need to stay focused on what needs to be done to be at their best during the championship phase of the season. Working hard and getting proper recovery will be key. Go Giants!

The nominations for Giant of the Meet included:

Usiel Rodriguez - Ran another tremendous 1600 as a freshman competing in a big varsity invite. 

Dylan Dominguez - Tied PR in PV, PR in 300 IH, :54.2 lead-off leg split on 4X400.

Zach Coren - Awesome lead off-leg and PR in the 4X800, got into great position for the handoff in 4X400 and ran a :55.8. He stepped in for the 4X400 last minute to help the team. 

Lukaas Nales - 2nd place in 400 with new HPHS sophomore record, 6th in 200 with a :23.23. 

Noah Jackson - Big PR in 800 and PR in 4X400.

Larry Jenkins - Nearly 2 foot PR in the shot put to take 11th.

Giant of the Meet:

Zach Coren