Varsity and Frosh-Soph Finish 2nd In CSL North

The CSL North Invite is a meet that the team has had its focus on all season. The Giants worked hard this season to put themselves in position to try and win a championship. The coaches focused on putting together the best possible varsity line-up. That meant pulling many sophomores and several freshmen up to varsity. The team came to the meet focused and ready to compete.

Field Event Highlights:

The field events would be crucial if the team had any hope of winning on either level. 

In the throws, HP had several personal best performances and got two 6th place finishes on varsity. Sophomore Larry Jenkis continued his consistent over 40’ performances in the shot put with a 40’10.5” throw to take 6th place on varsity. In the discus, sophomore Dmitry Derbedyenyev also earned a 6th place varsity finish with a 118’9.5” toss. Junior Caden Hellrung had a personal best in the discus with a 102’7” throw to go over 100 feet for the first time. On frosh-soph, sophomore Ezekiel Hightower had two big personal bests. In the shot put he went from 28’3.5” to a new best of 30’9” to take 8th place. In the discus he improved from 65’0” to 84’0.25” to take 7th place. Freshman Adam Slavin also had a personal best in the discus with a throw of 60’8.5”. All of the Giant throwers return next year and will be looking to make a big impact in the CSL North.

In the varsity pole vault, freshman Dylan Dominguez cleared a personal best 8’11.75” to take 6th place. Junior Enrique Lipezker also had a personal best with a clearance of 8’6” to take 8th place. On frosh-soph, the two Giant competitors tied for 6th place as freshmen Adam Slavin and Lincoln Seidman cleared 6’9”. This was a personal best for Slavin. This is another event in which HP returns all 4 competitors. 

The high jump did not go as well as the team had hoped, but the team did get a 3rd place frosh-soph finish from sophomore Nolan Schott at 5’1.75”. Derbedyenyev did get an outdoor personal best of 5’4.25” on varsity.

The long jump and triple jump were two events the team was confident they could get some big points out of. All HP jumpers placed in the top 6 to score points for the team. In the long jump, sophomore Malachi Calliste took 2nd place on varsity, equaling his outdoor personal best of 19’11”. Junior DJ Robinson also tied his outdoor personal best and took 4th place in 19’9”. On frosh-soph, Seidman took 2nd place going 17’9.75” while sophomore Oliver Baterdene was 3rd with a 16’11.5” jump. Robinson came back to take 2nd in triple jump with an outdoor personal best of 40’9.25”. Senior Peter Soutsos came in 6th place with a jump of 37’2”. Freshman Eli Perkins won the frosh-soph triple jump with a jump of 34’6.25”. Freshman Quentin Kelley was 5th at 33’0”. The points in these two events really helped get the team momentum going to the track events.

Track Event Highlights:

The frosh-soph 4X800 ran well as sophomore Ben Kerch led off, tying his personal best of 2:21.9. Sophomore Andrew Kern ran next in 2:26.8. The final 2 legs were freshmen. Charlie Ludington ran a personal best 2:26.4 and Austin Colegio, in only his 2nd 800 ever, ran a personal best 2:32.8 to help the team take 3rd place. The varsity battled hard as each guy ran a personal best and showed tremendous toughness. Sophomore Zach Coren ran 2:07.4 to get the team in great position. Freshman Usiel Rodriguez was pulled up to varsity after his strong performances at the Frosh CSL Invite and ran an impressive 2:08.9. Senior Alex Brown ran 2:10.1 for his fastest 800 of his career. Finally, junior Alex Bradshaw was competing in his first meet of the season due to injury. He only ran a 2:12 time trial. He helped the team take 2nd place as he split a fantastic 2:06.0.   

The frosh-soph 4X100 meter relay team of freshmen Tyler DePaolo and Sam Kee, along with sophomores Oliver Baterdene and Eddy Picazo raced to the fastest frosh-soph time of the season for the Giants. They finished in 2nd place with a :47.21. The varsity also took 2nd place and ran their fastest time of the season. The team consisted of Calliste, Robinson, sophomore Lukaas Nales, and junior Paul Eam. Their time of :44.42 is the 6th fastest 4X100 all-time for HP! 

Despite the heat and the wind, HP 3200 meter runners showed a lot of guts and raced well. On frosh-soph, sophomore Yonatan Garfinkel took 3rd place in 11:23.13 while fought hard the final lap to take 5th place running 12:22.47. On varsity, sophomore Nate Wehner stayed with the leader until the final two laps when he took control of the race and won in 9:42.92. Freshman Carter Livermore stayed off the back of the pack and started to pass runners as they struggled and then had an incredible 61 second last lap to finish in 3rd place (nearly catching 2nd place) with a time of 9:56.49. This is the 2nd fastest freshman 3200 meter run in HP history. 

In the 110 meter high hurdles, Baterdene ran sub 20 for the first time as he crossed the line in 19.60 to take 3rd place on frosh-soph. On varsity, Soutsos just missed a personal best as he took 2nd place in 16.57. Junior Finn Davis raced to a personal best 19.38. 

In the 100 meter dash, all four HP competitors raced to personal best times. On frosh-soph, Kee took 4th place in 12.36 while DePaolo was 7th in 12.66. On varsity, Nales had a very close race and was given 2nd place in 11.32. Eam ran an 11.77 to finish in 8th place.

In the frosh-soph 800 meter run, sophomore Connor Edelstein ran a 2:17.35 to take 4th place. Freshman Brian Hatoum crossed the line in 2:19.39 for 5th place. On varsity, sophomore Barak Goldstein ran a great race to take 2nd place in a personal best time of 2:01.21. Junior Noah Jackson was 5th in 2:08.44. 

The frosh-soph 4X200 meter relay took 2nd place in 1:40.83. The team consisted of Kee, sophomore Tyler Rosenthal, freshman Adam Cohen, and Picazo. This was a great race for this quartet that has not raced together this season. The varsity team took 3rd in a season best time of 1:33.97. The team included senior RJ Guhl (leading off for the first time), Robinson, Eam, and Calliste (running anchor for the first time). 

The team knew the 400 would be a big event for the team with the opportunity to score a bunch of points. On frosh-soph, Quentin Kelley won the event in a personal best open time of :56.40. Edelstien broke 60 for the first time by running a :59.24 to take 5th place. On varsity, Nales and sophomore Doug Anderson went 1-2. This was huge for HP. Nales ran a personal best :50.31 for the win. Anderson had a breakthrough race as he took 2nd in :50.64. This was his first time running under 51 seconds. These are the two fastest sophomore 400 runners in HPHS history. 

Baterdene came back in his 4th event to take 3rd in the 300 meter intermediate hurdles in a personal best time by nearly 2 seconds of :45.62. Dominguez raced to a 7th place finish on varsity. His time of :43.40 is the new HPHS sophomore record for this event. He beat the old record set by Ryan Kriozere in 2013 (:43.84). Soutsos also ran a personal best of :44.64. 

In the 1600 meter run on frosh-soph, Schott ran a big personal best of 5:09.69 to take 4th place. Hatoum also ran a personal best of 5:14.02 to finish in 5th place. On varsity, Wehner had a tough battle with a runner from Maine East, but in the end was able to get the win in an outdoor personal best time of 4:24.67. This just missed the sophomore school record. Goldstein battled extremely tough to come back after the 800 and finish with a strong kick to take 4th in 4:36.67.

The 200 meter dash was another event in which all 4 HP competitors ran very well. On frosh-soph, Kee was 4th in a personal best of :25.05 while Picazo ran his best time and took 6th in :25.38. On varsity, Calliste ran :23.81 (just missing his PR) for 5th place and Eam ran his best time of :24.23 to take 8th place. 

The frosh-soph 4X400 was missing some of their regulars due to them being pulled up to varsity. The team still battled hard and fought to take 4th place in 3:53.09. The team consisted of Kelley (:57.3), Hatoum (:59.8, first sub 60), freshman Sean Lopez (:59.5, first sub 60), and Edelstein (:56.4, broke 60 for the first time at this meet in open 400). On varsity, the team ran a season best time to win in 3:30.54. The relay included Anderson (:52.4), Jackson (:54.0, PR), Dominguez (:54.1, PR), and Nales (:49.8). This was a great way to end a tremendous meet for the Giants.

HP ended up taking 2nd place on both levels. On varsity, Deerfield won and on frosh-soph it was Niles North. It was somewhat surprising that frosh-soph took 2nd place considering so many sophomores and freshmen were competing at the varsity level. The coaches were so proud of how well each guy on the team competed and how they came together collectively to deliver an outstanding team performance on both levels. The future looks bright if all current team members stay focused on what it takes to be successful. If they return, bring some others along, and trust the process, great things are possible in the future for HP track & field!  

The nominations for Giant of the Meet included:

VARSITY:

Carter Livermore - 3rd in 3200 PR 9:56.49, 2nd fastest frosh in HP history, closed in 61.

Dylan Dominguez - 6th in PV PR, 7th in 300IH new HP freshmen record, 1st 4X400 (:54.1).

Anderson - 2nd in 400 with first time under :51 running :50.64, #2 sophomore all-time at HP, 1st in 4X400 (:52.4).

Lukaas Nales - 2nd place 4X100/6th all-time at HP, 2nd in 100 PR, 1st in 400 PR new HP soph record, 1st 4X400 (:49.8). 

Barak Goldstein - Incredible double with 2nd in 800 PR and 4th in 1600. 

Nate Wehner - 1st in 3200 with a big move on final 2 laps, 1st in 1600 by outkicking Maine East kid.

FROSH-SOPH:

Connor Edelstein - 4th in 800, 5th in 400 PR and 1st time under 60, 4th in 4X400 with big PR :56.4.

Ezekiel Hightower - Big PR in SP 8th place, big PR in Discus 7th place.

Nolan Schott - 3rd in HJ, 4th in 1600 with big PR.

Sam Kee - 4 events, 2nd in 4X100 PR, 4th in 100 PR, 2nd in 4X200, 4th in 200 PR.

Quentin Kelley - 5th in TJ, 1st in 400 (:56.40), 4th in 4X400 (:57.3).

Oliver Baterdene - 4 events, 3rd in LJ, 2nd in 4X100 PR, 3rd in 110HH PR, 3rd in 300IH PR.

Sean Lopez - 4th in 4X400 with a huge PR going froM 1:03.67 to :59.5.

Giants of the Meet:

Varsity - Doug Anderson and Nate Wehner

Frosh-Soph - Sam Kee