5 All-Time Best Performances at the Clash at the Coliseum

Highland Park competed in the Clash at the Coliseum hosted by Lakes Community High School. This was one of the most competitive meets in Illinois outside the State Meet. Athletes from 34 schools competed in the meet. These teams included the 3 teams that earned trophies (top 3) at last year’s IHSA 3A State Meet. Highland Park finished a solid 12th place and the team was just 10 points out of 6th place. The Giants are starting to develop into a strong team with more athletes joining that could help make the team even better. 

Field Event Highlights:

In the long jump, sophomore Lincoln Seidman and junior Oliver Baterdene both jumped over 17 feet (17’7.75” and 17’3.75”). They know that they will need to continue to focus and work hard to improve these jumps and hopefully score the team some points in invites like the conference meets. 

Sophomore Eli Perkins and Quentin Kelley had improved performances in the triple jump. Perkins had a personal best 34’10.5” jump. Kelley also had an indoor best jump of 34’3.75”. Improvement will continue to happen for these two dedicated sophomores.

In the high jump, senior Christian Billetdeaux jumped 5’3.75” and junior Russell Czerwinski jumped 5’1.75”. Both of these hard working athletes have shown they have the ability to clear significantly higher heights. The technique will improve over time and higher heights will come. 

Senior Caden Hellrung had a big day in the shot put. He threw a nearly 4 foot personal best going past 40 feet for the first time. His mark was 40’6.5”, which won his flight. Junior Larry Jenkins threw an indoor personal best after struggling to get a mark on his first few throws. He ended up throwing 40’0.25”. Having two throwers over 40 feet is a nice improvement from last year. Looking for even bigger throws to come.

Track Event Highlights:

The 4X800 meter relay got things started off with an impressive performance. Junior Robert Oboza got the team in great position with an aggressive lead-off split of 2:07.4. His best time was 2:12.6. Sophomore Usiel Rodriguez also ran well to split 2:11.2. His best last year indoor was only 2:22. Junior Yonatan Garfinkel went from an indoor best of 2:29 last year to 2:15.3 in the relay. Finally, senior Angel Zeferino got out very fast in his first 200 and battled tough to run a 2:13.2. His best indoor last year was 2:20. The team ended up running a respectable 8:45.44.

Sophomore Brian Hatoum continues to have a stellar indoor season. His hard work and dedication helped him deliver another outstanding race. In the 3200 meter run he ran 9:50.82 and nearly won his heat. This is a huge personal best and is putting him in the conversation with some of the best sophomore distance runners in HP history. Junior Nolan Schott battled tough, but had a miscommunication and ran an extra lap. His 3200 time before the extra lap was  11:32.78.

Czerwinski and Baterdene competed in the 60 meter high hurdles race. Czerwinski ran 10.21 while Baterdene was at 10.28. 

Senior Paul Eam ran a 7.41 in the 60 meter dash. This is faster than HPs fastest time at this meet last year. Seidman ran 7.92 in his heat. 

Barak Goldstein had his best 800 meter run race ever. He got out well and battled with a pack to finish in 1:59.63. It is his first time officially breaking 2 minutes in the event. He finished 7th and his time ranks 8th all-time indoors at HPHS. Senior Noah Jackson had an off day, but was still able to manage to run 2:10. 59. 

The 4X200 meter relay was led-off by Baterdene. He ran a solid leg  of :26.0 to get the baton to Billetdeaux for a fantastic :24.8 split and heads up running on the next exchange when another runner cut right in front of him. Junior Tyler Rosenthal was the 3rd leg and ran :27.2. The anchor was senior Diego Alvarez. He got out a bit too fast and was unable to get the exchange in the zone. 

Junior Doug Anderson had high expectations for the 400 meter dash at this meet. He ran extremely well to get an indoor personal best time of :51.67 to take 3rd overall. His time ranks 2nd all-time indoors at HPHS. Quentin Kelley ran well with a personal best time of :56.39 in his heat. 

In the 1600 meter run, junior Nate Wehner took control of the race early and tried to push the pace. Nobody went with him. Late in the race, a few runners caught back up to him. Wehner ended up running 4:25.96 for 3rd place. This time ranks 5th all-time indoors at HPHS. Hatoum completed an impressive double by going 4:46.89 on tired legs. 

Anderson came back with a fairly short rest for the 200 meter dash. He ran in the 3rd fastest heat and won it in :23.11. This ended up placing 3rd overall! His time is the 2nd fastest indoor 200 meter time in HPHS history. This is the first high school 200 meter race that Anderson has ever done. Eam also came back with a spectacular race to run :24.24. This ranks him tied for 10th all-time indoors at HPHS. 

The 4X400 meter relay runners for HP all ran season best 400 splits. Oboza had another great lead-off leg with a :56.2. Goldstein got the baton and really showed his speed with a :53.5. Jackson ran a solid :56.5 and Wehner closed with a hard fought :55.5. The team ran 3:41.82.

This was an exciting meet for the Giants. It showed that the team has potential to do great things this season. It also showed the areas that need the most improvement. HP will continue to trust the process and look for the development of more depth in each event to keep it competitive to earn spots in invites and championship meets throughout the season. 

The nominations for Giant of the Meet included:

Caden Hellrung - Huge PR in the SP and won his flight. 1st time over 40’.

Barak Goldstein - PR in 2 events, 800 1:59.63 for 7th place and 8th all-time at HP, :53.5 PR 4X400 split. 

Brian Hatoum - Impressive double in 3200 (9:50.82) and 1600 (4:46.89).

Paul Eam - 7.41 in the 60 and :24.24 in the 200 for 10th all-time at HP.

Doug Anderson - 2 races, 3rd in both the 400 (:51.67) and 200 (:23.11), 2nd all-time at HP in both. 400 was run in lane 6 and the 200 was run in the 3rd fastest heat. 

Robert Oboza - 2 outstanding lead-off legs in 4X800 and 4X400. Both PRs.

Christian Billetdeaux - HJ near PR and outstanding 2nd leg of 4X200. 

Giant of the Meet:

Doug Anderson