Varsity Wins Deerfield Dual!

The Highland Park vs. Deerfield Dual Meet is always an intense battle between District 113 rivals. Highland Park has not won the varsity meet since 2014. This season, the Giants have been off to a strong start and hoped this would be the team to win back the trophy. 

 

Field Event Highlights:

Deerfield has been strong in the field events and this year was no different. HP looked to keep the score close going through the field events. 

 

Shot Put

The throwers had another big day with many new personal best throws along with outscoring DF on both levels. The Giants had a 1-2-3 sweep on frosh-soph led by sophomore Braxton Peterson’s personal best of 34’4.5”. His previous best was 32’11”. One foot behind him was freshman Max Sukenik at 33’4.5” and just off his personal best. 3rd place went to freshman Ismael Vazquez with a toss of 30’1.75”. This is the first time Vazquez has thrown over 30’. Sophomore Rodrigo Sanchez finished in 5th place with a nearly 3 foot personal best. He threw 28’1.75” compared to his previous best of 25’3.25”. Freshman Constantine Soutsos threw in his first meet of the season and got 27’10.75”. Sophomore Alexandros Drosos threw a solid 25’3.25”. Freshman Zach Shapiro had a big personal best by over 3’. He threw 23’2.75” compared to his previous best of 20’0.25”. Freshman Gabe Leon threw 21’11.75”. The throwers have a bright future if they keep their focus and put in the work over the next few years. 

 

On varsity, junior Larry Jenkins led the way with a first place throw of 42’1.5” despite fouling on his first two attempts. Senior Caden Hellrung came up big with a personal best 40’11.75” throw for 3rd place. He just missed 2nd place by a small margin. Junior Alex Knight equaled his personal best, throwing 35’3.5” to take 5th place. Junior Ezekiel Hightower threw a more than 2 foot personal best. He got 32’9.25”. Senior Jacques Munkhjargal threw a personal best 31’9.5”. Senior Geoff Buck threw for the first time this season and got 30’7.75”. Senior Aidan Tobias also got a personal best. His was by almost 2 feet. He threw 28’10.75”. 

 

Pole Vault

Since Highland Park does not have a pole vault set up indoors to compete on, this event was scored using season best heights. HP varsity took 2nd, 3rd, and 6th based on these heights. Senior Enrique Lipezker and sophomore Gavin Flory both had a best of 8’8”. Sophomore Dylan Dominguez was 6th with his best of 8’0”. Hopefully, the Giants will have some vaulters over 9 feet at the CSL Indoor Championship. 

 

Long Jump

In the frosh-soph long jump, sophomore Charlie Ludington led the way with a 5th place finish at 14’8.75”. Sophomore Alejandro Jauregui was the next best HP jumper at 13’11.75”. Two freshmen were over 12 feet with William Sheahen going 12’10.75” and Lucas Hoobler at 12’9.25”. This was an over 2 foot personal best for Hoobler. Freshmen Will Redmond (11’10.25” to equal his personal best) and Matthew Nielsen (11’3”) jumped past 11 feet.

 

On varsity, sophomore Lincoln Seidman took 3rd place with a jump of 17’8.25”. Juniors Tyler Rosenthal (17’5.75”) and Oliver Baterdene (17’0.75”) finished in 4th and 5th place. Sophomore Eli Perkins came in 6th with a jump of 16’7.25”. 

 

Triple Jump

In his first time competing in the triple jump, Ludington just missed winning the frosh-soph event with a mark of 31’4.75”. Sheahen took 5th at 25’7” and Nielsen was 6th with a 22’4.5” mark.

 

Sophomore Quentin Kelley got 3rd place on varsity in the triple jump as he got 36’1.5”. Rosenthal was 4th and Perkins 5th with the same jump of 35’5.25”.

 

High Jump

Sophomore Mateo Diaz and freshman Francisco Nunez competed in the high jump for the first time. Diaz cleared 4’6” to win the event and Nunez got over 4’4” to take 3rd place.

 

On varsity, junior Russell Czerwinski came up huge for the team with a giant personal best. He cleared 5’10” to take the surprising win from Deerfields best high jumper. Czerwinski’s previous best was only 5’4”! Junior Nolan Schott also came up big for the team to take 3rd place in a personal best 5’6”. Senior Christian Billetdeaux cleared 5’4” to take 4th place. 

 

The field events on varsity gave Deerfield only a 27-17 lead. 

Track Event Highlights:

 

4X800 Meter Relay

The track events began with the 4X800 meter relay. The frosh-soph team for HP consisted of 4 freshmen, 3 that did not do cross country and one racing in his first meet of the season. Carter Ramirez led off with 9 second personal best in 2:36.3. Harvey Hayes ran his split in 2:34.8. Truman Evans had a one second personal best to run 2:41.3. Gal Raviv anchored the relay in a personal best 2:28.5. The team ran 10:20 to finish just 5 seconds behind DF.

 

Both HP and DF put together strong 4X800s for the varsity race as the relays are crucial events with the winner getting 5 points and second place getting 0 points. Junior Zach Coren led off in a 2:10.1 to start to build a lead for the Giants. Senior Noah Jackson then ran 2:09.3 to widen the gap. Junior Robert Oboza split a 2:12.3. At that point Deerfield gave up and was just cruising to save their legs for the showdown in the 1600 meter run later in the meet. Junior Nate Wehner was the anchor for HP and was able to just cruise home to also save his legs a bit for the 800 and 1600. HP won the 4X800 in a slow 9:13.

 

50 Meter High Hurdles

Sophomores Lachlan Knapp and Mateo Diaz went 1-2 in the 50 meter hurdles for frosh-soph. They ran impressive times of 8.92 and 9.54. They are both first year team members. 

 

On varsity, Deerfield took 1st, but HP finished 2-3-4. Dominguez was 2nd in 7.99. Czerwinski finished 3rd in 8.26. Baterdene took 4th with a time of 8.97.

 

50 Meter Dash

3 sophomores led the way in the frosh-soph 50 meter dash running under 7.1 FAT. Eric Rojas ran 7.02, Tyler DePaolo and Julian Chroman both finished in 7.06. Freshmen Nunez and Hayden Tortora ran 7.21 and 7.33. Jauregui was just behind them in 7.35. The rest of the 50 meter dash runners were all freshmen. This crew continues to work hard and show improvement. 

Pedraza	7.63
Glovsky	7.83
Hoobler	7.88
Huicochea	7.93
Sheahen	8.12
Nielsen	8.36
W. Redmond	8.47

 

In the varsity race, senior Paul Eam got the win despite a slow start. He ran 6.37 for the win. Junior Asher Stern raced in his first meet to run 6.63. Rosenthal finished in 6.65. Senior Diego Alvarez continues to show great improvement from last year with a 6.68. Senior Finn Davis ran 6.94 while Flory was 6.98. Perkins crossed the line in 7.05 and senior Alex Labedz ran 7.69. 

 

800 Meter Run

In the frosh-soph 800 meter run, HP had 3 freshmen racing. Daniel Doyle led the way for the Giants and came in 2nd place with a personal best time of 2:26.4. Logan Liu was 4th in a personal best 2:28.0. Joey Naftzger raced in his first meet and ran 3:09.0.

 

On varsity, HP took 1st and 2nd. Juniors Barak Goldstein and Wehner pulled away for the easy 1-2 finish in 2:10.7 and 2:11.76. Juniors Yonatan Garfinkel and Connor Edelstein ran 2:17.39 and 2:21.56.

 

4X160 Meter Relay

The frosh-soph had their usual strong lead-off leg with DePaolo getting out fast. Knapp was the next leg and he battled tough. Despite some confusion with the hand-off, Rojas got out on his leg to hold the lead. Nunez finished it out to give HP the win in 1:26.0. 

 

Eam got the Giants a great start. He handed to Billetdeaux for his fast lap to hold the lead that Eam gave him. Kelley was next and continued to hold the lead. Junior Zach Liss got the baton and stayed in front to earn HP the victory in 1:19.8. This ties the team's season best time. 

 

400 Meter Dash

Ludington raced a tough 400 meter dash to take 1st place in 1:01.9. Raviv was 4th in 1:05.4.

 

On varsity, Anderson dominated to take 1st in :53.8. Sophomore Usiel Rodriguez took an important 3rd place finish in :58.6. 

 

50 Meter Low Hurdles

Knapp and Diaz again went 1-2 in a hurdle race. Knapp ran 8.3 while Diaz was 8.9. 

 

The varsity race had Dominguez taking 2nd in 7.75. Oboza had the second fastest time (7.84) for the team, but was not in the scoring heat.  Baterdene took 3rd in 8.01. Czerwinski ran an 8.04 with Rosenthal at 8.50 and Perkins 8.88. 

 

1600 Meter Run

Freshman Henry Gamson ran a personal best 5:14.1 to take 3rd in the frosh-soph 1600 meter run. Freshman Lowell Redmond also ran a personal best to take 5th. His time was 5:33.6. His previous best was 5:38.4. Sophomore Luke Byrnes ran another sub 6 minute race in 5:54.3.

 

The varsity 1600 was looking like a big time showdown with Deerfield’s top 2 distance runners having been able to cruise in the 4X800. The Giants were ready as sophomore Brian Hatoum was fresh and took the race out a conservative first 400. Then the trio of Hatoum, Wehner, and Goldstein packed up at the front and started to push the pace with a few DF runners and HP senior Angel Zeferino in the chase pack. Once the top 3 started to develop a gap, Wehner took the lead and pushed the pace. It was an incredible display of teamwork and toughness as Wehner, Goldstein, and Hatoum pulled away and ran 4:38.8, 4:39.5, and 4:40.4. Zeferino came on strong at the end to finish right behind the DF duo and take 6th in 4:55.1. 

 

The non-scoring heat had Schott running 5:20.0 for a season best. Junior Andrew Kern was next in with a 5:50.0 while senior Ramey Heimgartner ran 6:10.0. Senior Marco Schulze ran 7:18.0.

 

200 Meter Dash

Knapp had the fastest frosh-soph time for HP in the 200 meter dash. He was in the non-scoring heats, but would have placed 3rd in running his first 200 (:26.7) of the season. DePaolo also would have had the 3rd fastest time in the scoring heat with his :27.1. Rojas ran :27.6 for a new personal best compared to :28.1. Daniel Huicochea ran very well in his first 200 of the season to finish in :27.6. Jauregui also raced in his first 200 of the season with a :27.7. Tortora raced to a personal best :28.6. The next 3 finishers all ran their first 200 of the season. After not even breaking 30 seconds last year indoor or outdoor, Chroman’s hard work showed as he ran :28.9. Freshmen Ethan Glovsky and Spencer Pedraza raced their first 200s of the season in :30.9 and :31.0. Hoobler ran a personal best :31.1 compared to his previous best of :31.5. Sheahen went from :33.0 to :31.2 and Will Redmond went from :32.5 to :32.4. 

 

Anderson once again dominated his race in :23.7. Eam was 2nd in an impressive :24.4. Billetdeaux finished 4th in a personal best :25.4. Alvarez ran well with a :26.4. Seidman raced to a :26.5. Liss crossed the line in :26.6. Labedz ran a personal best :31.1 compared to his previous best of :31.7.

 

Throwers 4X160 Meter Relay

The throwers have been developing a strong culture of hard work and fun. It showed in the throwers relay. HP had 2 teams competing and they gave great efforts. The teams took 2nd and 3rd behind Deerfield.

Buck

Soutsos

Peterson

Vazquez

1:37.8

Sanchez

Shapiro

Leon

Munkhjaral

1:38.4

 

4X400 Meter Relay

The final event is always the thrilling 4X400 meter relay. On frosh-soph, HP had two relays running. The team of Doyle (1:04.4), Nunez (1:03.4), Liu (1:04.6), and Ludington (:59.9) came in 2nd with a time of 4:12.5. The second relay consisted of Gamson (1:06.8 - .1 PR), Raviv (1:07.3), Lowell Redmond (1:10.6 - 4 second PR), and Evans (1:17.1). 

 

On varsity, the Giants also had 2 teams. Unfortunately for Deerfield, their anchor leg had to drop out with a hamstring injury. HP’s first 3 legs of the top 4X400 ran :58.0 (Oboza), :57.4 (Jackson), :58.9 (Kelley). Coren was the anchor, but slowed down when the Deerfield run dropped out to cruise a 1:09.0. The second team ran 4:05.0. The team included Rodriguez (:58.7), Edelstein (1:01.3), Garfinkel (1:00.9), and Zeferino (1:04.1). 

 

On varsity, the Giants won 77 to 46! This is the first time winning this meet since 2014. It was a wonderful overall team performance. The frosh-soph lost 47-75. 

It was an incredible meet and a nice positive going into the CSL North Invite next week!

The nominations for Giant of the Meet included:

Frosh-Soph:

Lachlan Knapp - 4 events, 1st in HH and LH, 1st in 4X160, asked to run 200 and had fastest HP frosh-soph time :26.7.

Braxton Peterson - 1st in SP with almost 2 foot PR of 34’4.5”.

Charlie Ludington - 4 events, 5th LJ, 2nd TJ, 1st 400, and anchored 2nd place 4X400 in :59.9. 

Lowell Redmond - 5th in 1600 with 5 second PR of 5:33.6 and 4X400 PR by 4 seconds at 1:10.6.

Tyler DePaolo - 50m in 7.06, great lead-off leg for 4X160 to get 1st place, 200 time of :27.1 would have been 3rd in scoring heats. 

Rodrigo Sanchez - 5th in SP with nearly 3 foot PR of 28’1.75”.

Varsity:

Paul Eam - 1st in 50 at 6.37, lead-off of winning 4X160 in 1:19.8, and 2nd in 200m at 24.4.

Russell Czerwinski - Huge 6” PR in HJ to clear 5’10” and take 1st place, 3rd in 50HH, 4th in 50mLH.

Usiel Rodriguez - 3rd in the 400 (:58.6) from slow heat and strong lead-off in 4X400 of :58.7.

Larry Jenkins - 1st in SP at 42’1.5” after 2 scratches but stayed focused mentally.

Nate Wehner, Barak Goldstein, Brian Hatoum - incredible 1-2-3 finish in 1600 (4:38.8, 4:39.5, 4:40.4).

Nolan Schott - 3rd place finish in HJ for important field event points and PR.

Caden Hellrung - PR in SP of 40’11.75” to take 3rd place.

Giant of the Meet:

Frosh-Soph - Charlie Ludington

Varsity - Russell Czerwinski