Highland Park Earns 5 Medals at Illinois Top Times Meet

Highland Park had its most qualifiers for the Illinois Top Times Meet at Illinois Wesleyan University. This is the unofficial indoor State Meet. The team qualified a 4X800 meter relay along with a runner in the 200, 400, 800, 1600, and 3200!

The day got started with sophomore Brian Hatoum racing in the 3200 meter run. He has had an incredible season so far. In the race, the entire field was together for most of the first mile until a group of 6 runners, including Hatoum, started to pull away. Hatoum was determined not to fall too far off the top group. He was able to stay in contact and sprinted to the line in 6th place with a new HPHS sophomore indoor record of 9:30.66! His previous best time, run at the conference meet, was 9:39.82. Each meet this season, Hatoum has been showing how much his hard work is paying off. He has brought his racing to an entirely new level. 

The 4X800 meter relay was led off by senior Noah Jackson in a 2:03.9. The first exchange was chaotic and Jackson was eventually able to get junior Zach Coren the baton. Coren went out extremely hard in the first 400 and was not able to hold that pace in the second half of his leg. He still managed to run right at his personal best in 2:06.4. Sophomore Usiel Rodriguez ran near his season best with a 2:11.8. Junior Robert Oboza ran the anchor in a 2:06.3 for a personal best time. The team ended up in 12th place running 8:29.04.

Junior Barak Goldstein had the fastest seed time in the slower of the two 800 meter run heats. He got to the lead within a lap and pulled away from the rest of the field. He finished in a personal best 1:59.11 to take 6th place overall. His time is the 4th fastest 800 meter run indoors all-time at HPHS. 

Junior Doug Anderson raced in the 400 meter dash which was the first of two races he qualified for. He got to the lead after the cut in and stayed in front through the finish. He was in the second fastest heat and won it in :50.21 for a new indoor school record! Anderson ended up taking 3rd overall in the event.

The 1600 meter run was the next race with junior Nate Wehner representing HP. The race went out rather slow and there was a lot of pushing and bumping as the runners jockeyed for position throughout the race. Wehner ended up taking 7th place in 4:24.86. This is the 4th fastest HPHS indoor time for the 1600 meter run. 

The final event that an HP runner was competing in this year was the 200 meter dash. Anderson was back to race and was in the 3rd fastest heat. He won his heat in :22.75 which is another HPHS indoor school record! His time earned him 6th place overall. This was an outstanding day for Anderson as he left the meet with two medals and two school records.

This was a tremendous showing by the Giants. They had 5 medals earned, 2 school records, 1 sophomore school record, and 2 more HP indoor all-time top times run. In addition, there was only one senior out of all of the HP qualifiers. With continued focus and hard work, the hope is that these experiences and performances will lead to success at the State Meet in May.