HP Hosts Meet Vs. Evanston and Loyola

Highland Park hosted a meet with Evanston and Loyola. This is always a very competitive meet with these two competitive programs coming to Wolters compete.  

Field Event Highlights:

In the shot put, junior Larry Jenkins threw a personal best 44’2.5” to take first place. Senior Caden Hellrung threw over 40 again with a 40’3.5” throw to take 3rd place. Junior Dmitry Derbedyenyev had a nice personal best of 38’2.25” to finish in 6th place. Sophomore Braxten Peterson was the only other top 10 finisher for HP in the shot put. He threw a personal best 36’1.5”. He was the 3rd best sophomore in the competition. Other personal best throws were achieved by Jacques Munkhjargal (33’4”), Ismael Vazquez (30’4.75”), Constantine Soutsos (28’4.25”), Zach Shapiro (25’0”), and Gabe Leon (23’11.5”). JUnior Noah Kogan threw in his first meet of the season and got a solid 30’9.75”. 

Many of the HP throwers were throwing discus for the first time this season and some for the first time ever in a meet. The Giants were led by Derbedyenyev with a 119’1” throw. Jenkins took 2nd place with a personal best 115’6”. His previous best was 107’10”. Hellrung finished 4th by throwing 112’11”. Munkhjargal threw 84’11” to take 8th. Freshman Max Sukenik finished in 9th place with a throw of 83’5”. Kogan just missed a top ten finish as he took 11th with a 81’3” mark.  

HP pole vaulters had another strong showing. Sophomore Gavin Flory led the way again for the Giants, taking 1st place with a personal best 10’6” vault. Seniors Enrique Lipezker, Diego Alvarez, and Finn Davis finished 2nd, 4th and 5th. Lipezker cleared 9’6”.  B Alvarez and Davis got over 8’6”. This was a nice personal best for Davis. Freshman Finn Nunez cleared 7’6” in his first time competing in the pole vault. 

Junior Nolan Schott was the only HP high jumper to clear a height. He took 3rd place by getting over 5’4”. 

In the long jump, a pair of sophomores led teh way for the Giants by taking 4th and 5th place. Eli Perkins jumped a personal best 17’9.5”. Quentin Kelley also got a personal best and jumped 17’3.5”. Junior Hugh Crawford jumped 17’2” in his first meet of the season to take 6th place. Two other HP jumpers were in the top 10. Sophomore Charlie Ludington jumped 16’6.5” to take 9th. Junior Tyler Rosenthal got 15’6.75” to finish in 10th. Freshman Matthew Nielsen got a personal best 12’5.75”. A few others were close to their personal best marks. 

The triple jump did not go as well in terms of personal best marks. The sophomores led teh way again as Kelley was 4th at 35’9.25”. Perkins got 5th with a 35’6.75” mark. Ludington was able to take 6th jumping 35’3.25”.  Rosenthal was the only other jumper over 30 going 34’0.25”. 

Track Event Highlights:

The 4X100 meter relays was the first event on the track. The varsity ran a solid time of :47.49. The team consisted of Crawford, junior DJ Robinson, junior Zach Liss, and senior Paul Eam. 

Sophomores Lachlan Knapp and Mateo Diaz both ran personal best times in the 110 meter high hurdles. Knapp ran 19:23 to go sub 20 for the first time and Diaz ran 21.49 to go sub 22 for the first time. Knapp was able to finish in 6th place.

HP 25 team members racing in the 100 meter dash. This meet was an opportunity for coaches to see the depth they have in this event. The team was led by Eam in 11.72 for 4th place. Junior Asher Stern ran well as he finished in 12.09 to take 9th place. Diego Alvarez ran a 12.49 personal best with a previous best of 13.61. Liss crossed the line in a personal best 12.52. Junior Eddy Picazo equalled his 100 meter personal best with a 12.54. Junior Ethan Seligman broke 13 for the first time with a 12.80. Freshmen Daniel Huicochea ran under 13 going 12.81. Sophomore Tyler DePaolo was the only other HP runner under 13 seconds as he ran 12.86. Sophomores Eli Perkins and Julian Chroman led the way for the rest of the HP runners with personal best times of 13.02 and 13.23. 

The 800 meter run featured several of the team’s top distance runners. Junior Barak Goldstein led the way with an outdoor personal best of 1:59.29. Sophomore Brian Hatoum continued his impressive season with a big personal best going from 2:09 indoors to 1:59.62 for 2nd place behind Goldstein. Junior Nate Wehner took 4th in 2:02.30 while junior Zach Coren ran a personal best 2:06.05 to take 5th place. Sophomore Usiel Rodriguez got 10th place in 2:10.37. Freshmen Daniel Doyle (2:19.66), Gal Raviv (2:23.48), and Truman Evans (2:25.55) all ran significant personal best times. Joey Naftzger also ran a personal best 3:04.11. 

In the 400 meter dash, Ludington ran a personal best :59.35. Junior Ben Kerch crossed the line in 1:00.74. Nunez got a personal best 1:00.91. Finn Davis ran a 1:03.61 for the event.

The 300 intermediate hurdlers had a great day. All 5 hurdlers ran personal best times with two racing the event for the first time. Junior Robert Oboza led the way with a :44.07 to take 4th place. Knapp was 5th in :44.85. Diaz ran :51.51. Junior Andrew Kern ran well with a :50.29. Rosenthal raced the event for the first time and got :53.56.

Freshman Josh Brown led the way for HP in the 1600 with a 5:02.75. He finished in 7th place. Junior Yonatan Garfinkel was the only other top 10 finisher for the Giants. He crossed the line in a season best 5:06.43. Two freshmen were the next two finishers. Henry Gamson ran a personal best 5:06.48. Logan Liu came across the line in 5:07.02. Junior Ryan Griffith ran his best time with a 6:01.76. Senior Ramey Heimgartner was a bit off his personal best running a 6:11.28. Senior Marco Schulze ran a 10 second personal best. He ran 6:30.47.

Junior Doug Anderson won the 200 meter dash with a time of :22.77. Junior Asher Stern finished 9th in :25.23. Senior Diego Alvarez was just behind him in a personal best :25.49. He finished in 10th place. Crawford ran a solid :25.69. The next five HP sprinters ran personal best times. Picazo (:25.76), DePaolo (:26.38), Hucicochea (:26.47), Perkins (:26.95), and Seligman (:27.17).  Other personal best times were run by 5 others. Tortora (:28.27), Chroman (:28.46), Glovsky (:28.98), Pedraza (:30.05), and Hoobler (:30.66). 

Highland Park 5 4X400 meter relay teams that competed at the meet. The team of Coren (:53.9), Goldstein (:53.6), Nales (:50.9 in his first race back from a hamstring injury), and Anderson (:52.3) won the event in 3:30.80. In the rest of the relays, the Giants had a bunch more 4X400 personal best splits. They included Kelley (:54.8), Rodriguez (:54.9), Hatoum (:53.4), Oboza (:53.9), Ludington (:59.5), Garfinkel (:57.3), Doyle (1:00.0), Kern (1:00.9), Liu (1:01.3), Raviv (:58.9), Evans (1:02.0), and Gamson (1:02.3). All 5 relays were 4:08 or better. 3 of the relays were under 4 minutes. The team showed it has strong depth in this event. 

This was a good meet for the Giants. It allowed the coaches to see most of the team compete. A lot of growth was shown from when the season began. That growth can continue if team members continue to trust the process and keep working hard. 

The nominations for Giant of the Meet included:

Larry Jenkins - PR in SP for 1st place, PR in Discus for 2nd place.

Asher Stern - 12.09 in 100 #2 runner for the team, :25.23 for the 200.

Diego Alvarez - 1st time sub 13 in the 100 (12.49), 1st time sub 26 in the 200 (:25.49), PV PR at 8’6”. 

Marco Schulze - 10 second PR in the 1600 meter run.

Brian Hatoum - 1:59.62 800 PR from 2:09 took 2nd place, :53.4 4X400 PR split. 

Gavin Flory - PV personal best 10’6” from 10’2” for 1st place. 

Lachlan Knapp - Sub 20 in 110HH 19.23, :44.85 300IM hurdles PR, anchor leg of 4X100 relay. 

Gal Raviv - 800 PR by 5 seconds 2:23.48, 4X400 split PR :58.9.

Daniel Doyle - 800 PR 2:26.4 to 2:19.66, 4X400 split PR 1:00.0.

Fin Nunez - 400 PR 1:00.91, PV PR 7’6”.

Robert Oboza - PR in 300IM hurdles :44.07, 4X400 split PR :53.9.

Giant of the Meets:

Larry Jenkins and Gavin Flory