Varsity 4X800 and 4X400 Run Fast Times at Mustang Classic

HP competed at the very competitive Rolling Meadows Mustang Classic Invite. This meet provided the team with great competition in all the events. The Giants had some outstanding performances on both the frosh-soph and varsity levels. 

Field Event Highlights:

In the varsity shot put, juniors Larry Jenkins (46’8.75) and Dmitry Derbedyenyev placed 2nd and 4th. Derbedyanyev came back and took 6th in the discus with a season best throw of 120’5”. Senior Caden Hellrung was 8th with a toss of 114’7”. Freshman Max Sukenik had a personal best in the frosh-soph discus with a 101’11” mark. He was also near his personal best in the shot put at 33’9.5”.

Seniors Enrique Lipezker and Diego Alvarez placed 5th and 6th on varsity. Lipezker equalled his personal best clearing 10’0” and Alvarez cleared 9’6”. Sophomore Gavin Flory took 2nd on frosh-soph with an impressive personal best 11’0”. 

Juniors Russell Czerwinski and Nolan Schott were 4th and tied for 5th in the varsity high jump. Czerwinski cleared 5’7” while Schott got over 5’3”. 

Junior Luke Crawford jumped a personal best 18’6.5” in the varsity long jump to take 8th place. 

The HP triple jumpers had 3 personal bests. On varsity, junior Tyler Rosenthal finished in 6th place jumping 37’5”. Junior Ethan Love got a mark of 36’5”. On frosh-soph, sophomore Quentin Kelley took 7th place with a big personal best of 38’1.25”. That was nearly a 2 foot personal best.

Track Event Highlights:

HP loaded up their 4X800 meter relay team to try and run sub 8. The coaches from Fremd and Conant agreed to do the same. Junior Nate Wehner led off with a strong 2:01.5 to keep the Giants up with the leaders. He handed off to sophomore Brian Hatoum. Hatoum split a 1:59.2 to get his team into the lead. Senior Noah Jackson battled a runner from Conant for the lead. Jackson had a big final kick to hand off to junior Barak Goldstein in 1st place. Goldstein got out extremely fast. The anchor leg from Conant tried to go with him, but could not hold on. Goldstein pulled away to give the team the victory in 8:01.62. Fremd ended up 2nd with a fast anchor leg and ran 8:07.21. Conant got 3rd in 8:09.52. HP’s time was #3 all-time at Highland Park for the 4X800. The frsoh-soph 4X800 also ran well as they took 4th place in a season best time of 9:23.60. The team consisted of all freshmen…Gal Raviv (2:21.1), Truman Evans (2:24.8), Henry Gamson (2:18.3), and Logan Liu (2:19.4). 

The varsity 4X100 team of Crawford, junior Eddy Picazo, and seniors Christian Billetdeaux and Paul Eam placed 6th. They ran :46.07.

In the 3200 meter run, senior Angel Zeferino finished in 7th place on varsity in 10:15.36. On frosh-soph, freshmen Joah Brown and Lowell Redmond both ran personal bests. Brown ran 10:47.93 to finish in 6th place. Redmond ran a big personal best of 12:10.34. 

Czerwinski ran a personal best 18.57 in the varsity 110 meter high hurdles. Sophomore Lachlan Knapp also ran a personal best and took 7th on frosh-soph in 19.22.

In the 100 meter dash, the coaches had junior Doug Anderson race this distance for the first time. They wanted to see what he could run with the possibility of racing the 100 at the conference meet. Anderson ended up taking 3rd place in a fast 11.37. Eam took 6th place running an 11.61. On frosh-soph, freshman Daniel Huicochea ran right around his personal best with a 12.44. Sophomore Julian Chroman continued his much improved season with a persian best 13.13. 

Another victory on the track for HP came in the frosh-soph 800 meter run. Sophomore Usiel Rodriguez had his best race of the season with a big personal best. He ran 2:06.10 for the victory. Gamson came back after the 4X800 to run just off his best time with a 2:19.23. 

The frosh-soph 4X200 meter relay ran very well out of the slower heat. They ran a season best time of 1:42.13 and took 4th place overall. The team consisted of sophomores Eric Rojas, Alejandro Jauregui, and Quentin Kelley along with freshman Daniel Huicochea. 

Senior Noah Jackson took 6th place in the varsity 400 meter dash. He ran :53.77. Junior Zach Coren also raced in the 400 shortly after running a 2:07.63 in the 800. He ran :54.21. On frosh-soph, sophomore Charlie Ludington ran a personal best :58.07. Freshman teammate Fin Nunez also ran his best time with a 1:00.66.

Junior Robert Oboza ran a personal best :43.53 in the 300 intermediate hurdles He ended up taking 3rd place overall on varsity from the slow heat. Knapp took 7th on frosh-soph running :46.68. Sophomore Mateo Diaz ran :51.91. 

In the 1600 meter run, Goldstein and Wehner came back to race this event after their great performance in the 4X800. Goldstein ran a big personal best, running 4:27.77 to take 5th. Wehner was 6th in 4:30.14. In the frosh-soph race, HP had two personal best times. Logan Liu ran a tremendous race to finally get the sub 5 time he has been working to get the last several meets. He ran 4:57.25 to take 6th place. Josh Brown completed a strong double with his PR in the 3200 and then ran a 5:00.98. 

Eam raced well again with a fast 200 meter dash time of :23.57 to take 5th place on varsity. Billetdeaux ran sub 25 as he crossed the line in :24.87. On frosh-soph, Huicochea completed a busy day running :25.42. Rojas ran a personal best time of :26.75.  

The final event was the always exciting 4X400 meter relay. The HP frosh-soph quartet ran well. Rodriguez led off in a strong :56.1. Evans was next and ran a personal best :58.6. Quentin Kelley got the baton around in :55.3. Raviv was the anchor and ran :57.4. The team finished in 3:47.40 to take 4th place. The varsity team got out well with Oboza running a :53.9. He handed it to Hatoum. He ran a :54.6 but there was a dropped baton between him and junior Lukaas Nales. Nales quickly picked up the baton and made chase on the runners ahead of him. This was only his 3rd race back from his hamstring injury. He got the team back near the leaders in classic Lukaas fashion and split a :50.3. He then handed off to Anderson to try and bring home the victory. Anderson ran down the other teams to give HP the victory in a season best 3:27.18. Anderson split another incredible :48.2. 

The team ended up taking 5th place on varsity, but was only 6 points out of 3rd and 15 points from 2nd place. This meet showed significant growth by this team. Everyone will need to keep putting in the work as the championship phase of the season draws closer. Big things still to come for the Giants!  

The nominations for Giant of the Meet included:

Frosh-Soph

Gavin Flory - 2nd place PV, PR 11’0”

Usiel Rodriguez - Gutsy race to win 800 in PR 2:06.10, also strong lead-off :56.1 for the 4X400

Logan Liu - First time sub 5 1600 (4:57.25) for 6th place, also ran on 4th place 4X800

Josh Brown - Tough double 3200 (PR 10:47.93) and 1600 (PR 5:00.98)

Varsity

Lukaas Nales - In only his 3rd race back from injury and despite a dropped baton, he helped the 4X400 win in a season best time by running a :50.3 split

Robert Oboza - 3rd in the 300IH from the slow heat in PR :43.53, also led off the winning 4X400 in :53.9

Barak Goldstein - Anchored 1st place 4X800 that ran 8:01.62 #3 all-time at HP, also ran big PR in 1600 (4:27.77) to take 5th

Dmitry Derbedyenyev - PR in Discus 122’0” for 6th place and near PR in SP of 42’0.75” for 4th place

Giants of the Meet:

Frosh-Soph - Usiel Rodriguez

Varsity - Lukaas Nales