Nales Wins 400 at Lake County Invite in New School Record; Team Places 4th

Grayslake Central hosted the always competitive Lake County Invite. Highland Park came into the meet knowing they had the opportunity to score significant points and have numerous medal winners. 

Field Event Highlights:

In the shot put, junior Larry Jenkins placed 7th with a throw of 45’9.25”. Fellow junior Dmitry Derbedyenyev threw near his personal best with a toss of 42’0.5”. He placed 14th. 

Derbedyanyev came back in the discus and threw 119’9” as senior Caden Hellrung finished just behind him with a 118’5” mark. 

Junior Russell Czerwinski took 6th place in the high jump. He equaled his outdoor personal best of 5’8.75”. Junior Nolan Schott cleared 5’3”. 

Senior Enrique Lipezker placed 9th in the pole vault. The results showed he cleared 10’11”. There may have been an error with that height, but he still came up big with his 9th place finish. 

Track Event Highlights:

On the track, the 4X800 meter relay team for Highland Park got the team off to a good start with a 4th place finish. Juniors Robert Oboza and Zach Coren were the first two legs and each ran a personal best. Oboza ran 2:05.1 while Coren split a 2:05.5. Sophomore Usiel Rodriguez ran 2:09.7 for the third leg. Senior Alex Bradshaw then split a 2:06.7 on the anchor for a total time of 8:27.02. 

The varsity 4X100 meter relay team of juniors Asher Stern and Eddy Picazo, along with seniors Christian Billetdeaux and Paul Eam ran a season best :45.51.

In the 3200 meter run, junior Nate Wehner ran with the leader for most of the race. He was unable to stay with him on the last lap, but finished in 2nd place. Wehner ran a strong 9:27.76 which is his outdoor personal best for the event. Senior Angel Zeferino finished in 14th place running 10:25.40.

Eam came back to finish 16th in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.56. Stern ran 12.13. Both runners were close to their personal best times. 

Junior Barak Goldstein took 4th place in the 800 meter run. He ran a solid 1:58.56. Senior Noah Jackson took 12th in a 2:03.59. 

The HP 4X200 meter relay also ran a season best time. The team of senior Diego Alvarez, Stern, Picazo, and Billetdeaux ran 1:36.81. This was a nearly 3 second season best time. 

The 400 meter dash was an event in which HP knew they could get big points, and they did! Junior Lukaas Nales and Doug Anderson were aiming to go 1-2 in the event. This was the first open 400 meter race of the season for Nales. He ran an incredible race to take 1st place in a new school record of :49.16. Anderson ran his best time of the season of :49.22 to take 2nd place. He also ran faster than his own previous school record. The 1-2 finish gave the Giants 18 points.

In the 300 meter intermediate hurdles, junior Robert Oboza just missed his personal best time with a :43.74. He placed 9th in the event. Junior Oliver Baterdene ran a personal best :46.34.

In the 1600 meter run, sophomore Brian Hatoum ran an impressive race as he battled the top Grayslake Central runner on his home track. The race started slow, but then picked up to a very fast pace in the second half. The final lap was a two person battle for the win and Hatoum took the lead for a short time at about 200 to go. He was unable to hold off Grayslake’s elite runner and ended up finishing in 2nd place. Hatoum ran a personal best 4:23.17 for a new HPHS sophomore record. The old record was set in 1985 by Sam Galvan at 4:24.0. Junior Yonatan Garfinkel ran a season best 4:56.70 to go sub 5 for the first time this season.   

Both Eam and Billetdeaux ran personal best times in the 200 meter dash. Eam ran :23.42 while Billetdeaux ran :24.21. They placed 14th and 19th in the event. 

The 4X400 meter relay team ended up taking 4th place in 3:28.10. Oboza led off with a :54.1. Goldstein ran a personal best split of :52.2. Hatoum came off that great 1600 and still ran a solid :53.5. Anderson anchored with an outstanding :48.2 split. The team ran 3:28.10. 

The team took 4th place out of 20 teams! This was the best finish at the Lake County Invite that the Giants have seen in many many years. They were only 13 points out of 3rd place. This team is proving they are a top team and are going to make some noise at the Sectional Meet and maybe even score some points at the State Meet. They will need to stay focused and healthy as the championship phase of the season has arrived. 

The nominations for Giant of the Meet included:

Enrique Lipezker - 9th place PV PR

Lukaas Nales - 1st 400m, school record :49.16

Doug Anderson - 2nd in 400m, PR :49.22 #2 all-time at HP, also :48.2 split on 4th place 4X400

Christian Billetdeaux - 3 events, 3 PRs, 4X100 4X200 and 200 (:24.21)

Nate Wehner - 2nd in 3200m with outdoor PR 9:27.76

Brian Hatoum - 2nd in 1600m with new soph school record 4:23.17, also ran :53.5 on 4X400

Giant of the Meet:

Christian Billetdeaux