CSL North Outdoor Championship Highlights

Highland Park HS went into the CSL North Outdoor Championship with the goal of trying to win both the varsity and frosh-soph levels. The Giants knew it would be a challenge. The team has overcome a great deal this season and were ready to come together as a team and battle for a championship.  

Field Event Highlights:

The throwers got the team off to a strong start. Dmitry Derbedyenyev (Sr.) had a big meet. He continued to set the positive tone for the Giant Throws crew. Despite rolling his ankle during warm-ups, Derbedyenyev came through in the varsity shot put with a 3rd place finish. He threw a solid 44’7.5”. In the discus, Derbedyenyev had a big personal best of 141’11” to take 2nd place. Max Sukenik (So.) stepped up on varsity to take 6th place with a near personal best throw of 119’4”. Alexandros Drosos (Jr.) got the opportunity to throw at the conference meet and took advantage with a personal best 35’11.5” throw. In the frosh-soph discus, Constantine Soutsos (So.) took 3rd place and Jacob Both (Fr.) finished in 4th place. They each threw over 100 feet, with Soutsos getting a toss of 106’7” and Both got a mark of 103’3”. The frosh-soph shot put event had Ismael Vazquez (So.) taking 4th for the Giants and Both finished in 5th place. They threw 36’7.75” and 36’2.75”.  

Russell Czerwinski (Sr.) continued his winning ways in the varsity high jump. He cleared 6’2.75” to easily win the event. Jayden Corchado (Fr.) cleared a personal best 5’3” to tie for 4th place on frosh-soph. Jude White (Fr.) was near his best height as he cleared 4’7”.

Gavin Flory (Jr.) was hindered by some injury issues, but still cleared 10’3” in the varsity pole vault. Yonatan Garfinkel (Sr.) cleared a personal best 9’9” in his first season as a pole vaulter. On frosh-soph, Will Redmond (So.) matched his best as he cleared 8’0”. 

In the varsity long jump, Lincoln Seidman (Jr.) jumped a season best 18’6” to take 6th place. Alex Knight (Sr.) also jumped 18’6” and took 7th place. Ari Rosenthal (Fr.) had a big personal best jump of 16’10”. Elliott Schraub (Fr.) also had a personal best jump as he got a mark of 16’2.5”. 

Czerwinski (Sr.) added a 1st place in the varsity triple jump to help the team build up the points in the field events. He jumped a big personal best of 44’1.5”. This is 10th all-time outdoors at HPHS. William Sheahen (So.) jumped to a 6th place finish as he got a personal best mark of 33’3” in the frosh-soph triple jump. Luca Ritchie (Fr.) was able to get a mark of 30’6.5”. 

Track Event Highlights:

The HP frosh-soph 4X800 meter relay ran well and took 2nd place. The team consisted of Lowell Redmond (So.), David Miller (So.), Joey Naftzger (So.), and Spencer Pedraza (So.). Redmond led off with a solid 2:19.3. Miller got the baton and raced to a 2:23.8 split. Naftzger ran a big personal best split of 2:23.9 (his previous best was 2:27). Pedraza anchored the team with a 2:21.5. Varsity also finished in 2nd place. Usiel Rodriguez (Jr.) led them off with a 2:05.3. Henry Gamson (So.) was next with a slight personal best split of 2:06.2. Luke Rhoads (Sr.) ran a personal best split of 2:08.2. Barak Goldstein (Sr.) made a great effort to chase down the leader from Niles West, but it was too big of a lead despite a 1:57.0 split. 

The frosh-soph 4X100 meter relay team of Mishkin Filstrup (Fr.), Jonathan Blidee (Fr.), Corchado, and Both ran :46.60. Their time was good enough for 2nd place. The varsity quartet was unfortunately DQed due to a handoff zone violation. 

In the frosh-soph 3200 meter run, Josh Brown (So.) ran well as he raced to a personal best 10:30.32 to take 2nd place. Logan Liu (So.) was able to run 10:56.81 to finish in 6th place. Nate Wehner (Sr.) wasn’t able to stay with the leader from Niles North after the first 5 or so laps of the race. Wehner ended up cruising in with a 9:48.06 for 2nd place. Lucas Hoobler (So.) raced tough and was able to finish in 4th place. Hoobler ran sub 10 minutes for the first time with a 9:56.98 finish. 

Elliott Schraub (Fr.) took 6th place in the frosh-soph high hurdle race with a 19.94. On varsity, Lachlan Knapp (Jr.) and Oliver Baterdene (Sr.) took 7th and 8th place. They both ran personal best times with Knapp finishing in 17.13 and Baterdene with a 17.91.

The HP freshmen sprinters continue to race to impressive times. After the all freshmen 4X100 took 2nd place, Filstrup and Corchado came back to place 4th and 6th in the frosh-soph 100 meter dash. They both ran sub 12 seconds with an 11.83 and 11.96. In the varsity race, Lukaas Nales (Sr.) ran a season best 11.37 to take 6th place. Damian Zuno (Sr.) ran a solid 12.04. 

The frosh-soph 800 meter run was a thrilling race with 3 competitors running shoulder to shoulder down the final stretch. Two of those 800 runners were from HP. Daniel Doyle (So.) outkicked the other two runners to win the event in a big personal best time of 2:06.56. Just behind him, in 2nd place, was teammate Truman Evans (So.). He also raced to a personal best time as he crossed the line in 2:07.18. The varsity 800 race was also exciting as Robert Oboza (Sr.) took 2nd place in a personal best 1:59.24. Zach Coren finished in 4th place, running 2:01.97.

The HP frosh-soph got another 2nd place finish in a sprint relay as they took 2nd place in the 4X200 meter relay. The team of Filstrup, Blidee, Hayden Tortora (So.), and Corchado ran a season best 1:38.13 in the event. The varsity squad of Eddy Picazo (Sr.), Quentin Kelley (Jr.), Ben Kerch (Sr.) and Tyler Rosenthal (Sr.) ran near their season best time to take 4th place. The relay team finished in 1:36.68.

Gal Raviv (So.) ran a solid :55.51 to take 3rd place in the frosh-soph 400 meter dash. Gabriel Jackson (Fr.) was 5th with a time of :56.90. Nales won the varsity 400 in a time of :49.96 which was his best outdoor time this season so far. Doug Anderson (Sr.) ran in his first open 400 of the season since suffering an injury early during the indoor season. Anderson finished in 2nd place and ran :52.89. 

Schraub finished in :49.70 for the frosh-soph 300 intermediate hurdle race. Preston Reed (Fr.) crossed the line in a personal best time of :52.53 for the event. The HP varsity hurdlers came up big in this event. Knapp ran an impressive personal best :41.66 to take 2nd place. Czerwinski competed in his 3rd event of the night and took an impressive 3rd place (after being seeded 6th). He ran a personal best :42.02. 

Brown matched his 3200 finish with another 2nd place in the frosh-soph 1600 meter run. Brown raced tough and crossed the line in 4:57.95. Liu also came back from racing the 3200 and battled to a strong finish in 3rd place. He also ran under 5 minutes with a time of 4:59.02. Wehner and Goldstein worked together to try to get big points for HP in the varsity 1600. Wehner was ahead of Goldstein as the race headed into the last lap. Goldstein came storming back and caught Wehner. The two teammates pushed each other to hold off a runner from Niles West with Goldstein taking 2nd (4:30.68) and Wehner 3rd (4:30.76). 

Filstrup finished off his busy day by taking 3rd in his 4th event of the night, the frosh-soph 200 meter dash. He ran a solid :24.31. Tortora raced to a personal best :25.40 to finish in 6th place. Anderson raced in the 200 for the first time this outdoor season. He ran a :23.61 to take 5th place. Kelley raced to a :24.06 in the event. 

The frosh-soph 4X400 meter relay team of Raviv (:56.0), Doyle (:54.4 - over a 1 second PR), Reed (:58.6 - a nearly 1 second PR), and Blidee (:56.7) take 2nd place. They finished in a strong 3:45.86. Varsity had a great race with Czerwinski (in his 4th event!) leading off in a :53.4. Coren was next and split a personal best :51.5. Oboza also split his best time with a :51.8. Nales ran the anchor leg for the victory and split a :50.0 with no other teams close. HP ran their season best time of 3:26.88.   

The frosh-soph team ended up taking 3rd place. Varsity made a big comeback after being down by over 40 points during the meet, but it wasn't enough. HP came in 2nd place on varsity by just 10 points to Niles West. Failure is an opportunity to learn and grow individually as well as collectively for this team.    

Despite the disappointment of not winning the team championship, the entire coaching staff was proud of the team and the overall performance considering how much they have had to overcome this season. 

HP had 13 All-Conference Athletes:

Rodriguez, Gamson, Rhoads, Goldstein, Wehner, Hoobler, Oboza, Coren, Nales, Anderson, Knapp, Czerwinski, and Derbedyenyev. 

Giant of the Meet Nominations:

Frosh-Soph:

Josh Brown - PR 3200 10:30.32 2nd place and near PR 1600 4:57.95 2nd place.

Preston Reed - PR 300IH :52.53 and stepped in to run on the 4X400 with PR split of :58.6 (2nd place).

Mishkin Filstrup - 4 events: ran lead-off leg for both 4X100 (2nd) and 4X200 (2nd), 4th in the 100 11.83, and 3rd in the 200 :24.31. 

Daniel Doyle - Huge PR in the 800 to take 1st place in 2:06.56 and PR split (:54.4) in 4X400 for 2nd place.

Varsity:

Russell Czerwinski - 4 events: 1st HJ 6’2.75”, 1st TJ PR 44’1.5” #10 all-time at HPHS, 1st in the 4X400 with :53.4 lead-off leg, and 3rd in the 300IH with PR :42.02.

Dmitry Derbedyenyev - 3rd in SP 44’7.5” and 2nd in discus with a PR of 141’11”.

Lachlan Knapp - PR in the 110HH of :17.13 and PR in the 300IH for 2nd in :41.66.

Lukaas Nales - 100m 6th 11.37, 400m 1st :49.96, and anchor of 4X400 1st.

Giants of the Meet:

Frosh-Soph: Josh Brown

Varsity: Russell Czerwinski