HP Competes at Deerfield Open

The Deerfield Open was rained out on the Monday it was scheduled to take place. Only Highland Park was able to return the next day to compete against Deerfield. The Giants had some nice end of season personal bests at the meet.

Field Event Highlights:

The throwers had several personal best marks in the shot put. Devin Symonette (Jr.) led the way with an outdoor best of 38’9.5”. Alexandros Drosos (Jr.) threw his personal best with a toss of 36’1.5”. Leo Buss (Fr.) got over 25 feet for the first time with a throw of 25’2”. Tanner Grant (Sr.) ended his career with a personal best throw of 20’1.75”. In the discus, the Giants once again had several personal best throws. Jacob Both (Fr.) threw a massive best of 118’1.25”. His previous best was 104’10”. Rodrigo Sanchez (Jr.) and Drosos both had the same personal best marks in discus to end their season with a mark of 85’1”. Finally, Justin Lopez (Fr.) had his personal best throw by going 72’9”. This was just over a 12 foot improvement! 

In the long jump, HP had only a few freshmen and a sophomore jumping. Elliott Schraub (Fr.) jumped his best with a mark of 16’5.75”. Ari Rosenthal (Fr.) was over 16 feet again with a jump of 16’3”. Vasco Leite (Fr.) had a 1 foot improvement as he jumped 15’11.5”. Luca Ritchie jumped 14’2.25”. Matthew Nielsen (So.) had his best jump as he went 13’10.25”. 

Preston Reed (Fr.) competed in the triple jump for only the second time this season. He jumped a personal best 31’5.75”. Rosenthal did the triple jump for the first time this season and was able to get a solid 30’10.25”.

Jude White (Fr.) had an outdoor personal best to win the high jump in 4’9”. 

Will Redmond (So.) got a personal best in the pole vault as he got over the bar at 8’6”. 

Track Event Highlights:

Schraub continued his success in the hurdles with another sub 20 performance in the 110 meter high hurdles. He ran 19.74 for the event.

In the 100 meter dash, HP had some solid performances. Owen Murphy (Sr.) led the way in 12.57. Connor Edelstein (Sr.) ran a personal best 12.66. Oliver Baterdene (Sr.) raced in the 100 for the first time this season and ran 12.78. Nityananda Amin (So.) broke 13 for the first time by finishing in 12.82. Reed also ran his best time in 13.31. Rosenthal was the next fastest time with a best of 13.35. White ran the event in 13.58. 

Jonathan Blidee (Fr.) recently started running some fast 4X400 splits. At this meet he ran the open 400 meter dash for the first time. He crossed the line in an impressive :56.56. Hayden Tortora (So.) ran :59.15 as the next HP finisher. Leite had run 1:04 for the 400 as his previous best, but crossed the line at this meet in 1:00.42 for a big PR. Ethan Glovsky (So.) ran right at his best time as he just missed breaking 1:00 for the event as he finished in 1:00.58. Reed raced to a 1:01.26 as the next HP finisher. Josh Alberts (Fr.) raced the 400 for the first time and ran a solid 1:04.18. 

HP had only two competitors in the 300 intermediate hurdles. Edelstein ran :45.90 while Baterdene crossed the line in :46.88.

In the 1600 meter run, Luke Rhoads (Sr.) led the way as he ran his best time of 4:44.08. Daniel Doyle (So.) has been having a strong outdoor season and he finished it off with a 1600 PR running 4:56.58 to go sub 5 minutes for the first time. Logan Liu (So.) was next in at 5:00.26. Lowell Redmond (So.) was just a second off his best time with a 5:12.22. Spencer Pedraza (So.) finished off his successful season with a personal best 5:22.68. Robby Mendoza (Jr.) was right around his best time with a 5:44.72. Joaquin Rivera (Fr.) ran a solid 6:11.38 while Maksar Oyurskiy (Fr.) raced to a personal best 6:20.51. 

Edelstein led the way in the 200 meter dash with another personal best by racing to a :25.72. Tortora was the next HP finisher in :26.03. Amin ran a nearly 2 second best with a :26.40. W. Redmond ran his best time with a :27.13. Leite added another personal best for the meet with a time of :27.47. Reed also ran a PR as he crossed the line in :27.76. 

The 4X400 meter relay was won by HP. The team of Blidee (1:00.4), Doyle (1:00.0), Tortora (1:04.8), and Rhoads (1:00.4) ran 4:05.73 to take the victory. 

When the meet got moved to Tuesday, not everyone that was scheduled to compete on Monday was able to make it. Despite missing those athletes, HP had a strong showing and came home with numerous personal best performances. It was a nice way to end the season on a high note for so many. 

Giant of the Meet Nominations:

Connor Edelstein - 3 Events and offered to jump in the 4X400 if needed: 100m PR 12.66, 300IH :45.90, 200m PR :25.72.

Will Redmond - PV PR 8’6” and 200m PR :27.13.

Vasco Leite - LJ PR by 1 foot 15’11.5”, 400m PR 1:00.42, and 200m PR :27.47.

Nityananda Amin - 100m PR 12.82 and 200m PR 26.40.

Alexandros Drosos -  SP PR 36’1.5” and Discus PR 85’1”.

Giants of the Meet:

Connor Edelstein