Dominguez Leads The Giants With 9th Place Finish at EIU Showdown

The Highland Park High School boys cross country team headed to Neuqua Valley High School for the EIU Showdown. This is a meet in which each team has at least one coach that went to Eastern Illinois University. It also featured two of the top teams in the state of Illinois, Downers Grove North and Plainfield North. The Giants were excited to get the season started with a challenging test to measure up against some great teams. 

In the varsity race, Dylan Dominguez (Jr.) got out well and was within the top 10. Juniors Lucas Hoobler and Henry Gamson were together and in the top 20. After the top 3, HP had too big of a drop off to the next pack of teammates. Hoobler and Gamson ended up getting fairly close to Dominguez before he took off with his usual fast final portion of the race. Dominguez ended up taking 9th place in 16:03.27. He joins an elite group of HP runners that have placed top 10 in previous years at this competitive meet. Hoobler took 14th place in a personal best of 16:14.98 while Gamson also ran his best 3 mile time of 16:16.96. 

The next finisher for HP was Usiel Rodriguez (Sr.). He ran 18:01.80 to take 38th place. The team will need Rodriguez and his teammates to be more aggressive in their racing to close the gap on the top pack. As one of only a handful of freshmen that battled in the 3 mile race, Theo Soifer was the Giants next finisher. He ran well in his first high school race to help the team as the fifth man and top freshmen in the race with an 18:12.20. Makenna Duggan (So.) had a breakthrough race to be in the team’s varsity top 7. Duggan ran a personal best 18:38.38 after only running 20:10.5 last year for 3 miles. Spencer Pedraza (Jr.) was another HP runner to step up with a big time race. He ran a personal best 19:09.57 and finished in 58th place after finishing 116th last year at this meet.

Juniors Logan Liu and Josh Brown did not have their best races, but will bounce back at the next meet. Liu ran 19:22.66 while Brown, battling stomach issues this season, hung on to run 19:34.65. 

The next finisher for the Giants was Lowell Redmond (Jr.). He ran a 19:43.37 and moved up well for the 3 mile race to take 67th place. Last year, Redmond finished in 109th place. The next two HP finishers ran personal best 3 mile times. Gabriel Jackson (So.) ran 19:51.91 with a strong final kick. Joaquin Martinez (So.) went out strong and even ran his first mile faster than his timed mile just a few weeks ago. He ended up finishing in 19:52.88 for an almost 1 minute personal best. Tristan Perkes (Fr.) was the only other Giant to run under 20 minutes. His 19:57.45 was a solid starting time for a freshman. He also had a strong finishing sprint. 

Shea Jackson (Fr.) got out the first mile near his timed time with a 6:23. He held on well to run a solid 20:14.71. Quentin Kelley (Sr.) got out well in the first mile, but faded a bit in the second mile. Kelley showed his toughness as he bounced back in the final mile and had a good kick to run 20:22.09. 

Vasco Leite (So.) ran a huge personal best for 3 miles. He raced to a 21:41.87 after only having a best time of 24:53.40 last season. Nate Goldberg (So.) was just a few seconds behind Leite in a solid time of 21:45.88. 

Karl Bankson (So.) was another HP runner that got out faster than his timed mile with a 6:51. He battled tough as he is just returning from a hip injury to run 22:43.75. Logan Berghoff (Sr.) just missed his best time from last season with a 23:17.46. He finished in 100th place after being in 120th place last season at this meet. Chase Temple (Fr.) raced tough as he got out faster than his timed mile with a 7:02. He ended up finishing in 23:43.98. Joaquin Rivera (So.) got out well, but was unable to hold his position and got stuck with the challenge of racing much of the race with very few competitors near him. He will look to stay in better contact with others in the next race to help pull him to an even faster time. He finished this race in 26:42.43.

The varsity ended up taking 4th place, just 2 points behind Neuqua Valley HS. The team knows there is much work to be done, but also that once everyone is back racing, the results will be even better. 

Highland Park only had 7 runners competing in the 2 mile frosh-soph race. Those that raced did well and showed that their hard work is starting to pay off.

The Giants were led by Caleb Haggarty (Fr.) with a 12:49.17 for the 2 mile race. His average time for 2 miles was faster than what he ran his timed mile in just a few weeks ago. This race he ran 6:24.5 pace and his timed mile was 6:33! Not far behind was Giancarlo Aguirre (Fr.) in 12:55.34. His average time was just over his timed mile of 6:25. 

HP had a nice pack of three freshmen that finished next. Manuel Jauregui crossed the line in a solid time of 14:33.39. His average pace per mile, like his teammates, was faster than his timed mile. He even ran sub 7 for the first time in the first mile of the race. Jace Bennett also ran well with a time of 14:38.80 for the 2 mile race. His first mile was just a few seconds off his timed mile from a few weeks ago. Charlie Szot ran well and kept his focus despite having one of his racing shoes getting misplaced and having to last second race in his trainers. Szot came across the finish line in 14:46.23. This group of freshmen, along with those that raced 3 miles, have a bright future if they continue to make the commitment to put in the work this season and in the years to follow.  

Sam Waters (So.) was the next HP finisher. He raced tough despite having a foot/ankle issue this season. Waters finished the 2 mile race in 16:33.75. Russell Bleiman (So.) got out well as he raced faster than his timed mile run earlier this season by 37 seconds. Even his average pace per mile for 2 miles was faster than his timed mile as he pushed himself to a personal best 18:26.48. His previous best was 20:38.2!. 

Overall a nice start for Highland Park with many things to be proud of and excited about. The meet also highlighted the places the team needs to improve. Big things to come on all levels for this fierce group of competitors.