2 Freshmen School Records Set at New Trier Frosh-Soph Invite

Highland Park competed in the New Trier Frosh-Soph Invite. 8 high quality track & field programs participated in the invite. The meet allowed for freshmen to compete against freshmen and sophomores against sophomores. The strong competition brought out the best in the Giants. 

Field Event Highlights:

In the discus, HP took 2nd and 3rd place on the freshmen level. Jacob Both threw a personal best 96’6”. Henry Flory also threw a personal best with a toss of 89’1”. Both and Flory combined to score significant points for the team in this event. At the sophomore level, Max Sukenik threw 113’2” to take 2nd place. Constantine Soutsos got a mark of 102’3” and finished in 5th place. 

Both won another individual shot put title at an invite this season. He took first place for freshmen with a toss of 35’2”. Justin Lopez took 4th place and threw 29’11.5”. For the sophomores, Ismael Vazquez threw near his personal best with a distance of 37’0.25” to earn 4th place. Sukenik threw an outdoor personal best of 34’6.75”. 

In the sophomore pole vault, Will Redmond tied his personal best at 8’0”. 

Jude White cleared an outdoor personal best in the freshmen high jump competition. He got over the bar at 4’7.75”. 

In the triple jump, William Sheahen (So.) had the best mark of the day for the Giants with a 31’7.25” jump. Matthew Nielsen (So.) jumped a personal best 29’3.75”. Luca Ritchie was near his best mark with a 29’1” jump.

Elliott Schraub (Fr.) led the way for the HP long jumpers. His mark of 15’10.25” was a personal best. Sheahen was the next furthest HP jumper with a personal best 14’8.75”. Preston Reed (Fr.) was next best at 13’6.75”. Nielsen got another personal best with a 13’4” jump. 

Track Event Highlights:

Track events got off to a great start for HP. The sophomore 4X800 battled the entire race with New Trier. Logan Liu got the team off to a great start with a 2:14.7 split. David Miller was next and ran tough with a 2:22.3 split. Joey Naftzger battled to keep the team in the race behind New Trier with a 2:32.8. Spencer Pedraza was the lead off leg and was behind New Trier’s anchor leg by a significant amount. Pedraza began to close the gap and when he came off the final turn, he put on a burst of speed to pass New Trier and get the team victory with a big personal best split of 2:17.5. The team won with a total time of 9:27.64. 

The next event that the Giants competed in was the freshmen 4X100 meter relay. The team of Mishkin Filstrup, Jonathan Blidee, Jayden Corchado, and Jacob Both executed solid handoffs and sprinted to a fast time of :45.86. This won the event and set a new HP freshmen school record. The old record was set back in 1970! This was an impressive display of focus, trust, hard work, and speed by the young sprinters. 

Joaquin Martinez ran a nearly 1 minute personal best in the freshmen 3200 meter run. He raced to an 11:58.24. Josh Brown finished with a 10:52.89 in the sophomore race. 

In the freshmen 110 meter high hurdles race, Schraub broke 20 seconds for the first time with a 19.76. This was fast enough to win the event as Schraub continues to develop into a very good hurdler. 

In the freshmen 100 meter dash, HP took 3rd and 6th. Filstrup finished with a personal best 12.06 and Blidee also ran his best time with a 12.70. In the sophomore 100, Hayden Tortora ran a 12.64. 

Truman Evans and Daniel Doyle worked together to both run their best times in the sophomore 800 meter run. Evans took 2nd place in a personal best 2:09.61. Doyle also ran his best time as he crossed the line in 2:10.86 for 3rd place. 

In the freshmen 400 meter dash, Gabriel Jackson ran an impressive personal best :55.28 to take 2nd place in the event. Gal Raviv was able to also run a big time personal best. He won the sophomore race in :55.06. Ethan Glovsky ran a near best time trying to go sub 1:00 for the first time with a 1:00.77. 

Schraub came back with another strong hurdle race in the freshmen 300 meter intermediate hurdle race. He took 2nd place in a near personal best :48.86. Reed raced to the finish in :54.28. 

In the freshmen 1600 meter run, Makena Duggan ran a big personal best 5:27.84. Lucas Hoobler and Henry Gamson went to the front of the sophomore race early and never looked back. They pulled away, with Gamson leading a majority of the race and Hoobler right with him. Down the final stretch, Hoobler got by Gamson for the victory with his best time running 4:44.16. Gamson was right behind in 2nd place in a time of 4:44.71.  

The freshmen 200 meter dash saw more impressive speed from the Giants. Filstrup ran an extremely fast :23.37 for the event. This is a new HP school freshmen record! The old record was :23.44 set in 1963. Corchado raced the 200 for the first time this season and took 4th place running :24.44. Glovsky came back in the 200 with a personal best :27.10. 

The freshmen got off to a fast start in the 4X400 meter relay with Jackson leading off in a :56.4. Reed held the lead with a split of 1:00.3. Schraub competed in his 4th event with a :59.9 split. The team needed a last minute replacement for the 4X400 and Blidee stepped up for the team and ran a fantastic :57.0 split in his first 400 of the season. The Giants won the event in 3:53.51. The sophomores were successful as well. Raviv led off with a :56.6 before handing off to Tortora. He split a :59.8 and then gave the baton to Doyle for a :57.0 split. Evans ran the anchor in :56.7 to secure the victory for HP. The team ran a solid 3:50.01.

The freshmen ended up finishing in 2nd place as a team behind Glenbrook North. The sophomores were 3rd as they finished behind Maine South and team champion New Trier. This was an exciting meet for the Giants as the future of HP boys track & field is in good hands. The goal is to keep each of these freshmen and sophomore student-athletes staying committed and working hard for the next 3 years.        

Giant of the Meet Nominations:

Freshmen:

Mishkin Filstrup - 3rd in the 100m PR 12.06 and 2 freshmen school records: 1st place 4X100 at :45.86 and 1st in the 200m with a :23.37. 

Jonathan Blidee - 3 events 6th in the 100m 12.70 PR, 1st in the freshmen school record 4X100 :45.86, and subbed in for the 4X400 anchor with a :57.0 1st place finish.

Elliott Schraub - 4 events: 110HH1st place in PR 19.76, 300IH 2nd place :48.86, LJ PR 15’10.25”, and asked to be put in a relay and ran 4X400 1st place :59.9.

Henry Flory - 3rd place in the discus with a big PR of 89’1”. 

Joaquin Martinez - a nearly 1 minute PR in the 3200m at 11:58.24.

Sophomores:

Spencer Pedraza - Impressive anchor leg in the 4X800 with PR split of 2:17.5 to come from behind and get the 1st place finish.

Matthew Nielsen - 2 PRs in his first meet back from injury. LJ 13’4” and TJ 29’3.75”.

Hayden Tortora - His preparation and focus led to a PR in the 100m at 12.64 and he ran a :59.8 split on the winning 4X400.

Gal Raviv - 1st place in a PR :55.06 for the 400m and led off the winning 4X400 in a :56.6.

Giants of the Meet:

Freshmen: Mishkin Filstrup and Elliott Schruab 

Sophomores: Gal Raviv