HP Varsity Win Twilight Invite; Frosh-Soph Take Second

After three cold and windy open meets to start the 2013 outdoor season the Highland Park Twilight Invite arrived with a possibility of being cancelled.   Throughout the state, track & field meets were being called off due to extreme flooding, strong wind, and very cold temperatures.   With the exception of the shot put and discus events, which were cancelled due to flooding, the rest of the Twilight Invite took place as scheduled in the wind, cold and SNOW!

Despite the adverse conditions, the Giants were ready to compete.   The varsity won the meet title with 156 points.  They were ahead of second place Grayslake North with 115 points.   The frosh-soph finished in second place with 125 points.   They were behind the New Trier team that scored 151 points.

Varsity Field Events

In terrible pole vaulting conditions, junior Alec Deer took first (10’00”) and senior Ethan Tannenbaum second (9’6”). 

Junior Benjy Rogin had a strong performance in the triple jump.   He finished in 2^nd place with a jump of 40’00”. 

Junior Shealtiel Isreal finished in 3^rd place in both the high jump (5’4”) and the long jump (16’7”).

Varsity Sprints

The only first place finish in the sprints was by senior Andrew Sledd in the 100 meter dash (11.02).

In the hurdles, Rogin finished 2^nd in the 110 meter race (16.1) and 3^rd in the 300 meter hurdles race (43.9).

Sophomore JP Leskovich placed 2^nd in the 400 meter dash (54.2).

Varsity Distance

The varsity distance runners knew that conditions would make it challenging to run fast times, but they accepted the challenge and competed with heart.

In the 4X800 meter relay, the lead off legs all got out slow and junior Jeremy Bloom (2:11.7) put the Giants in 3^rd.  Sophomore Ben Casey (2:05.5) got the team into second but still had a large gap behind the leader.   Senior Enrique Barragan (2:06.3) ran a courageous 3^rd leg to pull even with the leader from Grayslake North as he handed off to senior Jacob Perl.  Perl (2:09.2) was able to pull away and give HP the victory in 8:32.6. 

In the 3200 meter run it was a slow start once again.   After lap 4, junior Angel Estrada and senior Emmett Smith began to push the pace through the wind and drop their competitors.   Estrada finished in 9:56.9 while Smith was 2^nd in 10:01.0.

The 800 meter run saw senior Jonah Hanig pull away for the win in a time of 2:01.5 while junior Griffin Bojan was 4^th in 2:05.5. 

Hanig came back in the 1600 meter run to hold off his fast closing teammate Estrada as they went 1-2 in the event (4:31.5 and 4:31.9).    

Frosh-Soph Field Events

In the pole vault, sophomore Eddie Smoliak set a frosh-soph meet record by winning the event in 11’3” despite less then ideal vaulting conditions.

Frosh-Soph Sprints

Sophomore Deven Greenleaf and freshmen Ryan Kriozere competed well in the hurdles.   Greenleaf won both the 110’s and 300’s (17.7 and 44.7) while Kriozere was 3^rd in the 110’s (18.5) and 2^nd in the 300’s (46.6).

Sophomore Sammy Coan won the 100 meter dash in 11.51.

Frosh-Soph Distance

The frosh-soph distance runners struggled under the conditions and against a very strong New Trier distance squad.   The only individuals to finish in the top 3 were freshmen Brett Davidson in the 3200 meter run (3^rd, 10:34.2) and sophomore Andrew Huddleston in the 1600 meter run (3^rd, 5:00.1).