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hplandmark.com Sports<br />
the highland park landmark | May 24, 2018 | 29<br />
Boys Track and Field<br />
Giants’ 19-year state run ends<br />
Brittany Kapa, Sports Editor<br />
New Trier coach Mark<br />
Wakus said it best when he<br />
described just how much<br />
pressure the Loyola Academy<br />
sectional put on athletes.<br />
“Everyone is dying to get<br />
to the state meet, this is the<br />
meet where you really have<br />
to bring it,” he said.<br />
Some athletes rose to<br />
the occasion while others<br />
cracked under pressure<br />
Thursday, May 17, in Wilmette.<br />
New Trier finished on<br />
top of the area schools<br />
with a second-place finish,<br />
scoring 59 points but<br />
fell well behind Evanston’s<br />
110-point win. Highland<br />
Park didn’t fare as well<br />
and finished last of the 16<br />
teams with seven points.<br />
“We’ve had some good<br />
efforts but overall (today)<br />
is not great,” Highland<br />
Park coach Steve Buti said.<br />
“Our guys that we thought<br />
had a chance, a couple of<br />
them came real close.”<br />
That was the story of<br />
the day for the sectional.<br />
With colder than average<br />
temperatures and a strong,<br />
cold wind, times were significantly<br />
slower than normal.<br />
The wind helped one<br />
group of athletes: the pole<br />
vaulters.<br />
Highland Park’s Ben<br />
Kirsch, a junior, hit a personal<br />
best of 13 feet during<br />
the event. He finished third<br />
in the event but six inches<br />
off the qualifying height<br />
for state.<br />
“We were with the wind,<br />
so it was a nice tailwind so<br />
I was able to get up on bigger<br />
poles,” Kirsch said.<br />
Kirsch had been stuck<br />
at the same height for a<br />
while, so to be able to<br />
break through that barrier<br />
Highland Park senior Michael Menaker runs the first leg<br />
of the 800-meter relay at the Loyola Academy sectional<br />
Thursday, May 17, in Wilmette. Carlos Alvarez/22nd<br />
Century Media<br />
at sectional was an accomplishment.<br />
“I’ve been stuck at 12–6<br />
for a couple weeks in a<br />
row,” he said. “I finally put<br />
it together today and it felt<br />
really good.”<br />
Just missing the state<br />
mark motivates Kirsch for<br />
next season, he said.<br />
“Getting a PR was great<br />
but it makes me angry that<br />
I didn’t go to state,” Kirsch<br />
said. “It gives me more<br />
motivation for next year,<br />
especially not making state<br />
on misses.”<br />
Jack Casey, another junior<br />
on the team, topped<br />
out at 5–8 for the high<br />
jump and finish tied for<br />
11th. Buti said he is excited<br />
to see what Casey<br />
can put together for next<br />
season.<br />
Senior Alec Glazier finished<br />
10th in the 3,200-meter<br />
race and But said that<br />
was an impressive run for<br />
him in that group.<br />
The Giants 800 relay<br />
team, comprised of Michael<br />
Menaker, Andrew<br />
Derdena, Zion Griffin and<br />
Sedric Gonzalez, finished<br />
6th at the meet with a<br />
1:36.89.<br />
“That was a big accomplishment<br />
for them especially<br />
with this sectional<br />
being so tough,” Buti said.<br />
“There were definitely<br />
some positives.”<br />
Griffin, a freshman, will<br />
be the lone returner for<br />
next season.<br />
Both mile runners will<br />
be back next season and<br />
Buti said he hopes that this<br />
experience will help them<br />
next year during sectionals.<br />
“We just hope that<br />
they can learn from that<br />
and build on it and come<br />
back,” he continued. “The<br />
toughest part about this<br />
sport is that you have to do<br />
it on the day. We’ve seen<br />
it across the board, people<br />
falling before the line, people<br />
not hitting the mark that<br />
they’ve hit all year.”<br />
“It’s sport. It’s hard and<br />
it’s hard to help them get<br />
through it when it doesn’t<br />
go their way.”<br />
The hardest part of the<br />
day for the Giants to deal<br />
with was knowing that by<br />
not qualifying even one<br />
person for state ended a 19-<br />
year run for the team.<br />
“We’re still proud of<br />
them, they still came out<br />
and they competed,” Buti<br />
said. “It ends a streak of<br />
state qualifiers for us since<br />
1999. It’s kind of a rough<br />
pill to swallow.”<br />
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