Indoor Conference- 3/15/24
Cormick Buti
3/24/2024
On Friday, March 15th, Glenbrook North competed at Evanston Township High School in the CSL South Indoor Conference Meet. The first distance event of the evening was the Frosh/Soph 3200 meter run. The Spartans had two athletes competing, Maxim Djits (So) and Nico Grady (Fr). Djits ran strong up with the front leading pack for the first mile before falling off a bit. He still managed to push through and finish in 8th with a time of 11:18.0 and a season PR. Grady had a tough race and lost contact with the leaders pretty early on but still raced tough and finished in 10th with a time of 12:00.2.
Following that was the Frosh/Soph 4x800 meter relay. This relay was led off by Brady Kalo (So) who started them out strong and ran a new PR of 2:21.5. Kalo then handed off to Charlie Beazley (Fr) for the relay’s second leg. Beazley battled and kept the relay in solid position with a split of 2:30.5. Jack Reynolds (Fr) got the baton next and ran a respectable split of 2:25.3 before handing it off to anchor leg, Nathan Lydon (So). Lydon pushed in the final 800 of the relay and came through with a 2:27.4 and an overall time of 9:44.9 which placed the relay in 3rd.
Next up was the Varsity 4x800 meter relay. Leading them off with the fastest split of the relay was Ben Gricius (Jr) with a 2:19.3 and a new season PR. After him Sam Vishnevskiy (Jr) got the baton and ran a 2:25.6 for another season PR. The third leg was run by Jonah Howard (Jr) who ran a strong leg with a time of 2:26.4. Howard then handed off to Ben Vishnevskiy (Sr) who closed the relay off with 2:31.2 and a final time of 9:42.8, and a 6th place finish.
Then after the 4x8, the varsity 3200 took place. This race was made up of a close field of competitors who were all running very tactically giving a great pack for Matthew Rubin (Sr) and Joseph Considine (Sr) to run with. Rubin had another fantastic performance, sticking with the pack for as long as he could and running nearly even splits, Rubin finished in 8th place with a time of 10:16.7 which was a 5 second PR. Considine (Sr) had an impressive 30 second PR for a time of 10:43.4 and a 12th place finish.
Next up was the Frosh/Soph 800 meter run. For Glenbrook North our very own Sam Epstein (Fr) and Ray Zenimto (Fr) were competing. This race started and both competitors were towards the back of the field. As the race progressed, Epstein ran a very strong race and moved up a place or two every lap and had a powerful kick on his last one to finish him in 5th place with a time of 2:14.4 which was a 3 second PR. Zenimito pushed and battled and went with the athletes around him as they moved up. Zenimito had a strong last lap and he finished in 9th with a time of 2:21.9.
For the Varsity level of the 800 meter, John Ihrke (Sr) and Hayato Majoros (Jr) raced impressive races for the both of them. Ihrke went out and took the lead right out of the gates, with Majoros only a couple seconds behind. Ihrke pushed the pace on the next few laps which forced the race to string out which dropped a few from the front pack including Majoros. Ihrke increased his lead over the following lap and as he went into his last lap he took a peek back and saw his lead. Ihrke slowed down a bit to conserve his energy for later but still finished in first with a 2:00.9. Majoros battled the rest of his race and finished in 8th with a time of 2:10.3 and a one second PR.
Next up was the Frosh/Soph 1600 meter run. After the gun went off, Naoto Majoros (Fr) got out hard and went with the front pack. Evan Bueno (Jr) on the other hand, had a rougher start, getting boxed out and almost tripping over the runners around him. But nonetheless Bueno worked his way up and after a few laps was right up with Majoros. Bueno and Majoros worked together for their next few laps and pushed each other and worked their way up the field. Both athletes had impressive kicks and they stayed neck and neck the whole time, but Bueno finished a hair in front of Majoros in 8th place, with a 7 second PR of 5:04.2. And Majors was right behind him in 9th with a PR of his own at 5:04.8.
At the Varsity level for the 1600, Tucker Roth (Jr) and Cormick Buti (Jr) were up against a tough field of some extremely fast runners. The race got off to a very slow start with lots of pushing around and flat tiring other runners. Both Roth and Buti fell to the back and tried to stay out of the fray but after a few laps the race picked up pace and strung out a bunch. Roth and Buti raced together the entire time and Buti made a big move with two laps to go putting some distance on Roth. But down the final stretch Roth passed Buti back and finished in 8th place with a final time of 4:49.2 and a season PR. Buti finished a second behind him in 9th place with a one second PR of 4:50.1.
Overall, through the lengthy meet, the team placed 6th at the Frosh/Soph level and Varsity placed 5th respectively. The Spartans put on a great performance against some great competition and everyone showed great sportsmanship and camaraderie throughout the meet.
Spartan Of The Meet - Luke King