Kane County Chronicle 2024-25 Boys track and field Athlete of the Year: Kaneland’s Freddy Hassan

Freddy Hassan wanted to make sure he got back onto the podium at the state meet in Charleston.

The Kaneland senior, who earned All-State honors in the high jump in both his sophomore and junior seasons, was willing to do anything to make sure he attained that goal.

So much so that he couldn’t even wait for basketball season to end before getting into track and field shape.

“Toward the end of the [basketball] season, I started doing a lot more plyometrics and found time to hit legs in the weight room,” Hassan said. “And even after that season ended, there was a three-week break before outdoor track where I was just lifting probably four times a week.

“It’s all that I would think about. I did not want to end this season without a medal at state.”

The work paid off in a bigger way than he could have hoped for.

Hassan closed out his high school track and field career with a personal-best jump of 2.02 meters (6 feet, 7.5 inches) in the Class 3A high jump, securing second place at the state meet for his third straight All-State medal.

For his accomplishments, Hassan is the 2025 Kane County Chronicle Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

“The bigger the meet and the better the competition, the more locked in he would be,” Kaneland coach Andy Drendel said. “He looked forward to jumping against other good athletes, but when the crossbar is up and there’s other guys jumping around him, he wants to win and his gears are rolling. He’s a lot of fun to watch.”

Hassan’s journey to the podium was a bit different than his junior season, when he left the team before coming back midway through the season and fighting his way to a seventh-place finish at state.

In his senior season, Hassan wanted to be locked in from the first gun.

“It just came with showing up to practice and working hard as much as I can,” Hassan said. “I just tried to show up to as much as I could and stay focused whenever I was at a meet. I wanted to be a good leader for my team because when everyone else is doing good, it’s a lot easier for you to do good as well.”

His leadership led to consistent points for the Knights throughout the season. Hassan never finished lower than third in a meet throughout the season, even when he was stuck at 1.93 meters (6 feet, 4 inches) for five consecutive meets leading into the state meet.

“He definitely had some frustrations throughout the year, especially that he wasn’t going any higher,” Drendel said. “But in order to raise your ceiling, you’ve got to raise your floor. And he never reverted back from that. He always just stayed consistent until he put it all together.”

The point where he put it all together was at the state meet, where he cleared 2.02 meters to beat his personal-best from his sophomore year, which was 2.01 meters.

Considering Hassan had jumped from 180 pounds up to 215 in those two years, it came as a bit of a shock but was something he definitely could live with.

“I honestly thought I couldn’t jump this high because I’ve gained a good amount of muscle since back then,” Hassan said. “But it feels great. Looking back on how much work I had to put to get here, it’s crazy. It takes me back to when I was a freshman doing track for the first time. I wasn’t sure what to expect or what would come out of the sport, but everything ended up working out.”

Hassan ends his career as the only Kaneland jumper to be a three-time All-Stater. He joined Mark Claypool as one of only two Kaneland athletes to earn All-State honors in the same event three times during their high school careers.

Although Hassan is a bit further away than most athletes at Kaneland because he lives in the southernmost part of the district in Montgomery County, Drendel said there’s no question about the impact Hassan will leave behind with the program.

“He just bleeds black and white, and he’s just as, if not more, of a Knight than any other athlete that I’ve ever had,” Drendel said. “It’s been just really cool to see him completely dive in and being proud to represent this school and this program.”