Chicago Public League Sports Blog

Khairi Bailey of Morgan Park starting to get interested colleges

Khairi Bailey (6-4, 230lbs, DE, jr) of Morgan Park is starting to get some looks at colleges for him to play football. Bailey had a good showing at the recent Core 6 Winter Showcase. Scouts liked his athletic results and at 6-4, 230lbs, they feel he has a good frame for them to develop.

Bailey also recently made an unofficial visit along with Simeon's Brandon Spearman(jr) to the University of Illinois where they got a glimpse into the football program of newly Illini hired coach Tim Beckman. Beckman replaced former head coach Ron Zook. Beckman, the former head coach at Toledo, is stressing more in state recruiting.

Bailey is part of a talented Morgan Park junior class than won conference under first year head coach Jeremy Gold. With so much talent returning, Morgan Park is expected to be better next year and may even challenge again to be one of the elite teams in the CPS.

I'll keep everyone upto date on the latest recruiting news of Khari Bailey.

Baby Indians Feeder Center

If you think Lane sports are good now, can you imagine how much better they will be if/when they develop athletes from their new academic center?

The new Lane Tech Academic Center (LTAC) opened up this fall at Lane. It is an elementary school within Lane Tech open for 7th and 8th graders. Technically, a LTAC student can goto another high school besides Lane. But the reality is most of them are set up to go to Lane after 8th grade.

Below is a list of potential sports LTAC can compete in:

Fall Boys’ & Girls’ Cross Country Boys’ Soccer Girls’ Volleyball Double Dutch (Coed) Girls’ Tennis Flag Football (Coed)

Winter Wrestling Girls' & Boys' Basketball Chess (Coed) Cheerleading Pom-Pons

Spring Boys’ & Girls’ Track Girls’ Soccer Boys’ Volleyball Boys’ Tennis Golf (Coed) Boys’ 16” slow pitch softball Girls’ fast-pitch softball

 

If done right, this looks like the makings of a potentially serious elementary sports feeder program for the school of champions.

CPS Boys Sports State of the Union

On top of the mountain
baketball
chess

On the up
cross country
track
soccer

CPS niche sport
16-inch softball

Country club sports that some schools try
swimming
golf
tennis
water polo
lacrosse

Somehow can't get over the hump
bowling
volleyball
baseball
football

Some progress in a few schools
wrestling
bass fishing

Von Steuben Boys Track Preview

Von Steuben track members approach Alcides Diaz(left) after his surprise 7th place finish in the 800 meter run at last years CPS sophomore meet.

Scoring points at the city meet last was all a bonus for Von Steuben because no one really expected too much from them. So it was a mild surprise to see Von Steuben score 15 points on the way to a 13th place finish at the CPS sophomore meet. At the varsity meet, Von Steuben scored in the 400 meter dash when Michael Gulan finished a repectable 5th in a loaded 400 meter field.

Michael Gulan(sr) will be the name you will hear of the most. He ran as season best 50.39 in the 400 at the Niles West Sectional. He is not too far away from breaking the magical 50 second mark. Gulan can also run the 800 as he qualified for the finals of last year's city meet.

Von Steuben's top sprinter will be powerfully built Edgar Gomez(jr). Gomez finished 6th in the 100 meter run at the CPS sophomore meet. In the fal Gomez battled injuries during the soccer season, so let's hope he is fully recovered.

Also look out for Alcides Diaz(jr) in the 800 meter run. Diaz finished all-city in the 800 at the CPS sophomore meet last year. He did not run the best cross country season, but let's see how he does his junior year in track.

One person that did run well in cross country is senior Duane Ford. Ford ran his first season of cross country last fall and finished as Von's 2nd man only a half second behind #1 man Gulan at the city meet.

All the point scorers return for Von Steuben this year. I'll be keeping an eye on all of them. To me progress in the program will largely be a determined by how much those point scorers develop. I'll also be looking to see how big the Von Steuben team is. If the point scorers improve as a group and if Von recruits more people to their program, I'll be pleased.

Tolerance

What happens to CPS Sports Programs if....

Parents, teachers, coaches, and individuals stop tolerating
tardiness
swearing
smoking
too much video games
too much reality TV
too much junk food
unfunded retirement benefits for teachers
overmarket salaries for teachers
lack of quality CPS elementary school sports programs (besides basketball)
new CPS schools built without adequate athletic facilities
not enough effort to make booster clubs
not doing homework
free lunches that are not actually free
secretarys, band instructors, and drivers instructors earning over $80,000
little effort to attract alumni money
poor school websites
picking winners and losers

You can't change what you tolerate

Taft wins Red-North with win over Foreman

Taft 41 Foreman 38

Tim Reamer(sr-6-4, F) led Taft with 19 points

Taft won it's first conference title since 2001 after a 41-38 win over Foreman. Taft was led by Tim Reamer who scored 19 points.

Foreman had their chances at the end of the game. With 22 seconds left they had the ball down by 3, but they turned the ball over. Then with 5 seconds left Foreman missed a potential game tying 3 pointer.

Taft also beat Foreman in a close game to win the Chicago Shoulders Conference in football.

Congrats to Taft for winning the Red-North conference title!

Red-North Boys Basketball Scoreboard

Von Steuben is quietly having a good season which includes wins over CVS, Rich Central, and gave Taft its only conference loss. Von Steuben plays at Lane today and then travels to Wheaton Warrenville South on Sunday for a rare game against a DuPage Valley opponent.

games 1/24/12
Taft 41 Foreman 38
Schurz 60 Prosser 48
Mather 57 Senn 51
Steinmetz at Lincoln Park
Lane 37 Von Steuben 33

conference standings as of 1/21/12
1.Foreman 7-0
2. Taft 6-1
3. Prosser 5-2
4. Von Steuben 4-2
5. Lane Tech 4-3
6. Schurz 4-3
7. Lincoln Park 2-5
8. Steinmetz 1-6
9. Mather 1-6
10. Senn 0-6

Lane Tech Silent Night 2012

 

The Lane Tech Indians decided to bring an old college basketball tradition into their gymnasium on Addison and Western Avenue in Chicago Illinois. Lane fans sat in complete silence until the Indians' scored their 10th point during their first annual Silent Night game. This game was played against conference rival Taft High School on a Monday evening in front of a packed house at a school of 4000+ students.

Taft 52 Lane Tech 47

The first quarter was close as Taft led Lane only 11-10 at the end of the first quarter.The second quarter was Taft's as they took a 10 point lead into halftime.In the third quarter Taft extended their lead and went into the 4th quarter up 43-29.

A late Lane rally was not enough as Taft held on to a 52-47 win. Lane was led by Sadzic Grahic(sr), Zach Barth(jr), and Admir Suljic(so) who all had 8 points.

The win sets up a Taft vs Foreman showdown for the Red-North conference title.

Lane vs Taft is suddenly relavent

Lane has some size and muscle to compete with Taft's big guys. Pictured above is Lane's 6-5 center Zach Barth(jr). I hear Lane will have a suprise at the 10 point mark.

Lane looked bad in a  disappointing 72-50 loss to Ridgewood on Saturday. I know Ridgewood is improved, but to lose by 22 to them tells you the up and down nature of this Lane team after giving Foreman a good game.

Taft and Lane both lost big Saturday. The difference is Taft lost to state ranked New Trier and Lane got stomped by Ridgewood.

I don't know what will happen Monday when Lane and Taft play.

Both are led by sophomore stars. Taft's John Joyce(6-5,so) has been getting some good pub here recently. Lane has an emerging sophomore by the name of Admir Suljic. Suljic, a forward, scored a career high 26 points against Lincoln Park, 18 points against Senn, and 14 points against Dusable earlier this season on a defensive minded Lane team. At 6-3, 170lbs, he's got some decent size and since he is only a sophmore, maybe he can grow a bit more.

This is a bigger game for Taft than it is for Lane. A win keeps them in the Red-North title hunt. A loss gives Foreman the conference title. Lane beat Taft earlier this season at the Lane Thanksgiving Tournament and would love to knock off the Eagles.