Chicago Public League Sports Blog

Pictures Now: CPS North Wrestling Sectionals at Roosevelt High School

Timothy Vassilidas (junior; 185lbs) of Schurz

On January 24, 2009 Lane Tech and about 10 other schools participated in the CPS North Wrestling Sectionals at Roosevelt High School.

Click here for pictures

Brooks, Lane, Morgan Park expected to challenge for city girls bowling title

Lane and Morgan Park were expected to be the top two challengers for this year's girls bowling city championship. You can now add Brooks to the mix.

Brooks defeated Morgan Park yesterday in the Public League girls southside sectional championship. No team has been as dominant this decade as Morgan Park in girls city bowling. But last year, Lane beat Morgan Park for the city title. Morgan Park was expected to bounce back this year, but it appears that in addition to Lane, Brooks is now a challenger.

2009 SOUTHSIDE SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

AT Park Manor Bowl

Teams: Brooks 2,205, Morgan Park 2,130, Ag. Science 2,091, Young 1,885, Simeon 1,747, Corliss 1,660, Hubbard 1,644, Kenwood 1,624, King 1,617, Harlem 1,569, Dunbar 1,562

High Game: Deena Walls, Ag. Science, 194. High Series: Jessica Ledeetter, Brooks, 510

2009 NORTHSIDE SECTIONAL PLAYOFFS

Teams: Lane 2,236, Chicago Academy 1,912, Schurz 1,904, Mather 1,872, Northside 1,811, Taft 1,751, Jones 1,699, Von Steuben 1,685, Senn 1,677, Foreman 1,491, Payton 1,403, Farragut 1,360

Whitney Young Delivers When It Counts, Beats Lane for City Title

   
2009 Chess Team City champions Whitney Young (photo courtesy: http://theicca.blogspot.com/2009/01/chicago-public-league-championships-jan_25.html)

bd 1: Michael Auger
bd 2: Aiyang 'Allen' Jaing
bd 3: Drew Johnson
bd 4: Donovan Harris
left to right, back row
Coach: Paul Kash
bd 5: Kessidy Chan
bd 6: Joyce Nimocks
bd 7: Haoxuan 'Henry' Li
bd 8: Brian Mei
bd 2 alt: Christian Pena
alt: Adrian Maciejewski

Whitney Young Delivers When It Counts, Beats Lane for City
Title

Lane Tech and Whitney Young squared off against each other earlier in the regular chess season during the Chicago Prep Bowl for chess. In that match Lane ended up victorious. But at last Saturday's city chess team championship at Crane High School, Whitney Young took home the big trophy. In Board #1  Lane's Paaras Modi beat Whitney Young chess freshman chess prodigy Michael Auger for the second time this year. But, Whitney Young won boards 2-6 out of the 8 boards to take the city title 45-23 over Lane.

Just to get to the final match versus Whitney Young, Lane had to survive an assualt from Northside College Prep in the third round. Northside's Matthew Ramir upset Modi on Board 1 and Northside freshman newcomer Jayce Feiger did the same in Board #2 when Feiger upended Lane's #2 Patrick Maciejewski. But Lane had enough depth from Boards 3-8 to overcome Northside 40.5-27.5.

Next up for all teams is the IHSA state tournament where both Lane and Whitney Young are looking to make an impact. Whitney Young has been the state runner up for the past two years, while Lane finished 9th in the state this year.

complete results

CPS Girls Track Pre-season Rankings

Action at the 3200 meter finals at city in 2008

Class AAA

1. Lane Tech
2. Whitney Young
3. Morgan Park
4. Mather
5. Chicago Vocational
6. Northside Prep
7. Hyde Park
8. Dunbar

Class AA

1. Kenwood
2. Payton
3. Robeson
4. Jones

Overall
1. Lane Tech
2. Whitney Young
3. Morgan Park
4. Kenwood
5. Mather
6. Chicago Vocational
7. Payton
8. Northside Prep
9. Hyde Park
10. Robeson
11. Dunbar

Morgan Park, Lane advance to state in Boys Bowling

The top two teams in the Public League, Lane and Morgan Park, advanced to the state finals in boys bowling. Lane advanced by winning the St. Ignatius sectional and Morgan Park advanced by taking 2nd in the Brother Rice sectional. Only the to two teams at Sectionals advanced to state. The Borther Rice and St. Ignatius Sectionals consisted of familiar Public League teams, but also included teams from Chicago's Catholic League. Lane Tech Boys Bowling is quietly producing good results in state sectional results. Lane has now advanced to the state tournament 5 times already this decade and winning sectionals twice (2006, 2009).

ST. IGNATIUS

Teams: Lane 5,891, St. Patrick 5,787, St. Ignatius 5,748, Foreman 5,524, Clemente 5,463, De La Salle 5,378, Young 5,057, Jones 4,892, Von Steuben 4,815, Gordon 4,453, Schurz 4,422, Crane 3,993, UIC College Prep 3,446, Payton 2,814

Advancing individuals: Sam Peterlin, St. Ignatius, 1,250; Raymone Woods, Foreman, 1,231

BROTHER RICE

Teams: Brother Rice 6,003, Morgan Park 5,709, Simeon 5,616, Marist 5,316, Mount Carmel 5,263, St. Rita 5,197, Vocational 4,841, Urban Prep 4,561, Ag. Science 4,519, Leo 3,995, Corliss 1,221

Advancing individuals: Charles Aldridge, Simeon, 1,195; William McGrenera, St. Rita, 1,167

City Wrestling Results: Kelly- 1st; Lane - 2nd; Mather - 3rd

Uplift's Jameel Carter finished 5th in his weight class (112lbs). Jameel is only a sophomore.

complete results

PUBLIC LEAGUE

Teams: Kelly 278, Lane 254, Mather 188, Fenger 178.5, Gage Park 150, Uplift 150, Bowen 147, Dunbar 132, Harper 123, Hyde Park 115, Simeon 112, Farragut 107, Manley 105, King 99, Taft 94, Bogan 85, Julian 81, Ag. Science 62.5, Harlan 62, Kelvyn Park 53, Lake View 52, Morgan Park 51, Douglass 50, Hubbard 49.5, Kenwood 44, Juarez 41, Phillips 39, Brooks 38, Vocational 37, Robeson 37, South Shore 36.5, Roosevelt 35, Curie 32, Chicago Math & Science 32, Marshall 31.5, Crane 30, Von Steuben 30

103: Ernest Williams, Bowen d. Manuel Soto, Kelly, fall 0:56; 112: Ronzel Darling, Bowen d. Carlos Wilhelm, Mather, 6-4; 119: Matt Finnegan, Lane d. Niko Liotta, Mather, 7-2; 125: Alcides Hernandez, Kelly d. Duane Green, Morgan Park, 5-4; 130: Tyrelle Young, South Shore d. Keith Johnson, Gage Park, t-fall 20-5; 135: Max Schneider, Lane d. Stephen Reed, Harper, fall 3:26; 140: Justin Cobb, Lane d. Denzel Vaden, Hyde Park, 3-1; 145: Jelone Carroll, Harper d. Chase Wilson, Lane, 7-2; 152: Jamal Carter, Uplift d. Abel Alvavado, Kelvyn Park, 2-1; 160: William Hadley, Manley d. David Whitaker, Simeon, 6-2; 171: Victorious Long, Douglass d. Martell Palm, Dunbar, 13-11; 189: Enrique Jimenez, Kelly d. Ameen Solebo, Mather, 5-4; 215: Niko Miller, Lake View d. Brian McCain, fall 2:30; 285: John Price, Dunbar d. Jeffrey Flanagan, Bogan, fall 1:38

Kelly stops the Lane Tech steamroller to take the Wrestling City Championship

Sophomore Matthew Finnegan left of Lane Tech is about to pin his opponent on his way to winning the city championship at 119lbs.

Anytime Lane Tech loses the city championship in wrestling it is a major disappointment for Lane fans and a complete "triumph" to the opponent. After all, Lane had won 17 of the last 21 city championships in varsity wrestling. Well, the triumph happened as a persevering Kelly team mustered just enough to overtake Lane 278-254 in the city championship.

Despite the disappointing loss to Lane fans, the Lane performance was stellar. Lane's 254 points was only 11 points less than the 265 points it scored from last year when Lane won city. The difference this year was Kelly. Kelly improved from last year's point total of 245.5 when it scored 2nd to 278 points to win this year's city championship.

Lane performed well enough to give them a chance at winning city, in a year which they had graduated all 4 of their city champions last year and 5 of 6 wrestlers who finished in 3rd place or above.

photo of Lane wrestlers and fans in the stands.

Below is an article from the Sun times:

Kelly completes quest, takes city title

January 24, 2009 BY MIKE CLARK -- SUN-TIMES mclark@suntimes.com

Seven years ago, Kelly didn’t have a wrestling team. Now the Trojans have the best one in the Public League.

On a day when favorites had a hard time, Kelly’s two returning champions defended their titles and the Trojans beat out Lane 278-254 for the city championship at the Broadway Armory.

“Lane Tech, they’re a good team, too,” said Kelly’s Enrique Jimenez, who successfully defended his 189-pound title. “But I believe that we work hard and we deserve this.”

Lane beat Kelly 36-23 in a dual last month, which helped fuel the Trojans’ fire.

“The key to success is perseverance,” said Jimenez, who demonstrated plenty of the latter when he beat Mather’s Ameen Solebo 5-4 in overtime in the finals.

Down most of the match, Jimenez won it on a penalty point in overtime.

“That made my night,” Kelly coach Joe Joyce, who started the program six years ago, said of Jimenez’s win. “You saw a big heart. He sucked it up and that’s what we expected.”

The Trojans’ other champ was Alcides Hernandez, who fought off his back to edge Morgan Park’s Duane Green 5-4 in the 125 final on a locked-hands call in the closing seconds.

“I knew I was tired, but I couldn’t give up,” said Hernandez, last year's 119 champ. “I had to keep going.”

His road could have been easier had he not moved up from 119 pounds for this tournament.

“Our coach decided I could take it at both weights,” Hernandez said. “I said, ‘I’ll do what’s best for the team.’” That was a common theme for the Trojans.

“We bumped up so we could score a lot of points [in Friday’s early rounds] and it worked out,” Joyce said. “A couple kids gave up city title chances by going up a weight.”

Lane had a meet-best three champions: Matt Finnegan at 119, freshman Max Schneider at 135 and Justin Cobb at 140.

Schneider, whose only loss has been to second-ranked Nick Dardanes of Oak Park, never wrestled before this season.

“I came in not really knowing anything about this and I guess I still don’t know a lot compared to a lot of guys,” Schneider said.

But a background in judo has served him well in his new sport. “You could see in my last match I did a lot of hip tosses,” said Schneider, who pinned Harper’s Stephen Reed at 3:26 in the finals.

The only other school with multiple champions was Bowen, which had winners in the first two title bouts. Ernest Willis pinned Kelly’s Manuel Soto in 56 seconds at 103 and Ronzel Darling held off Mather’s Carlos Wilhelm (last year’s winner at 103) for a 6-4 decision at 112.

“I was trying to go out there, get the first takedown and put some pressure on him,” Darling said.

Dunbar heavyweight John Price had the only other fall in the finals, pinning Bogan’s Jeffrey Flanagan at 1:38.

Also winning titles were South Shore’s Tyrelle Young (130), Harper’s Jelone Carroll (145), Uplift’s Jamal Carter (152), Manley’s Wlliam Hadley (160), Douglass’ Victorious Long (171) and Lake View’s Niko Miller (215).

Three of the five returning champs failed to repeat and two of them didn't reach the finals.

Lane Tech Does It's Part in City Wrestling Prelims, Now Comes the Big Boys at City Championship

The scene at the Roosevelt High School, site of the CPS Varsity City Championship Preliminary Round North Section in Boys Wrestling

On January 23, 2008 Lane Tech and about 12 other northside schools participated at the North  Preliminary Rounds of the CPS Varsity Wrestling City Championship held at Roosevelt High School.

The top two teams wrestling at Roosevelt were Lane Tech and Mather. Both appeared to easily advance most of their wrestlers. Jameel Carter of Uplift was one of the top individuals outside of those two school participating.

Lane Tech coach Mark Miedona's goal was to win every match and advanced all of his wrestlers to the final rounds of the CPS Varsity Final rounds to be held today at the Broadway Armory. These preliminary rounds are important in that one loss automatically knocks a wrestler out of contention to win first. For the most part, Lane Tech took care of business. I did not see the entire night but the early matches I did see were easy Lane Tech victories. I witnessed Lane freshman Nick Jankowski, sophmore Matthew Finnegan, and senior Justin Cobb post pins on their opponents for easy Prelim victories.

But the real battles begin today as the final rounds take place at the Broadway Armory. There, Lane will face all the top individuals from the other three sections (West, South, and Central) and then clash with their other expected challenger for city: Kelly High Shcool.

Story in pictures

The ref is about the signal the start of the match between Lane star Justin Cobb and a Mather wrestler. Cobb is a favorite to finish in the top 2 in his weight class.


Mid-match

 

Cobb (left) asserts himself....


and finally pins his opponent.

more Wrestling  pictures, videos, coverage coming soon....

Morgan Park Holds off Lane to Take the Boys Bowling Title

Morgan Park held off a determined Lane Tech team to take the CPS Boys Bowling City Championship. Morgan Park has now won every city title in Boys Bowling since at least 2001. But this one was one of the closest as Morgan Park won by a slim margin when they scored 3,028 points to Lane Tech's 2,933. Morgan Park won on it's depth. Their normal number one bowler Duane Armour did not have the high game or the high series. But, Milton Marshall, stepped up by taking the high series of 640.

 

PUBLIC LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP

At Bluebird Lanes

Teams: Morgan Park 3,028, Lane 2,933, Clemente 2,692, Foreman 2,665, Simeon 2,623, Young 2,324, King 2,76

High game: Tyler Dorsey, King, 276. High series: Milton Marshall, Morgan Park, 640

Lane Tech Wrestling Positioned to Take City

Senior Justin Cobb of Lane Tech will try to lead Lane to it's 18th city championship in 22 years at the CPS city wrestling championship this Friday and Saturday.

There hasn't been a much bigger dynasty in the Public League than the Lane Tech Wrestling team. Lane Tech has won an incredible 17 wrestling city championship in the last 21 years. This Friday and Saturday January 23 and 24, 2009, Lane is going for it's 18th city championship in 22 years. The championship round will be Saturday, January 24th at the Broadway armory in the northside. See city championship schedule

Kelly and  Mather will challenge

It will not be easy for Lane to win it. The 3 biggest challengers in Lane's way appears to be Kelly and Mather.

Kelly was a close 2nd to Lane last year and is loaded again this year. Kelly returns defending city champion Enrique Jimenez (185 lbs), junior Alcides Hernandez (119lbs) and Kelly also has two wrestlers that won city last year at the frosh-soph level.

 Mather has a couple state ranked wrestlers in Carlos Wilhelm (112lbs) and sophomore Antonio Liotta; and 2008 state qualifier Ameen Soblebo (185lbs).

Lane's hopes

After graduating, many wrestlers from last year (Tsogt Ganbold (125), Ramond Baranda (135), David Mihaila (145) and Yuriy Koverko (160)); many people thought this was the year that Lane would be toppled. But somehow coach Mark Miedona has found a way to form a solid team that consists of some returnees from last year and with some new faces this year.

Lane's top returnee is city runner up and 2008 state qualifier Justin Cobb. Cobb has been on a tear this year in large tournaments ans will play a huge role in Lane's post-season hopes. The biggest new comer by far for Lane this year is freshman Max Schneider at 135lbs. Schneider has won several tournaments this year including the Wheeling and Glenbrook South Tournaments.

But wrestling is a complete team sport. For Lane to have a chance to win it all, it will need to see big time performances from it's other wrestlers including freshman Nick Jankowski (112lbs), sophomore Chase Wilson (4th in city last year), and sophomore Matthew Finnegan.