Chicago Public League Sports Blog

Lane Tech at Prospect Invite...Lane 4x800 8:08, beats York!

Lane Tech distance legend Klulayfi Haji (sr) has only a couple more meets wearing the Myrtle and Gold before he graduates. Photo courtesy Brenda Gamboa. Haji ran on the 4x800 relay team that ran a CPS outdoor best 8:08...upsetting a loaded York squad.

Some notable Lane Tech times at the Prospect Invite. I'll try to update this as the results come in.

3200 meter
Jimmy Orellana (jr) - 10:36.44 (PR)

Solid showing for the Lane junior. Jimmy is absolutely a top 5 candidate for Lane varsity cross country team in the 2010-11 season.

110HH
1. 14.58 - Jonathon Jackson (sr)

I've heard from some naysayers that Jackson did not have the speed to run the 110 high hurdles. This winning performance at this elite meet has proved that wrong. His time of 14.58 is not only his Personal Record, but is a time good enough to score at almost every state meet.

4x100
43.95 - at the beginning of the season, I thought the 4x100 relay team would be a weak spot for Lane. After all they graduated almost all of their top sprinters from last year like all-stater Chris Kyles. I was wrong. The Lane Tech sprint machine replaced those sprinters with a new crop that ran a CPS best 43.95. This relay was boosted by freshman Antonio Abreu who some are calling the next great Lane sprinter.

100
11.38 - Matt Rowe (so) - this result could be the shocker of them all. Last, as a freshman Matt Rowe did not even make the frosh-soph finals in city in the 100. This year he makes the finals of the Prospect Invite, one of the top meets in the state. Not only that, his prelim time of 11.38 is the 2nd fastest 100 meter FAT time in the CPS this year. Faster than Cameron Allen of Whitney Young, faster than Lonnie Washington of Calumet. What are they feeding Rowe to make his so fast!? Rowe has stamped himself as a contender to be the fastest man in the CPS and he's only a SOPHOMORE!

4x800
Lane Tech - 8:08.65 - Lane Tech nearly pulled off the shocker of the night by finishing within 3 seconds of winning the highly anticipated 4x800 meter relay. Lyons Township won the race with a time of 8:06.04. Lane came in a solid 8:08.85, ahead of York who finished with a time of 8:10.31. What make the race more amazing is that Lane ran the race without seniors Victor Terrazas and Jonathon Jackson. The two were part of the 4x800 team that ran 7:58 indoors. Replacing them were sophomores Lucas Beltran and Kevin Perez. A few weeks ago, I had Beltran and Perez as 2:10 type 800 runners. Now they have developed fast enough to be on a relay team that beat York. AMAZING!

800
2:02.81 - Victor Terrazas (sr) - HO HUM! Just one of at least 6 guys on Lane's team that can run 2:05 or better. Lane has the luxury and difficulty of deciding who in their 800 machine will they pick to run in high stakes 4x800 that are coming up. 

200
23.04 - Matt Rowe (so) - Rowe went from not even being on the CPS Leaderboard to 5th best, with this stunning performance. His time of 23.04 is the fastest 200 time that a Lane runner has run this year. Faster than all-state runners Jonathon Jackson and Thaddeus Scott. ROWE IS THE REAL DEAL!

RESULTS

CPS freshman distance running...by team

Taro Salinas of Whitney Young
 

Here is my take on freshman distance running in the city by team.

Jones - Dale, O'Connor, Rodriguez, Kirby. Kirby is not talked about and he is running a 5:05 mile. No one comes close to Jones. This groupalready made it downstate in cross country. What can they do in track?

Whitney Young - Taro Salinas is a future star for Whitney Young. He runs about a 5 minute mile and a 11 minute 2 mile. Early in the 2009-10 cross country season, I had him ranked #1 for freshman, before the Jones creww passed him up. Whitney Young has a couple other freshman distance runners that haven't gotten much run time in track and are just projects right now. I'm sure you'll see some of them surface in cross country.

Mather - 11:15 2 miler Victor Maldonado is their top freshman runner. He's progressed nicely since cross country season where he was a 12 minute 2 miler. Look for Maldonado's name surface up in cross country where he could be a top 5 varsity runner next season.

Northside - The defending city cross country champions surprisingly do not have an impact freshman that stands out. Freshman Patrick Brennan ran 5:36 in the mile at the Eric Nelson Classic. But after Brennan, Northside has few freshman that can break 6 minutes in the mile. Northside did take 2nd at the freshman level city cross country championship last fall so their cupboard is full of talent to develop.

Lane Tech - Marcelo Burbano is developing nicely. 8th in the city frosh-soph championship last fall with an 11:35, he broke the 10 minute barrier in the 2 mile with a 10:51 last week at Highland Park. Look for Burbano to compete with whoever Jones runs in distance events at tomorows freshman city championship. Lane also has developing freshman distance runners Sultan Haji (brother of Kulayfi) and Adrian Gracia that you will hear about in cross country.

Other schools
Look for Daniel Medrano of Brooks, a tall rangy 2:13 800 meter runner and Juan Berumen of Lake View. At the freshman city championship, expect someone you have never heard of like Terrance Goodwin of Calumet to compete with the Big 4 distance runners. Think it can't it can't happen? Phillip Lee of Bogan took everyone by surprise when he won the freshman city cross coutnry championship last fall.

CPS freshman distance and middle distance runners

As far as I know (please correct me if I am wrong) there has not been a CPS freshman distance runner to break 10 minutes in the 3200 meter run for at least 30 years until Jamison Dale (above) of Jones ran a 9:57 earlier this year. CPS distance greats from the past 30 years like Kulayfi Haji of Lane, Ivan Coronel of Mather, Griffin Lawler of Whitney Young, Greg Jones of Lincoln Park, Cuit Pineda of Northside Prep, and Aaron Rodgers of CVS all did not break 10 minutes as a freshman. 

Freshman distance runners expected to compete at the varsity level this year (season best mile)

Jamison Dale, Jones (4:40.5)

Freshman distance runners to look out for and expected to run at the freshman city championship (probable season best time)

Taro Salinas, Whitney Young (11:00? 2 mile)
Marcelo Burbano, Lane Tech (10:51 2 mile)
Luke O'Connor, Jones (5:06)
Armando Rodriguez, Jones (4:58.7)
Victor Maldonado (11:15 2 mile)
Daniel Medrano, Brooks (2:13 800 meter)
Sultan Haji, Lane Tech (2:21 800 meter)
Adrian Gracia, Lane Tech (5:20 mile)
Juan Berumen, Lake View (5:21 mile)
Terrance Goodwin, Calumet (2:20 800 meter)
Kirby Lawson (5:05 mile)

CPS Freshman Sprinters

Up and coming freshman sprinter Amery Fredrickson of Lane Tech has come on strong at the end of the year finishing first in the frosh-soph 100 yard dash at the Niles North Invite and second at the Highland Park Twi-Light Invite. Lane has enough depth in sprints to where a sprinter like Frerickson will likely run at the freshman city championship instead of the varsity level. 

The CPS Boys Freshman City Championship is this Saturday at Hanson Stadium.

As usual, the CPS is loaded with sprinters at the freshman level. Rules do not allow freshman to compete in both levels so I expect a few of the CPS top sprinters to compete at varsity city championship. We won't know for sure who will compete at what levels until the heat sheets come out.

freshman sprinters expected to compete at the varsity level.

Carl Young, Orr
Antonio Abreu, Lane Tech
Nathaniel Agharese. Northside Prep
Darien Boone, Fenger
Lonnie Washington, Calumet

 
Promsing freshman Edgar Gomez of Von Steuben is expected to compete and maybe score high at the freshman level. 

freshman sprinters to look for, expected to compete at the freshman level

Amery Fredrickson, Lane Tech
Edgar Gomez, Von Steuben
Javier Morrison, UIC
Devon Sanders, Robeson
Jamal Murphy, Urban Prep-East Garfield
David Bradley, Whitney Young
Alejandro Reyes, Lane Tech
Carlos Singleton, Westinghouse
Byron Kelly, Brooks
Jeremy Rainey-Brown, Payton
Lester Harris, Payton
Michael Anderson, Urban Prep-East Garfield
Ethan Viets-VanLier, Lane Tech

Any coach would love to have any one of the above freshman. It is hard to predict the results. In most meets, freshman have a hard time to even compete at meets because of the competition within their own team so results are hard to come by.

I suspect that after the freshman city championship, one or more of the above freshman will really make a name of them self. Will it be a member of the talented Lane Tech freshman class? Fredrickson is a fast rising sprinter and could be the next great Lane sprinter. Then there is Jamal Murphy of Urban-Prep East Garfield who looked good at the Eric Nelson Invite. Then you have David Bradley of Whitney Young, who seems destined to be the face of Whitney Young after the Gardner-Darden era ends at Whitney Young. Or could it be another face no one has heard much about that is not even on the list above? 

Prospect Time!

 
Hurdler/Sprinter Matt Rowe (so) and Lane Tech will compete at the elite Knights Wanner Prospect High School invite this Friday. York, Barrington, Naperville Central, Niles North, and Prospect are just some of the schools in this meet. Most of the winners will be state finalist.

Heet Sheet Prospect Invite 2010

Urban Prep......Doing The Most With Time Tested Principles

Isreal Durley (jr) of Urban Prep
 

Urban Prep has only 450 students, yet are considered a class AAA school in boys track due to the multiplier of selective enrollment.

This is a school in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago, many of the kids go home in gang infested neighborhoods.

Yet Urban Prep finds a way to get it done. Urban Prep has been all over the news lately when it sent 100% of it's first graduating class of 107 students to college.

Part of it has to due with stricter guidelines like extended school days, uniform requirements and required extra curricular activites.

You see, Urban Prep is following a model that works. Work harder (extended school days), focus on the family (at Urban Prep they view each other as one big family and call each other by their last names), and adherance to solid time-tested principles (resiliency and self-confidence are stressed in the school), are all promoted in the school.

Notably absent are a reliance on others for success. Reliance on the government, the CPS, and hand outs are not a component of success. Instead it is an adherance of time tested principles, hard work, family, and individual reliance.

Some people questioned Urban Prep when it became the first all-boys school in the CPS since Lane Tech decided to go co-ed in the 1970's. But apparently it's working. A new Urban Prep East Garfield (west side) school opened up in the fall.

There is an extra-curricular requirement at Urban Prep. This has led to more particiation in activites like chess (above). In the above picture an Urban Prep- East Garfield chess player participating at the 2010 CPS chess championship. Their all freshman team got blasted in the tournament but they got the experience and I suspect you will see a vast improvement next year as they become sophomores.
 

Videos Now - Varsity 400 meter run at Highland Park Invite 2010

Jonathon Jackson of Lane Tech runs a CPS season best 50.65... Cameron Allen of Whitney Young is not too far behind at 51.45.

Videos Now - frosh-soph 400 meter run at Highland Park Invite 2010

Watch Whitney Young freshman David Bradley run a 55.73 in the 400 meter run.

Emmanuel Bibbs of Bogan Signs With Iowa

Wide Receiver Emmanuel Bibbs of Bogan signed with the University of Iowa.

I've always had Bibbs on my radar and last summer there was word that Bibbs was getting recruiting interest. But I had no idea that Iowa would finally pull the trigger and make an offer. Apparently, Iowa was impressed by the 6-2, 215lb wide receiver. Other than Iowa and Wyoming, I haven't heard of too many other schools in hot pursuit of Bibbs.

Emmanuel Bibbs (6-2; 215lbs) also plays linebacker for a Bogan squad that finished the regular season undefeated in the Chicago Windy City Conference (Julian, Corliss, Gage Park, etc). Bogan had one of the premier victories in the Public League last season when they upset suburban Tinley Park 22-15 in the first game of the regular season.

I got a chance to watch Bibbs in a game. In the game I watched him he had great athlethic ability and really uses his big body at 6-2, 215lbs to jump after balls thrown to him.

Bibbs caught 762 yards as a junior while averaging 21.77 yards per catch as a receiver and had 5 games with over 100 yards receiveing yards including 155 against Kenwood.

Freshman City Championship This Saturday

Javier Morrison of UIC is looking to make a name of himself at this Saturday's freshman city championship. Sprints seem strong this year.

What: CPS Boys Freshman City Championship
Where: Hanson Stadium
When: Saturday, May 1, 2010, Field Events Starts at 2:00pm
Who: Freshman only, entire CPS

Freshman Week

These next few days, I'm going to do my best to give you my take on the freshman city championship. Every year it is a frosh-soph city championship. This year is unique in that it is a freshman only city championship. Obviously no sophomores allowed. What this means is that either some sophomores will be shut out this year from running a championship. Or, they will run up at the varsity level.

This puts the spotlight on freshman. The absence of sophomores does not mean that times will be seriously watered down.

Heet sheets are not up yet. As soon as I get them available I will put them up. Or if someone get's them sooner than I do, please email them to Publisher@LaneTechfan.com or put a link in the comments.