Dolphins Return Almost Everyone

Whitney Young Boys Cross Country Fall 2010 Preview


Whitney Young city frosh-soph fall 2008 City Championship Team

In fall 2008 and fall 2007 Whitney Young won city at the frosh-soph level at the city meet. Many of those runners are now juniors and seniors primed for a shot at taking the city title. Could this be the year of the Dolphin?

Consider the following:

• I feel that this is the best varsity level Whitney Young team in a while. This team is probably even better than the Griffin Lawler led Whitney Young teams in 2005 and 2006, when Lawler won the individual championship for two years in a row. (see CPS cross country history)
• Whitney Young is coming off an alright track season. At least 3 Dolphins broke 5 minutes for the mile (Eric Shan, Matt Sebek, and Sam Barder). All three will return. Eric Shan's (jr) time of 4:43 was impressive. He could be Whitney Young's #1 man this fall.
• Whitney Young returns their top 6 runners from their sectional team last year that finished only 1 place behind Lane Tech. 
• In addition to their top 6 returnees Whitney Young has some depth from it's city runner up frosh-soph team from last year. Sophomore Taro Salinas is one of the top sophomore distance runners in the city. Salinas made a great debut last year finishing 5th at the frosh-soph city meet. Then there is rising distance runner Nathan Beltran, brother of Lane's Lucas Beltran.
  

Whitney Young
Losses: Matt Otero
Returners: Matt Sebek, Eric Shan Sam Barder, Joe Platt, Sam Redmond, Liam Burns, Mike Schaible, Taro Salinas, Nathan Beltran

I'm not sure if they will win it all but the factors seem aligned for a Dolphin run for the title.

Related
Von Steuben - cross country team preview
Lincoln Park - cross country team preview
Roosevelt - cross country team preview
Payton - cross country team preview
Lake View - cross country team preview

Neilski's Pre-Season CPS Cross Country Rankings

Comments

[wy]

WY projected top 5 and what I feel they can run by the end of the year.

1. Eric Shan -15:50
2. Sam Barder - 16:05
3. Mike Schaible - 16:35
4. Sam Redmond - 16:40
5. Taro Salinas - 16:40
6. Joe Platt - 17:00
7. Nathan Beltran - 17:10

[with the wind]

Forgot sebek who is a number 3guy at the worst (16:00) so this looks like a very solid team. No idea what shape anybody is in until the first race though. We'll see

[?]

sam barder ran a 10:15 at highland park. how can people say that shan is #1?

[wow]

those projections make no sense.

sam barder and joe platt have the fastest two mile times, and barder's mile is only a few seconds off of shan's, so to agree with ?, why is shan being considered the number one.

platt is much better than 6th, and sebek was WY's #1 last year, and he isn't even on that list.

[panties in a bunch]

What's the point of freaking out at a random guys predictions Of one team and getting all cranky. Obviously all runners will prove themselves once September rolls around. If you know that Barder and platt will be young's 1-2 then more power to you.

Regardless this is the strongest dolphin team ever, even 4years ago with lawler they only had two runners in the low 16s. Maybe they can field a top 5 in 16:1x now this year.

[predictions]

1-Sam Barder
2-Matt Sebek
3-Eric Shan
4-Joe Platt
5-Mike Schaible
6-Nathan Beltran
7-Sam Redmond
8-Taro Salinas

[wy]

Question - where was Matt Sebek during track. Rumor was he was out injured.

If he is back, him Barder and Shan will make a ravage 1-2-3. Comparable to anything Lane and Northside could put up. WY's #1 won't be as strong as Mather #1 (Mendez?), Jones #1 (Dale, but 1-3 as a group will be there with Mather and Jones.

With a healthy Sebek, WY will be very strong, the strongest team in years. Better than the Lawler teams.