Chicago Public League Sports Blog

Each Team is full of MVP's

Omar Tall went from running an 18:04 last year at sectional to running a 16:46 at sectionals. He helped Kenwood to a surprise class 2A state appearance. Then, he ran a 15:56 downstate. How can you not consider Tall to be an MVP?

I was thinking of naming a CPS MVP for the CPS. But something has been telling me to hold off on that. See, if I did a poll, the winner will probably come down to who ran the fastest. So, Oscar Medina of Lakeview of Abe Haji of Mather would probably win the award. In other words the results would probably be boring and predictable.

Plus, for the fans or me to pick a winner as the MVP, almost implies that everyone else is a loser. Or it denigrates the other people to lower status.  And to me, I really don't like viewing sport in the terms of losers and winners or valuable and invaluable. Instead I like to judge people as  did someone work hard or not work hard to become competitively successful.

Let's look at Kenwood as an example. This is team, which at the start of the season I had little expectations. I knew they had senior distance stars Omar Tall and Joseph Laseter. But after that, I didn't know what they could do. I had them ranked #6 in my pre-season rankings. But after some hard work, running lot's of miles. This team put it together by sectionals. Laseter and Tall did their job by running 16:36 and 16:46 at sectionals. Then right behind them was senior Terrell James who ran a 17:06. TO round out their top 5 were juniors Yusef Hood (17:50) and Deon Morisette (18:15). The Kenwood team effort pushed into the 5th and final spot at sectionals to give Kenwood a surprising state finish.

With that kind of effort and that kind of result, how can you not give kudos to everyone on the Kenwood team.

That is why I am probably not going to give an MVP award out this year in cross country. There are so many runners this year at all teams that are so valuable for their team.

Look at Jones. Where would their team be without Kirby Lawson. He went from running an 18:07 last year at sectionals to a 16:38.

Or Eric Shan of Whitney Young, David Timlin of Lane, Marcelo Burbano of Lane, Tim Warren of Jones, and a whole lot more runners. You can make an argument that all of those runners made vast improvement from last year and thus are every much as valuable as anyone else.

Fall 2010 Roundup

Girls Volleyball
varsity semi-finals
Whitney Young d. Von Steuben
Payton d. Jones

varsity finals
Whitney Young d. Payton

sophomore girls volleyball

Girls Golf
Top 2 Teams
1. Payton
2. Taft

Individual Champion
1. Kelsey Iwaoka (sr) - Payton

Girls Tennis
Team
1. Whitney Young
2. Morgan Park

Individual
1. Gabrielle Moore (Whitney Young) d. Darnesha Moore (Morgan Park) - 6-2, 6-2

Girls Swimming
1. Lane Tech
2. Northside
3. Curie
4. Whitney Young

Boys Golf
1. Whitney Young

individual champ- Omari Whitmore, Whitney Young

Cross Country
Freshman Girls Team
1. Lane Tech - 30
2. Whitney Young - 34
3. Northside - 62
4. Morgan Park - 114

Freshman Boys
1. Jones - 32
2. Lane Tech - 77
3. Curie - 81
4. Whitney Young - 83
5. Northside - 116
6. Brooks - 128
7. Manley - 165

Sophomore Girls
1. Northside - 44
2. Lane Tech - 52
3. Mather - 55
4. Whitney Young - 81?
5. UIC  - 139
6. Von Steuben - 182

Sophomore Boys
1. Lane Tech - 46
2. Whitney Young - 50
3. Mather - 86
4. LIncoln Park- 90
5. Northside Prep - 129
6. Payton - 170
7. Jones - 210
8. Kennedy - 219

Varsity Girls
1. Lane Tech - 56
2. Whitney Young - 64
3. Payton - 84
4. Jones - 106
5. Northside 131 -
6. Kennedy - 198

Varsity Boys
1. Lane Tech - 60
2. Mather - 67
3. Whitney Young - 81
4. Northside - 98
4. Jones - 98
5. Kenwood - 162
6. Lincoln Park - 226

Varsity Boys Individuals
1. Abe Haji - Mather
2. Oscar Medina - Lake View
3. Jefrrey Rector - Roosevelt
4. Eric Shan - Whitney Young
5. David Timlin - Lane Tech
6. Lucas Beltran - Lane Tech
7. Jamison Dale - Jones
8. Charlie Mesimore - Northside
9. Bana Negash - Mather - 16:10
10. Joseph Laseter - Kenowood - 16:12
11. Felix Peralta - Juarez - 16:13
12. Juan Mendez - Mather - 16:14
13. O'Connor - Jones - 16:16
14. Marcelo Burbano - Lane Tech - 16:17
15. Sam Barder - Whitney Young -  16:24
16. Matt Sebek - Whitney young - 16:24
17. Wesley Lyatham - Northside - 16:26
18. Simon Kafka - Northside - 16:34
19. Andrew Zotti - Lincoln Park - 16:35
20. Danny Zimny-Schmitt - Lane Tech - 16:38

16 inch-softball
1. Lane Tech

boys soccer
1. Kelly
2. Washington
3. Juarez (semi-finalist)
3. Farragut (semi-finalist)

football
Finals 
1st place - Curie
2nd place - Morgan Park

Semi-finals
Curie 34 Robeson 6
Morgan Park 46 Dunbar 28

3rd round
Curie 41 - Orr 7


Fall 2009

Fans Pick Curie's McIntyre as Running Back of the Year

Kevonta McIntyre (jr- 6'1"-205lbs) of Curie

Poll is closed and results are officially in for the CPS running back of the year. Here are the results from the 347 votes cast.

1. Kevonta McIntyre (jr) - Curie - 167 votes
2. Brian Carter (jr) - Kelvyn Park - 74
3. Horatio Banks (sr) - Simeon - 61
4. Welton Crayton (sr) - Harlan - 11
5. Brandon Peppers (jr) - Morgan Park - 9
6. Darius Smith (sr) - CVS - 3

Other got 22 votes

Before, anyone goes bonkers on the above results, remember it is just a fan poll. If you disagree/agree please comment.

Poll: QB of the year

Oscar Medina - 16:03 5k (78th place) at Footlocker

Oscar Medina (sr) of Lake View runs a 16:03 for a 5k

Date: November 27, 2010
Location: UW-Parkside, Kenosha (Wisc.)
Event Info: : The Foot Locker Midwest regional is a qualifying meet for the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in San Diego December 11.

Seeded Boys Results

Charlie Mesimore of Northside Prep ran in junior/senior race.  His 16:39 5k is like running 15:30-35 on Detweiller's course.  I believe he is completely healthy and ready to have a great track season.  Oscar is going to be a monster!

Poll - quarterback of the year

Nominations

Poll expires Friday, December 3rd, 2010 midnight.

 

Neilski's All-CPS lineman Fall 2010

Mikhail Dubose (jr) of Hubbard - with a good off season at combines and camps could be highly recruited next year.

Fall 2010 All-CPS lineman team (no order)
Matthew Porter (sr, C), Morgan Park
Mikhail Dubose (jr), Hubbard
Chris Bryant (sr- OL), Simeon
Darren Monroe (jr- OL), Simeon
Jordan Diamond (jr- OL), Simeon
James Adeyanju (sr- DE), Curie
Mason Fuller (sr- DE), Urban Prep
Darnell Burgess (sr), Orr
Cameren Franklin (sr- TE), Robeson

James Adeyanju (sr) - Curie - led Curie to first ever city football championship; will continue football career at University of Wisconsin - the lineman school.

Christian Bryant (sr) - One of 3 all-city Wolverines from a Simeon team that advanced to state quarterfinals. Arizona, Illinois, are just some of the schools he is considering. One of the top OL prospects in the state of Illinois.


Mason Fuller (sr) - Urban Prep - the onle selection from a non-Illini conference school. Illinois, Kansas, and South Carolian have already offered him.


Jordan Diamond (jr) and Darren Monroe (jr) of Simeon- The pair were part of a Simeon offensive line unit that as a unit was one of the top I've seen in the Public League in years. Both return next year and are already heavily looked at by colleges. Monroe is monster sized at 6-3, 370lbs. Diamond is 6-7 and 290lbs and already has offers from Illinois and Arizona. Ohio State is looking at him.

New UNO Soccer Academy on the Southwest Side

The southwest side is home of some of the best soccer in the city, including Juarez (above). The area will get an addtional boost with the building of a new soccer academy.

The southwest side is already a soccer hotbead. The southwest side features soccer powers Juarez, Farragut, Little Village, Kelly, and Curie. Juarez, Farragut, and Kelly all made the CPS semi-finals this year. The southwest side will soon have an additional soccer force as a new charter school with a soccer focus will be built in the southwest side neighborhood of Gage Park.

According to WBEZ:

One of the largest charter school networks in Chicago is beginning construction on a massive, multi-million dollar campus located in the Southwest Side neighborhood of Gage Park. The United Neighborhood Organization, or UNO, is using part of a $98 million state grant to build a soccer academy that includes a charter elementary school, a high school, and a soccer stadium.

"We're going to be using soccer--because it's the sport of our community--as the hook to encourage kids to not only learn, but to also learn how to be healthy and have healthy lifestyles," says Juan Rangel, the chief executive officer of UNO.

Rangel says he hopes the campus will not only help alleviate school overcrowding, but become an anchor for the city's Latino community. The first phase of the campus--an elementary school for nearly 600 students--is expected to be completed next year.

Curie Competitive Despite Loss

Fenwick 6 Curie 0

Results are just one factor when I look at a team. Yes, Curie loss. Yes, they were shut out. Yes, they blew a couple chances to score. Yest they made some mistakes. But, Yes, they played competitive football.

Fenwick stopped Curie 6 times inside Fenwick's 25 yard line. In all 6 times the Fenwick defense came up big to prevent Curie from scoring. On key plays with Curie on the doorstep of scoring Fenwcik came up with tipped passes, caused a fumble, intercepted a pass, sacked the QB, and was lucky when a Curie receiver dropped a sure touchdown pass.

Fenwick's only score came on an 85 yard interception return for a touchdown.

Curie had a great run to make it to the Prep Bowl. Everyone talks about the Fenwick defense. But the Curie defense was also strong. Holding Fenwick to 6 points with no offensive scores.

At the start of the season, many did not expect Curie to go this far. But far they went. This is the farthest a Curie team has gone and they were just one special play away from making this already special season a dream.

The good news is that Curie will be very strong again next year. Curie graduates their biggest anchor on defense in James Adeyanju. But offensively returns some key skill players in QB Maurice Fleming and RB Kevonte McIntyre. This porgram has so much momenutum going into next year that I feel, with a great offseason and with Simeon graduating some key players (RB Horatio Banks, OL Christian Bryant, DB's Darius Scott and Demarius Reed) they could considerably close the gap between them and Simeon.

The Condors will be back next year!

 

Curie and Fenwick in the Prep Bowl

Curie will face off with Catholic League Champion Fenwick today in the Prep Bowl. I hear it will be Football weather. Game is 11:00am at Soldier Field. Game will be televised on ME-TV.

If anyone has any game updates. Please comment.

 

Nominations needed for CPSFan.com quarterback of the year

I need nominations for the CPSFan.com quarterback of the year. There are going to be 4 on the ballot for sure. I need a couple more. Please comment on who you want to nominate. Or state your case for your favorite running back below. Do it soon, because I'll be putting up the poll very soon.

Neilski's nominations:


Tashaun Johnson (sr) of Harlan - triple threat running/passing/defense from a rapidly improving Harlan program. Has an offer from Wyoming and North Dakota state. Northern Illinois and now Iowa has soem interest.


Terry Baggett (sr- 6-0, 208lbs) of Whitney Young. Not too many people has risen his stock more than Baggett. He had a monster season running the ball and almost single-handidly elevated Whitney Young's football program. Had over 1900 yards rushing and 33 touchdowns. He had a 300+ yards rushing against Lane. Northwestern is one of the schools looking at him.

Daeshaun Hurley (jr) of Morgan Park. Bursted into the scene after leading a stunning victory over Providence of the Catholic League in the Soldier Field opener. Led Morgan Park to second round of state playoffs and to a city championship appearance.



Robert Gregory (jr) of Simeon- Developed tremendously from sophomore year as a raw prospect to now a legit D1 prospect. Tremendous arm, great running ability, speed, size, and he is only a junior. Some are calling him a player of the year for the entire state of Illinois.

Want to add your favorite quarterback to the ballot? Then please comment. I will put up a fan poll soon with the 4 names above and maybe one or two other names.