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.
Neil in your opinion who do you think has a better chance of even making it to state as a team?
These Are Underdog Schools I Would Say
Von ?
Chicago Bull ?
Little Village ?
Lake View ?
Some Of These School have what it takes,well that's if there coaches are training them the right way
Make a blog about each of these schools Neil it Should be interesting.
Posted by: Neil | January 27, 2012 at 02:25 PM
Von Steuben is a joke. they have good athletes but cant turn them into elite athletes. their top runners should have been way better by now
Posted by: bad von | January 28, 2012 at 12:02 PM
Miles West City Invite is Friday Feb. 3rd here are the teams
Niles North
Northtown Academy
Mather
Gordon Tech
Northside College Prep
Marshall
Von Steuben
Schurz
Lincoln Park
Urban Prep Englewood
North Lawndale College Prep
Taft
Perspective Calumet
Niles West
Should be a pretty good meet I think Von Steuben will fair pretty good at this meet
Posted by: Stat Guy | January 28, 2012 at 01:44 PM