Chicago Public League Sports Blog

Victor Terrazas of Lane Tech runs a 16:56 5k

Victor Terrazas (sr) of Lane Tech

Victor Terrazas (sr) of Lane Tech ran an impressive 16:56 at the 2009 Bastille Day 5k held at the west loop on July 9, 2009. His time of 16:56 in the 5k (3.1 mile race) was run at a 5:28 pace. That is about a 16:22 for 3 miles. He finished 2nd in the 15-19 age group and 13th overall out of 2527 runners. Terrazas beat Erwin Mendoza (sr) of Maine South from Maine South's track team - who finished 3rd in his age group.

In last year's 5k Bastille Day, Terrazas ran a 17:10, so he has improved 14 seconds over last year.

Terrazas is projected to be the number 2 runner for a Lane Tech team that is coming off a 3rd place varsity finish at last year's city cross country championship.

College Status of CPS Class of 2010 track/cross country athletes

Omar Caban of Mather should be running cross country this year at Danville Community College.

As far as I heard, hear is an unofficial list of where some CPS athletes guys are going to run/not run next year at college.

Please post a comment for any additions/editions.

Mather

ivan coronel, danville jc running xc (full ride)
omar caban, danville jc running xc (full ride)
justen garth, depaul/uic i think he's running
alex sorapu, north central running track
mikey medina,  north park running xc/track
sheedy victor, north park running xc/track
erick ortega,  loyola U -  no formal running
eddie torres, oakton running xc

Lane


Chris Kyles, JC? or trying to get into a D1 late?
Deonte Griggs, Univ- Wisconsin Stevens Point
Demetrius Jacobs, Univ-Wisconsin- Stevens Point
Rashe Allen, NIU - not runnin track or XC - just bein a student
Fernando Arroyo, Morton College - XC

Other schools

Romeo Jurardo, Lake View - JC?

Steven Clark, Darien Williams Harlan, Summer Track club running and then go from there.

Kawana Brooks, Kenwood - University of Illinois full track scholarship

Jonathon Kittaka, Northside Prep - running at a small Minnesota college?

Great Message Board Post on the development of Lane Tech runners

Joel Wojcik (Lane Tech class of 2007) is just one of the runners over the years that the Lane Tech cross country machine has churned and developed over the years.

Man, you guys are killing me with all of these great posts on the message boards. I only publish the best of the best. This is a good one from the past;  with a lot of insight. Definitely a Lane Tech insider. In the following post, the writer talks about the development of cross country runners at Lane.

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	LT Frosh/Soph « Result #4 Today at 2:10pm »
Lane has always produced competitive and well rounded varsity runners. Lane will not be doomed in 2009 or 2010. The unknowns will produce fast times. Lane's history in running proves this year in and year out. Luis Rodriguez - ran about a 5:30 something as a freshman in track. Sophomore year rolls around and he runs 11:07 at Horner Park well ahead of second place. He improves year after year and now he's run a 16:10. Flaco - didn't break 13:00 for 2 miles his freshman year in XC. The following track season he ran 10:51 for the 3200m. and 5:02 for the 1600m. Two years later and he's running sub 16:00 for 3 miles. Luis Samouya - one of lane's best runners. Ran 5:20 as a sophomore. Following XC season, he break 16:00 for 3 miles. Runs a 4:30 as a junior, almost a minute drop for only 1600m. Ends up running 4:21 with a swollen knee at state his senior year. Flo - injured most of freshman year which ruins his track season. Runs 10:40 as a sophomore and becomes a sub 16:00 3 miler by senior year. Jorge Espinosa - Not the best XC runner at first. A half-miler to quarter-miler. Breaks 16:00 for 3 miles by senior year. Drops over a minute from his PR the previous year. Hugo Ramirez - Ran a 5:27 his freshman year. Runs 16:40 as a sophomore and finishes his career at a sub 16:10 3 miler. Kevin Beltran - doesn't break 5:30 as a freshman. Runs low 17:00's as a sophomore in XC. Becomes a sub 16:20 3 miler by senior year. Scott Frayn - Not a top 5 runner as a junior. Doesn't even break 17:00. Finishes his senior year as a sub 16:30 3 miler and the second fastest 2 miler in the city. Joel Wojcik - Doesn't break 17:00 as a sophomore. Runs low 16:20s by senior year and one of the top 2 milers in the city his junior and senior years. Eric Irrizary - barely breaks 12:00 as a sophomore. Runs 16:50 as a junior and 16:05 as a senior. 3rd place at city his senior year. Walter Henning - In his first ever race over a mile, he breaks 17:30. Ends his first ever XC season under 16:30. Top 10 at city. Fernando Arroyo - injured for about half of his high school career, yet still manages to run 15:51 as a senior after a devastating junior XC season. Max Silva - runs sub 17:00 in his first XC season. Didn't run freshman year. Eduardo Sanchez - didn't break 13:00 as a freshman. Barely broke 6:00 as a freshman. Jerry Gonzalez - didn't run freshman year. Joined sophomore year. Runs 5:19 as a sophomore. Runs low 17:00 as a junior. Runs sub 4:50 as a junior. A top runner his senior year but cannot run do to injury. Bounces back senior year and run 4:43 indoor. Top 2 miler in the City junior and senior years. Kent Frayn - didn't break 13:00 as a freshman. Ran a 5:39 as a freshman. Runs a 4:56 1600m. in his second event as a sophomore. Runs 16:50 in first XC race as a junior. Top 800m. runner in the city as a senior. It seems like last year, Max was an unknown. Luis Rodriguez was an unknown as a freshman. Kent Frayn, Eduardo Sanchez, and Jerry Gonzalez were all unknowns as Frosh/Soph runners. Lane will ALWAYS work with what they have and produce results. These are only a few of their runners that were present recently. The city may not know who lane's frosh/soph runners are but their faces will be recognized each and every year. Their names will appear on these message boards eventually. So don't underestimate Lane's frosh/soph. Just look at some of the runners listed above before bashing on Lane's frosh/soph. They were unknowns. But they became stars as the years went on.

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2009 Boys Class AA Pre-Season Rankings

(left to right) Omar Tall (jr), Joseph Laseter (jr), and Yusef Hood (so) lead #1 ranked class AA Kenwood.

1. Kenwood (2008 results: 3rd sophomore boys at city; 9th at sectionals)

Kenwood is traditionally more of a track power. But last year, Kenwood broke out in the cross country world by finishig 3rd at the sophomore level ahead of traditional cross country powers Lane Tech and Northside Prep. Kenwood, then finished 9th at setionals - only 4 places away from qualifying to state as a team. Kenwood also returns it's entire top 7 from last year led by cross country state qualifier Omar Tall. If the places fall right and their runners develop Kenwood may have a legitamate chance of becoming the first ever CPS class AA boys team to qualify down state.

 

Luis Hernandez of Lake View will be part of senior laden Lake view team.

2. Lake View (2008 results: 8th boys varsity at city; 12th at sectionals)

Lake View will be a senior laden team this year as 5 of it's top 7 from last year's sectional team will be seniors. Those seniors have an opportunity to help Lake View improve on last year's 8th place city finish at the varsity level and give Lake View an outside shot at qualifying for state. Two of those seniors Michael Tran and Luis Hernandez ran on Lake View's 4th place city 4x800 meter relay team in track last spring. Lake View may have found some more depth in sophomore Eduardo Chavez and senior Sergio Navas. The pair ran on Lake View's state qualifying 4x800 meter relay team that ran a season best 8:47.15 for Lake View. It is not determined yet wheter Chavez or Navas will run cross country. Chavez was a part of Lake View highly successful boys soccer program last fall . Chavez finished 5th at the frosh-soph 800 meter dash last spring with a time of 2:11 - pretty good for a freshman. Lake View's #1 runner will be much improved Oscar Medina a junior. Medina qualified for state last year for Lake View in cross country and is coming off a very impressive track season in which he ran a 10:10 in the 3200 meter run at the state finals.

3. Harlan (2008 results: no team)

Harlan did not even have a boys cross country team in 2008. So why am I ranking them so high? It's their new cross country coach Dr. Mark Thompson. Thompson led Harlan from a school that barely had a track program two years ago to a 14th place state finish in track. And track may not even be Thompson's best sport. He is probably more of distance coach. I'm not sure if you can expect a miracle the first year out of Harlan's cross country program. But under Thompson will lead Harlan to a very respectable finish. Depending on how the season goes, Harlan may even challenge for a top 2 ranking in class AA.

 

Charlie Obermeyer (sr- left) and Jonathon Starzyk (sr - right) should lead a Jones team that will sorely miss graduated distance star Griffin Kelly.

4. Jones (2008 results: 6th boys varsity at city; 11th at sectionals)

Jones has graduated one of their top distance runners in school history in Griffin Kelly. Kelly capped his senior year with a 4:33 mile at the state meet - 2nd best in the CPS this year. Let's hope Kelly inspired a new wave of distance runners last year. On the plus side Jones should return 5 of it's top 7 runners from a team last year that finished 11th at sectionals. Jones also finished 6th in the city last year at the varsity level. Jones may not have front runner this year and will relay on a pack of runners that could include seniors Charlie Obermeyer and Jonathon Starzyk. Both have broken 17:30 last year.

 

Jose Mora of Payton

5. Payton (2008 results: )

All eyes will be on Jose Mora. This is Mora's senior year and will graduate as Payton's best ever male distance runner. Mora finished 6th last year with a time of 15:48. Mora's 93rd place state cross country finish was the highest in the CPS last year.  Nobody trains harder than Mora and should improve on his state finish last year and should contend for a top 3 finish at city. The only question for Payton is the same as it has been thte last two year. Can Payton find enough runners to support Mora?

6. Noble Street Charter (2008 results: 9th frosh-soph boys at city; 10th boys varsity at city; regional champions; 13th at sectionals)

Noble is an improving CPS program that won it's first ever cross country regional championship. A good goal for Noble this year is to build addiotional consistency for the program. If they can train over the summer and get back as many of it's runderclass man to run cross country agian this year, then it will be a successful year. The closest thing to a number one runner for Nobel Street should be senior Jonathon Blanco.

7. Kennedy (2008 results: 8th frosh-soph boys at city; 12th boys varsity at city; 16th at sectionals)

If Kennedy looks to recapture some of it's past glory of the late 1990's in which they contended for city and regularly qualified for state, then it will come from a team in which it returns it's entire top 7 from last year.

Others: North Lawndale, Gage Park, Manley, Cristo Rey, UIC College Prep

 

The Kennedy Crusaders return their entire top 7 from last year's team that ran only freshman and sophomores at sectionals.

Coming soon girls class AAA previews, boys class AAA previews.

Espoire of Chicago Math and Science Academy runs a 1:29.21 half marathon!

Espoire Habimana (sophmore to be) from the Chicago Math and Science Academy.

The Chicago Math and Science Academy, a CPS school in Rogers Park, does not have a track team. That did not stop freshman Espoire Habimana from continuing his running. Habimana, the 2008 freshman CPS cross country champion, competed at the 13.1 Marathon Race on June 7, 2009 in Chicago.

Habimana finished 1st in his age group and 31st overall (out of over 3000 runners) with a blazing time of 1:29.21. That is a pace of 6:50/mile over the 13.1 mile course. Not bad for a 14 year old.

I heard that Habimana ran a 5k "warm up" race earlier this month in 17:32. A 17:32 for a 5k is about an equivalent of 16:57 for 3 miles. Habimana ran an 11:07 over two miles when he won last years city cross country championship.

No one knows how he will do next year in a 3 mile cross country race.  But one thing we know for sure, Habimana, a native from the Democratic Republic of Congo, has some serious distance running ability.

The Chicago Math and Science Academy (CMSA) does have a cross country team. It has not been in existence for too long- maybe only one or two years. Last year CMSA ran only 3 runners in the city championship. Habimana's teammate Auub Farah finished 8th at the freshman level with a very respectable time of 12:04. CMSA will be a class A school in the 2009-10 school season.

We can only hope that the Habimana, Farah and the rest of the CMSA cross country program continues to develop. As for the development of Habimana? He wants to run at the Rock and Roll Half Marathon August 2nd. So, keep an eye out on this blog on howhe performs.

Status of Peralta...unknown?

Felix Peralta (jr to be) of Juarez ran a 10:44 as the frosh-soph city runner up last year but because he goes to a Have Not School, nobody knows his status.

I spoke with a bunch of Juarez guys the other day while I was at old the Rock and Roll McDonald's downtown. I asked them if they knew Felix Peralta. The first thing one of them said was "he's fast!" Peralta, for those of you who don't know was the frosh-soph city cross country runner up last year from Juarez. He ran a very good time of 10:44 for two miles at the city championship. In the city championship he beat out Ryan Flood of WY, Abdel of Mather, Omar Tall of Kenwood, Eric Shan of WY, Erik Zuelhke of NCP, and Jimmy Orellana of Lane..among others. In other words, he beat out a who's who of CPS frosh-soph distance runners.

I then asked those Juarez guys if they knew what was going on with Peralta? They told me that Peralta did not run track because Juarez does not have a track team. I was shocked, here Juarez has one of the most talented young distance runners in the city in Perlata, but because he goes to Juarez, he is denied the opportunity to run track.

I did not ask the Juarez guys if they knew if Peralta was going to run cross country. One of them was eyeing the fries someone had purchased and was complaining about the $6.50 Big Mac Value meal that he was about to purchase. These kids were hungry.

So, I left not knowing the status of Peralta. I don't know if he's running over the summer. Heck I don't even know if Juarez will even have a cross country team this year. Some years they have a team and some years they don't. Last year, Juarez ran a few individuals but did not have enough runners at any level to field a complete scoring team (5 runners).

Looking at the Juarez school website, I could not find a link to athletics. There was no information to be found whatsoever about the sports program at Juarez. That is the sad reality in the CPS if you goto a Have Not School like Juarez.

The question that nags as me as I conclude this article is how many other Peraltas are out there?

CPS Track and Cross Country- Unstoppable!

Seth brought my attention to this video of a spontaneous dance at a recent music festival.

The video starts out with some random (or maybe a crazed?) dude dancing. But at about the one minute mark he is joined by a second and then a third guy (Guy #3). This incites a dance riot and pretty soon the scene is mobbed by dancers.

Watching this video got me thinking about the evolvement of boys track in the CPS. Not too many years ago, the CPS was literally a joke as far as state competition. Not only were there years in which the entire CPS scored zero state points in the entire meet but the times run by anyone in the city for the most part were awful. I'm talking about runners running 11:10 or worse and scoring at city in the 3200 meter run.

But something happened a few years ago. One by one programs started to get better. See like the video above, someone had to be the crazed guy #1 dancing while the rest of the CPS watched everyone else perform. Then a few other brave guys decided to join guy #1. Then pretty soon everybody joined and the movement became unstoppable.

CPS track and cross country is becoming unstoppable!

Initial Thoughts of the Big 3 as the Summer Training Season Starts

Northside, Lane, and Mather are the Teams to Watch as Summer starts!

Here is how I look at the Big 3 (Northside, Lane, and Mather) in CPS cross country as summer starts.

We all know what Northside can bring to the table a solid 1-4 with Cuit, Wesley, Charlie and Eben. They will all be running in the 15:00's and all not too far apart. The key will be number 5 man which will probably come from an improving Zuelke or a Taylor Kuenh. Kuenh and Zuehlke ran good but not spectacular times in track. Both of them right now can run about 11 minutes for 2 miles and probably about 16:55 for 3 miles. Northside's success will lie in how close Northside's #5 is to the top 4. There are still lot's that can happen from now until XC. On the plus side, their top 4 can develop into a super stud team all running below 15:30. In that case as long as #5 is halfway decent, NCP will be hard to beat. Or NCP can find a new freshman that can take the #5 spot. Whatever they do, the key with NCP is to find someone to replace Kittaka who at a very good 16:26 at sectionals last year made NCP a very tough team.

Lane is still hard to figure out. Kulay has a chance to be all-state for Lane and if he lives up to his potential will score some very serious points (in the case of XC good low points) for Lane - which will be much needed in big meets. Terrazas, in my opinion did not his best track season and still has his best races ahead of him. Plus Max, according to Illinois Prepster was ailing. Also, Illinois Prepster said Jonathon Jackson may run XC. If he does, he'll almost surely be a top 5 guy for Lane. Lane seems to have a better shot at finding a good number 5 just based on numbers. Lane has more distance runners than any other school. All they need is one person from a huge group of potential candidates like Tidd, Wiatr, Scott Wade, Orellana, Mendez, Beltran, Perez, Chronis, Lira, Gebrikande, Chronis, can step up to fill that #5 role. All Lane needs is one solid number 5 to develop and Lane could have the makings of a very dangerous team.

So, going into the 2009 XC season, Lane to me still seems like a question mark. They could finish as high as a state qualifying team and a city championship, or if Jackson, Max, and their #5 runner does not fall through maybe as low as a third place city team.

We will have to see how Lane does with training over the summer before we can get a better analysis of how they will do in XC.

Mather to me is the darkhorse in all this. We do know they graduate Ivan Coronel, Omar Caban, Eddie Torres, Alex Sorapu, and Mikey Medina- major XC contributors the past couple of years for Mather. To replace the graduated seniors is a new core group that is very young but talented. Guys like Tarik, Bana, Haji, Mendez. These guys are already good, How much they improve over the summer will tell me Mather's status in XC. I suspect that coach Dale will train them very hard and very smart over the summer. The last two years, Mather went into the season with some question marks, but at the end, they held up the city championship plaque. Mather may not win it this year, but I do know that Coach Dale will have his athletes very prepared and they will be ready come city championship time. Do not overlook Mather.

Early Season Cross Country Thoughts

 

Is it ever too early to talk cross country? Pictured above is Elias Gebrikande (class of 2011) of Lane Tech charging up Montrose Hill at the 2008 Loyola Invite. Behind him is Patrick Duffy (class of 2012). Both will be fighting for varsity spots in the perspective teams. Cross Country will be fiercely competitive in the ever increasingly competitive Chicago Public League. Much more cross country articles and thoughts will be coming this entire summer on this Blog.


XC is going to see some new faces this year.

Look for at least some of the following runners who may (or may not?) run XC this year.

Freeman Fulwiley - frosh-soph 100 meter champion from Harlan will be running in a hard core track club this summer. His dad is really into his son's betterment. He will also skip football (too bad, Harlan has a pretty good football team capable of makin a run at city) and run in Harlan's new cross country team coached by Dr. Thompson.

Melvin Johnson - Melvin was on Harlan's 4x1 and 4x2 sprint relays. The guys is a blazer and he will run a track club this summer as well. Like Fulwiley he will give up football to run XC. I love how Coach Thompson is geting his sprinters to run XC. Knowing Thompson, they won't be using XC as a work out. Look for a serious effort.

If you doubt Harlan, I would think again. Nobody even heard of them before track started, now look at them. Same thing with their XC. But to be fair and realistic, don't expect them to hit the ground running with a top 3 city finish right away. It will take at least 2 years to build the program.

A good first year goal is to get 15-20 frosh-soph runners out on the team with an emphasis on the freshman. Then get about 10-12 or so JV/varsity guys who want to train for 3 miles. It's too early to talk about times, but I do know that Thompson can coach distance, he'll be makin them run over the summer.

With that formula Coach Thompson should get 5-6 guys running below 18 by the start of the season then he'll take it from there.

I'd also love to see Juan Mendez of Mather, Eric Barder of WY, Jonathon Jackson of Lane, Jeffry Rector of Roosevelt, and Ed Chavez of Lakeview come out for XC.

Much more cross country articles and thoughts will be coming this entire summer on this Blog.

SENIORS! SENIORS! Cross Country Top Times Class of 2009

 

Ivan Coronel ranks as the #1 senior. He won his 2nd straight city cross country individual championship.

Below is a list of some of the top times Senior Boys have in the 2008 cross country season. The list is by no means complete. If you have and additions or edits please send me an email at Publisher@LaneTechFan.com. Also, I would like to say that success is defined by not how fast of a time a runner runs, but how close to their running potential a runner achieves. So all runners can be successful if they put their effort to be their best (think about that). This list can permanently be found on the cross country history page.

1.Ivan Coronel - Mather - 15:19 - City Championship
2. Fernando Arroyo - Lane Tech - 15:51 - Peoria Notre Dame Invite
3. Eddie Torres - Mather- 15:56 - Niles West Invitational
4. Omar Caban - Mather - 15:34 - City Championship
5. Luis Rodriguez - Lane Tech - 15:48 - City Championship
6. Jonathon Kittaka - Northside Prep - 16:08 - City Championship
7. Justen Garth - Mather - 16:29 - Niles West Invitational
8. Mickey Medina - Mather - 16:07 - City Championship
9. Matt Schaible - Whitney Young - 16:51 - City Championship
10.Kelly Griffin - Jones - 16:53 - City Championship
11.Donte Dangerfield - North Lawndale College Prep - 17:00 - City Championship
12.Andrew Platt -  Whitney Young - 17:05 - Niles West Sectional
13.Sheedy Victor - Mather - 17:05 - Niles West Invitational
14.Colin Rouser -  Whitney Young - 17:12 - City Championship

Others
Danny Gonzalez (sr?) - Kelly - 17:43- City Championship
Erick Orrego - Mather - 17:47 - Niles West Invitational
Leo Armenta - Noble Street - 17:57 - Jones Sectional
Alex Sorapu - Mather- 18:00 - Niles West Invitational
Craig Melhuse - Northside Prep - 17:19 - Niles West Sectional
Spencer Rosenfeld - Northside Prep- 18:10 - Niles West Invitational
Simon Veccioni - Northside Prep - 18:28 - Niles West invitational