Chicago Public League Sports Blog

The Suburbs Never Sleep

Scouting Report- New Trier Feeder School Meet 2013

I got a chance to go to New Trier for their annual New Trier elementary school feeder school track meet. Here are just a few things I saw:

Katie Glue of Wilmette Junior High finished with a time of 5:25 in the mile in the 8th grade girls mile competition. The next New Trier star?

Matt Otkins of Glencoe Central goes through the human chute made up of volunteers from the New Trier girls track team. Otkins clocked in a 6:02 to win the boys 6th grade race. I talked to a few people, as good as Otkins time was there are 6th graders who are running in the 5:20's.  The problem is they do not run on the track team as they play hockey and other sports. At New Trier, their problem is competition in other sports.


Warren Blood(sp?-middle) and Shawn Gorney(right) at the gun lap. The two 8th graders finished 1-2 in the 7th-8th grade boys 1 mile run with a time of 5:11 and 5:12. If you notice behind them, there are at least 2 more blue shirts. They are all from Wilmette Junior High- who apparently have a good distance program. "I'm going to run cross country at New Trier," said Goring after the race. These guys looked serious- they had running spikes and all.

Heats of the 5th-6th grade boys 100 meter dash - hand timed by members from the New Trier boys track team.

What I got out of this meet from a CPS perspective:

• The meet seemed to have a good combination of fun and seriousness.
• Lots of volunteers (both parents and high schoolers).
• Good indirect recruitment for the high school level.
• Some kids in the suburbs enter high school with 4 years of track experience under their belt.
• I hope the city has their elementary school distance programs humming because in the suburbs, they never rest.

 

Prospect 45th Annual Wanner Knight Invitational - Performance List

Lane Tech- with Marecelo Burbano- ran a 8:02.7 in the 4x800 to finish 2nd in the high profile event at Prospect Invitational last year. This year's race - as always - will have a state championship feel as 12 teams have a meet entry time of 8:15 or better. Lane is seeded 2nd at 8:00.48 behind top seed Lyons Township at 8:00.00. New this year will be Whitney Young (8:15.00 meet entry) and Jones. Jones is running their fabuous all sophomore lineup with an incredble meet entry time of 8:10.76.

Performance List

All Levels Bonanza for Lane Tech at Niles North

In seemingly every track event it was Lane Tech myrtle and gold at the front or near the front including this race. Miles Strong-Austin(jr) leads and eventually wins the Junior Varsity 800 meter with a time of 2:09.73.

Lane Tech uses the Niles North Invitational as a tune up and almost a dry run for the upcoming CPS meet. Well, after this meet any team going for Lane Tech has their work cut out to them, because Lane looked awfully good. And not just the varsity level - in all levels including the freshman and varsity levels.

I left with 2 events to go because the weather shifted from the mid 50's and sunny at meet opening to low 40's, dark, and rainy by the end.

By the time I left, it appeared that Lane had the meet wrapped at all the levels (official results pending). In this meet that featured Glenbrook North, Glenbrook South, Deerfield, Loyola Academy, and Niles North Lane performed very well. It seemed like almost every track event from sprints to relays and of course middle distance and distance, Lane had one or two guys up in the front or near the front.

It started with the 4x800. The freshman team took second, the JV took 1st (8:53) and the varsity won it in 8:20. Then in the 3200 meter , Lane finished 3-4 in the freshman race, 2 and I think 6 in the JV race, and then in the varsity I think Lane finished 1 and 3. Lane's top freshman finisher was Pedro Fernandez(fr). Fernandez is not really a known name. It's because during the indoor season he was a 5:25 type mile runner. But after putting him through the Lane Tech distance machine workout, he has developed nicely and busted out with a PR of a 10:58 in the 3200 meter run. It was like that all day. Lane had PR's and guys who most people have never heard much of step up.

The Lane veterans also delivered.

Tony Abreu(sr) won the 400 in a CPS outdoor season best time of 50.33. He was pushed by the Glenbrook South 400 duo of Austin DIckholtz(sr) and Malcolm Engel(sr). The pair ran on the GBS 4x400 relay team that finished 7th in the state last year.

Illinois State bound Marcelo Burbano(sr) won the 3200 meter in a comfortable race.

But the biggest result of the day came from Lane sophomore Pavlo Hutsaluyuk's(so) winning 1600 meter time of 4:26.90. That is his PR and established himself as one of the top sophomore distance runners in the state. That time also has to be one of the fastest CPS sophomore times in modern history. I think it is only one or two seconds off of Jamison Dale's fastest sophomore time.

More to come including a Tony's Take video edition....

Some Sights from the New Trier vs Simeon Super Sectional Basketball Game

You Know It's a Big Game When.....

Jesse Jackson is in the house.

Former New Trier basketball star, and former head basketball coach Rick Malnati (son of Lou Malnati's pizza) and family watch the game.

Any game that Jabari Parker(#22, middle, sr 6-8, F) - the number one or two ranked player in the nation and a Duke recruit - plays in a game its a big game.


New Trier seemed like they brought half the school. Boy was their student section rowdy.

Finally, you know it's a bg game when the seldom seen Simeon Wolverine mascot shows up.

Simeon Eases by New Trier to Make it to State Semi-Finals

Simeon 63 New Trier 54

Simeon defeated New Trier in the Chicago State Supersectional in boys basketball. I know the final score says that Simeon beat New Trier by 9. New Trier even got to within 4 in the 4th quarter. But this game felt like a Simeon lock throughout.

Simeon busted out with a 9-0 run to start the game. Then New Trier caught on fire beyond the arc to take its only lead of the game 19-18 in the first quarter. New Trier hit 6 of 7 3 pointers in a wild first quarter. Even though New Trier shot lights out in the first quarter they finished the quarter down 24-21.

The 2nd quarter was a slower pace as Simeon took a 36-28 half time lead. After that Simeon played a very controled and efficient game. They exerted just enough energy to win this game. Their goal was not to blow out New Trier- their goal was just to win.They even eased on a couple inside shots that could have went for monster slams. Instead they just took easy lay ins.

Offensively, New Trier has nobody that could stop the inside game led by star Jabari Parker(6-8,sr) and 6-9 Russell Woods(6-9,sr). On the defensive side, New Trier really had to work and pass the ball around just to get a shot off. Then, when they did get a shot, they had to make it because their offensive rebounding was almost non-existent against the much taller and much more athletic. New Trier really had to rely on the 3 point shot because of the shot blocking of Simeon. Simeon harassed the inside game of New Trier all night and Simeon must have had 10-12 or more blocks in this game.

New Trier played well in this game and gave it a great effort. New Trier senior guard Reid Berman scored 10 points in a row in the 4th quarter and Princeton bound G/F Steve Cook(6-4, sr)  played his heart out. I've played against both of those guys in pick up basketball at Life Time Fitness in Old Orchard. They are dominating players. But not against this Simeon team loaded with D1 talent.

I could see why New Trier beat St. Patrick, Notre Dame, and Niles North to advance to the Super Sectionals. But, their best effort was not enough to get too close against this Simeon juggernaut. I can't see any team getting close to beating Simeon for the state championship.

 

 

Lane and Morgan Park at Dan Phillips Relays (E-Town)

Oswaldo Lorenzana(jr) of Lane Tech runs in the fast heat of the 1600 meter run. Lane mainly ran junior varsity runners to evaluate talent in this relays meet. Lane's shot putter continued to look strong. Abraham DeLeon(sr) threw an unofficial 44-5 and Bobby Kurek(sr) threw 45 feet. Both scored.  Lane has the top 3 marks in the shot put Leaderboard. Fans will see Lane's varsity in action next week Saturday at the Gene Armer Invite in Champaign. That meet features some serious downstate powers such as Belleville West, Danville, Springfield Lanphier, and Cahokia.

Brandon Riley(jr-left) of Morgan Park leaps the first hurdle in the finals of the 55 meter hurdles. Morgan Park showed me a few promising signs today. First of all, number wise they looked good. They had a decent sized team - turnout for track seems high this year for Morgan Park. They even ran a 4x8 team that did not look too bad. Time wise they were at an unofficial 9:17, but they had a couple legs that ran strong. Their first leg put them in good shape after the hand off by opening with a 2:09. Brandon Riley(jr) made the finals of the 55 meter hurdles and he also did the long jump. I think Morgan Park is improved over last year and is trying to make establish itself after the Lexie Spurlock era.

Results will be posted as soon as I get them.

Pictures Now- Niles West City Meet 2

Photo Album


Start of the sophomore 800 meter run.

Lane Comes Back to Beat Evanston

Lane Tech 2 - Evanston 1 (OT)


Lane's Ivan Rizov(M-jr-right) battles for possession against Evanston.

Lane came back from a 1-0 2nd half deficit to beat Evanston the New Trier Sectional Boys Soccer Semi-Finals. Evanston scored on a long goal from 35 yards out by Wes Phelps(sp?) 8 minutes into the game. But Lane did not panic. They played a good game in the first half - missing several scoring opportunities.

Lane started out the 2nd half with a lot of energy. They tied the game a few minutes into the half when defender David Molina(jr) scored on a well placed low shot after a corner kick. After that Evanston was lucky to not give up the go ahead goal in regulation. Lane, led by players such as twins Sergio and Jose Fuentes were much faster, skillfull, and quicker than the Evanston defense. They kept relentless pressure on Evanston Goalkeeper David Foreman(sp?). A couple minutes into overtime Lane got the go ahead goal from Adalberto Rojas(sr, F) on another well placed shot from the side of the goal.

Lane has been on a rampage through the Central Suburban League in these playoffs. They have beaten Niles West, New Trier, and now Evanston. They will have to go through one more as they play next the winner of Maine South and Glenbrook North. There's a part of me that hopes it is Maine South because Maine South plays Lane in the football playoffs, and I would love for Lane to beat Maine South in soccer.

This Lane team has already done the CPS proud. This is one of the deepest run I have ever seen a CPS team go in class 3A.


Lane's Marco Ramirez(#16, D, jr) goes airbound to try to control the ball. #40 David Molina scored the tying goal.

Lane Can Run With These Guys

There was a day when Lane Tech was far behind and even intimidated by teams from the north suburbs. Not any more.

Last year, Lane Tech made big news when it qualified for the state cross country meet for the first time since the elimination of the automatic Public League state berth a few years ago. Lane then followed up it's magical cross country season with an even more eye opening state champiionship in the 4x800 meter at last year's state track meet.

Many thought Lane would be a one year wonder. After all, they graduated David Timlin and 3 other runners from its state qualifying team.

One year later, with sectionals approaching next week, Lane is looking pretty good.

Consider their splits from the city meet:

4) Marcelo Burbano-     5:00, 9:58 [4:58], 15:08 [5:08]

9) Jon Vara-                   5:00, 10:14 [5:14], 15:25 [5:11]

10) Pavlo H-                   5:02, 10:19 [5:17], 15:31 [5:12]

14) David Schmieg-      5:04, 10:22 [5:18], 15:44 [5:22]

15) Christian Badillo-    5:01, 10:21 [5:20], 15:46 [5:25]

16) Oswaldo L.-             5:01, 10:22 [5:21], 15:52 [5:30]

19) Waffles-                   5:05, 10:25 [5:20], 15:53 [5:18]

When you have your 7th man running 15:53, that is a good team. When you have guys like sophomore Pavlo Hutsalyuk(so)  running a 15:31 in his first year of cross country, that is a great sign. When you have a runner like David Schmieg(jr) bust out with a 15:44 when his previous best was somehere in the mid 16:00's, that is a program that knows how to develop.

Lane runs regionals this week, where they are sure to qualify to sectionals. They will probably run mostly JV guys.

After that is sectionals where the big boys from the suburbs await. York will qualify to state. After York, the rest of the field will battle it out for 4 remaining state spots. St. Ignatius looks really strong. Then there are the usual suspects New Trier, Niles North, Maine South, Loyola, Oak Park, Lake Park, and others. I have not done a full analysis yet. Here are the CSL Meet Results.

But I will say this, Lane will enter this meet with confidence. They know they have done it before. They know they can run with these guys. In fact, some of them may be thinking, can we run with Lane?

Pictures Now- Westinghouse vs Niles West football game 8.24.12

Photo Album

Deandre Welch(5-7,165lbs, sr. WR/DB) and Westinghouse prepare to march on the field before playing Niles West.