Chicago Public League Sports Blog

10:07.5 for Mather's Kurdieh at Highland Park Twi-Light Invitational

Results


Zade Kurdieh(jr) of Mather is one of the most improved distance runners in the CPS. Last year he was an 11 minute type 2 miler. This year he brought his time down to 10:07.5 in the 3200 meter run at the Highland Park Twi-Light Invitational. He ran the 2nd fastest 3200 meter run in the CPS this year from a non-Lane or Jones runner. Look for him in distance events in the upcoming CPS meet on May 4th. Also look out for Mather distance runners Devi Tahiraj(jr) and Claudio Flores(jr), jumper Rahim Milz(sr), shot putter Robert Anderson(jr), and up and coming middle distance runners  Matthew Carter(so) and Dontel Payne(jr).

Mile Battle at Lane Inter-City Quad

Deivi Tahiraj(jr) came up victorius in a race that saw 5 runners finish within 1.8 seconds of first place.

I could not help but notice the 1600 meter results at Saturday's Lane Inter-City Quad.

1 Deivi Tahiraj         11 Chicago (Mather)       4:34.78    10  
  2 Christian Badillo     10 Chicago (Lane)         4:34.83     8  
  3 Benjamin Boswell      10 Chicago (Jones)        4:34.86     6  
  4 Mark Protsiv          10 Chicago (Jones)        4:35.33     4  
  5 Luke Muzikowski       12 Chicago (C. Hope Aca   4:36.50     2  
  6 Peter Schaible        11 Chicago (Jones)        4:36.54     1  
  7 Tony Gonzalez         11 Chicago (Jones)        4:46.65        
  8 David Schmieg         11 Chicago (Lane)         4:51.69        
  9 Tony Solis            10 Chicago (Jones)        4:52.33        
 10 Zade Kudich           11 Chicago (Mather)       4:55.05        
 11 Alexander Rodriguez   11 Chicago (Lane)         5:02.74        
 12 Sultan Haji           12 Chicago (Lane)         5:02.76        
 13 Bernardo Vargas       11 Chicago (Lane)         5:04.10        
 14 Claudio Flores        11 Chicago (Mather)       5:09.46        
 15 Gustavo Colunga       11 Chicago (Jones)        5:21.80        
 16 Marquis Dixon         11 Chicago (Jones)        5:29.65        
 17 Dan Berkson           11 Chicago (Latin)        6:06.07        
 18 Brandon Trebble       12 Chicago (Kenwood)      6:16.18     

The race featured Mather's top 3 distance runners Deivi Tahirai(jr), Claudio Flores(jr), and Zade Kudich(jr). Jones had Peter Schaible(sr) - a top 5 varsity runner from their state championship cross country team. Lane featured Christian Badillo(so) and David Schmieg(jr) - two runners form their varsity cross country team.

In other words, even before the race, this had the makings of a very fast race.

Deivi Tahiraj(jr) won the race for Mather. He is making a case for being a top 5 contender for the 1600 meter run if he chooses to run it at the CPS meet next month.

Another big story of the race came from the 2-5th place finishers. All 3 of them are sophomores. Badillo of Lane finished 2nd, Boswell of Jones finished 3rd, and Protsiv of Jones finished 4th. All had times from 4:34-4:35. That means they broke 4:40. Last year only 3 CPS sophomores broke 4:40 in the 1600. We already have 3 of them and the outdoor season has just begun.

The future is looking bright for the CPS in distance.

 

 

 

Luther North Tournament Final Scoreboard

1st place game
Gordon Tech 51 Jones 29

3rd place game
Maine East 52 Luther North 49

5th place game
Taft 73 Mather 54

7th place game
Guerin 69 Chicago Academy 53

Class 2A Cross Country Sectionals

The cross country program is alive and well at Lake View. Lake View had 4 runners finish in the top 13 as Lake View took 2nd at the Elmwood Park Regionals. Lake View has an outside shot of advancing to state.

Jones
Jones is the heavy favorite at the Fenton Sectional. With the depth they have they can go into the meet with any strategy they want. They will probably run their top 7 but not run at full speed. I wouldn't be surprised to see their top 5 all finish within a few seconds of each other at the front.

Mather
After Jones, Mather is the next best CPS hope to advance to state. Mather has a powerful 1-2-3 of Deivi Tahiraj(jr), Claudio Flores(jr), and Zade Kurdieh(jr) - all juniors. Flores and Kurdieh have both stepped up big time. Mather should advance to state.

CPS Individuals to look out for with their regional times

Bryan Quinonez(jr)- Kennedy -16:23
Leonardo Flores(sr)- Kennedy- 16:53
Alex Bermudez(jr)- Little Village- 16:43
Joshua Hernandez - Bulls- 17:05

 

Mather, Lane Advance to CPS Boys Soccer Semi-Finals

Lane 5, Washington 0
Lane advanced to the semi-finals and kept it's undefeated record alive (10-0-4). Sergio Fuentes scored 2 goals for Lane. I thought Washington would have given Lane a much better game. Lane faces Lake View in the semis. Lake View beat Prosser in penalty kicks in the quarterfinals.

Mather 1 Curie 0 (2 OT)
Mather takes another step towards making a  2nd straight CPS finals appearance. Lane and Mather played to a tie during the regular season. Mather will play Kelly in the semi's. Kelly defeated Schurz 4-1 in the quarterfinals.

The CPS semi-finals are this Tue at Lane Tech. Mather plays Kelly at 4:30pm. Lane plays Lake View at 6pm. The finals are this Thurday at UIC.

 

Pictures Now- Mather XC Invite 2012

Photo Album

Videos Now - Mather Cross Country Invite 2012

Mather Invite

With about 400 yards to go Deivi Tahiraj(jr) of Mather sprints to a 2nd place overall finish. Right behind him is surprise 3rd place finisher Claudio Flores of Mather. Mather finished 2-3 but Lane finished 7 runners in the top 10 to take the team title. Lane's Marcelo Burbano(sr) won the 2 mile race.

About 3/4 miles into the race Lane Tech's Joanna Podosek(jr) and Whitney Young's Shianne Baggett(sr) run neck and neck. Podosek won the individual title but Whitney Young ran well at all levels to take the team competition.

Much more coming soon...

The Mather Effect

The CPS has always been somewhat competitive in boys soccer. But it was not until Mather broke through last year with a dominating state championship that has really got more teams to believe.

Mather's win last year seems to be giving more schools hope and that maybe they can do close to a Mather like performance.

Even teams like Amundsen seem suddenly optimistic. Consider the following quote from Amundsen head coach Alex Perez:

“When we played Mather (in the sectional championship), I was amazed at their talent,” Perez said. “That is the standard that Mather has put out there. For us, for Lane (Tech), Lake View, all the Public League teams. If Mather can win the state title, any city school can be successful. The bar is set high now. We can get (to the state title game) if we play well as a team and play aggressive, fast, and strong.”

The results have been favorable for the CPS so far this season. Just look at some early season results:

Lake View 1 Loyola Academy 1
Schurz 0 Niles North 0
Curie 4 Willowbrook 1
Lane Tech 1 Glenbrook North 1
Lane Tech 3 Lake Forest 1
Lake View 1 Notre Dame 0

CPS Boys Soccer - Fall 2012

I'm going to put up this post for people to comment on CPS soccer scores and story lines for Fall 2012.

All eyes around the state will be on the early results of defending state champion Mather. Mather only returns about 3 starters from its state championship team. The Mather coach admitted that this year's team will likely not be as good (result wise) as last year's squad. So expectations are not sky high. Still, when you win a state championship, there will always be expectations the next year no matter who you bring back.

Mather will not even be a shoo in to repeat as CPS champs. Soccer is a big sport in the CPS especially with an increasingly higher number of hispanic players in the CPS. Add the trend of smaller schools, and the CPS will have a chance every year. Remember, Mather won state but that was not in the biggest class. I do not want to diminish their accomplishment, they still won state. But now that they won it, I feel it won't take as long for another CPS state to rise in prominence against state competition.

Look out for Lane Tech this year. The Indians gave Mather a good game (1-0 loss) at the CPS championship last year and return some quality talent including brothers Sergio and Jose Fuentes(jr)- who were non juniors or seniors on the Lane Tech varsity soccer team last year. Lane returns 9 players and 5 starters from last year. They will be boosted by some returning members from the 18-0 JV city championship team of last year. Look out for Robert Peia(jr-F)-  a dangerous goal scorer from last year's JV team.

Lane started out this season with a 1-0 win against Hancock and a 3-0 conference win against Hubbard.

Lane will get an early test against suburban competition as they play at Gelnbrook North this Friday followed by a game at Lake Forest on Monday (8/27).

The CPS had some good early season results as Lake View tied Loyola Academy 1-1 and Schurz tied Niles North 0-0 this week.