Chicago Public League Sports Blog

Monster Match-Ups

Robeson the Relay School has the 3rd best qualifying mark in the 4x100 and the top qualifying marks in the 4x200 and 4x400.

Here are just some match-ups that I'll be looking for at this Saturday's city finals.

100
Terry Magee(jr), NLCP vs Sharvon Johnson(so) of Phillips

200
Terry Magee(jr), NLCP and Deshuan Jordan(sr) of NLCP vs Byron Kelly(sr) and Antonio Abreu(sr) of Lane Tech

400
entire field

1.	11	Brandon Riley	50.71a	Chicago (Morgan Park)
5.	12	Deshaun Jordan	50.73a	Chicago (North Lawndale Ch...
2.	12	Antonio Abreu	50.95a	Chicago (Lane)
3.	12	Joshua Warren	50.99a	Chicago (Whitney Young)
4.	11	John Franklin	51.63a	Chicago (Whitney Young)
6.	12	LaZyrick Middlebrooks	51.76a	Chicago Bulls College Prep
7.	12	Timothy Gowdy	52.09a	Chicago (North Lawndale Ch...
8.	12	Jeremy Rainey-Brown	52.55a	Chicago (Payton)

Neilski's pick: Deshaun Jordan, NLCP

800
Pavlo Hutsalyuk(so), Lane Tech vs Malik Lee(sr) of Brooks

1600
Jones vs Lane
Dale and O'Connor vs Burbano and Burbano

wildcard: Malik Lee, Brooks

3200
Jones vs Lane
Peter Schaible and Kirby Lawson vs Marcelo Burbano and Christian Badillo

4x100
North Lawndale, Robeson, Phillips, and Lane are my picks to challenge for the title 

4x200
Robeson, Phillips, and Dunbar are my picks to challenge:
Neilski's pick: Dunbar Mighty Men

4x400
Jones, Whitney Young, and North Lawndale - all may desparately need team points in the final event.
Neilski's pick: NLCP to defend their title

4x800
Jones vs Lane
Neilski's pick: Jones will win over a non A-team Lane Tech team

Shot Put
Alex Shields(jr) of Payton vs Lane's Bobby Kurek and Abraham DeLeon
Neilski's pick: DeLeon of Lane

Discus
Brandon Trebble(sr) of Kenwood vs Lane's Bobby Kurek(sr) and Timothy Pinner
Neilski's pick: Kurek

High Jump
Joseph Toye(sr), Whitney Young vs rest of field

Long Jump
Joseph Toye(sr), Whitney Young vs rest of field
top qualifier: Anthony Hudson, Von Steuben

Triple Jump
Joseph Toye(sr), Whitney Young vs Lester Harris(sr), Payton

Pictures Now - 2013 CPS Boys Varsity Track Trials

3 sport(wrestling, track, baseball) star Scandelance Fritz(sr) of Robeson holds up his spikes after running a 4:50.04 in the 1600 meter run. Fritz's time is one of the fastest mile times in modern era Robeson school history. It took a 4:42.70 to advance to the finals this year in the 1600 meter run.

Photo Album

Distance Bug Hits the South Side

Markel Leonard(so) of Robeson runs an unofficial 4:54 to win his heat of the 1600 meter run!

Lindblom freshman Walmer Saavedra(fr) of Lindblom looks good in qualifying in the 1600 meter run!

 About 7 years ago if a CPS runner ran in the 4:40's they were considered a distance stud. However, due to a bunch of factors the CPS has dramatically improved in distance the past few years. Lane won the 4x800 meter relay at the state meet last year. Jones won the class 2A state championship fall.


Markel Leonard(so) of Robeson begins to take charge with 200 yards to go in this heat of the 1600 meter run. Behind him is Lane's Luis Ramirez(so), Foreman's Saul Hernandez(so) and Payton's Wesley Chan(so).

The distance bug seems to be catching to a few other schools besides Lane and Jones. It officially hit the south side as Robeson sophomore Markell Leonard(so) won his heat of the 1600 meter run with an unofficial time of 4:54.

"That is his first time running under 5 minutes in his life in a race. He's been working hard and now it's starting to show," said the Robeson coach on Leonard's performance.


In a scene not from the Twilight Zone, Lindblom's Walmer Saavedra(fr) is ahead of Will Sarchet(so) of distance power Jones and Raymond Jurekiewicz(so) of Lincoln Park with 200 yards to go in their heat of the 1600 meter run.

Another south sider, Walmer Saavedra(fr), also showed some promise. I do not have his official time, but I know he broke 5 minutes in qualifying for the 1600 meter finals. That is the first time I have ever heard of a Lindblom distance runner running that fast.

 more coming soon...

Robeson Gives Joliet Catholic All it Can Handle

Joliet Catholic 34 Robeson 26

Maurice Daniels(6-3, 210lbs, sr. TE/DE) of Robeson established himself as a bonafide star as he played amazing while scoring 2 touchdowns and a super 2 point conversion in the great effort against Joliet Catholic. Daniels had 8 catches and 171 yard receiving (MP photo)

Robeson gave state super power Joliet Catholic all it can handle in a 34-26 effort. Joliet Catholic had to recover an onside kick attempt in the final seconds to preserve the victory.

Robeson kept the game close the entire game. In the third quarter Robeson actually had a chance to take the lead but their 2 point conversion failed and Joliet Catholic led only 13-12.

Robeson quarterback Donte Davis(sr) threw two touchdown passes to Maurice Daniels(sr, 6-3, 210lbs). Devon Sanders(sr) had a great game on both side of the ball. Fans got a chance to see why Purdue made Sanders an offer as he had numerous tackles and big plays playing linebacker and he added two rushing touchdowns.

A great effort by Robeson. After seeing their offense perform with great efficiency I have to rank thier offense near the top of the CPS with Simeon (and maybe Harper). This was a great result for the CPS and I'm sure statewide people will notice that score.

Devon Sanders of Robeson Picks up an Offer from Purdue

Devon Sanders(5-9,180lbs, sr, RB) of Robeson picked up his first football offer when the Purdue Boilermakers made him an offer. Sanders, a powerfully built running back ran for about 1600 yards last year for Robeson.

I've personally seen Sanders run - both on the track and on the football field. I was impressed every time I've seen him perform. He has the muscle and build to really develop into something more at the next level. He has great speed and he can complement that with strength and power.

Football Team Previews Page

CPS College Recruiting Page

CPS Boys Track Prelims- Results

Brian Sturgis(jr-left) leaps over a hurdle. Sturgis qualfied for the finals. Javon Brown(sr-right) of Orr won the heet.

Results

Ascendency

Distance as a whole has dramatically improved in the CPS. You know something is up when south side schools like Curie are starting to improve and when a Robeson produces a distance runner like Scandelace Fritz(so-right) who runs a 5:04.43 in the 1600. That time would have won in 2003. Now, (with no offense to Fritz, I know the man), that time is 23rd on the 1600 meter f/s leaderboard. Could it be that the rise of Jones and Lane distance has an uplifting affect on the rest of the city?

Just for fun, I looked at the CPS Frosh-Soph results from 2003.

Here are some winning times. Compare them to the results at this Saturday's sophomore meet and I think you will see how much the CPS has improved. To be fair, I'm not sure how the weather was that day and some of the marks were good like the 19-2 winning long jump. Also note Harper finished 5th, Steimetz finished 6th, Lane finished 17th and Jones finished dead last at 21st.

1600

1 Gregory Jones    5:04.74         So Lincoln Park           

3200

 1 Ahmed Mohamed  11:32.18            Fr Mather               

4x1

1 Mather         46.68                                       46.68

4x8

  1 Lincoln Park         9:25.50                               9:25.50

TJ

1 Sun Cong 36-7.75                  Fr Mather                36-07.75

800

1 Gregory Jones    2:14.63         So Lincoln Park           2:14.63  

I couldn't help but notice.....

Payton has a pair of promising frosh-soph 400 runners in Juan Aguirre(so-above) and Tyler Halloway(fr). Both scored at the frosh-soph open 400 at the Highland Park Twi-Light Invite. Both are on the 400 frosh-soph Leaderboard. Aguirre has run a 56.1, Halloway has the CPS's top freshman outdoor 400 FAT time of 56.39.

Robeson ran a 9:10.18 in the 4x800 at the Windy City Relays. The "Relay School" always has solid 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 relay teams. This year is no different with times so far of 44.50,1:33.82, and 3:33.01. All of those marks are in the top 7 marks in their perspective events in the Leaderboard. What makes this year different is their 9:10.18 in the 4x800 is the fastest 4x800 time I ever remember Robeson running. It makes the Leaderboard. One of Robeson's top 800 meter runners is Jarvis Wright(sr- right in picture above). Wright is also the starting quarterback on the Robeson football team.

Jones has 13 runners so far that have run 4:55 or better in the 1600 meter run. I was surprised to find out that that is almost double the 7 that Lane Tech has. Jones is really starting to specialize in distance almost as much as Lake Park has done with field events. Lake Park has won state for class 3A two years in a row due largely to it's field events.

Illini Conference Player of the Year Nominations....Part 2

 Kevonta McIntyre(sr, RB, 6-1, 205lbs)(photo courtesy K. McIntyre) voted last year as the CPSFan.com running back of the year. This year, his performance on the field deserves a nomination for the Illini-conference player of the year. He rushed for 1143 yards and 21 touchdowns. He also took over the quarterback duties for a while when star quarterback Maurice Fleming went down with an injury. McIntyre also played linebacker. McIntyre, at 6-1, 205lbs showed he is a powerful runner with some good speed. If there was a running back of the year award in the CPS, he would definitely be voted by me as one of the top 2 or 3 running backs in the city.

Tavin Allen(5-11, 195lbs, sr, RB) Instrumental player in Fengers dramatic team rise this year to a surprise conference championship and state semi-final appearance. Fenger was the only CPS team to lose to Simeon by less than 28 points. Simeon lost to Simeon by only 5 points in the city semi-finals. Fenger's all time leading touchdown leader he had 18 td's with 1400 on the ground with on 83 carries without this athlete fenger wouldve never made the playoffs he played a big role in every single game won by Fenger with 2 or more td's.

I'd also like to nominate:

Darvell Harris(sr), QB of Dunbar
Darrien Boone(jr), QB of Fenger
Jim Daniels(sr), OL of Whitney Young
Quincy Skanes(sr), QB of Hubbard
Dae Shuan Hurley(sr), QB of Juilan
DeMarlon Morris(sr), DB of Julian
Devonte Rimmer(sr), RB of King
Destry Cross(jr), LB of Harlan
Devon Sanders(jr),RB of Robeson

Jarvis Wright(sr, QB) of Robeson

Please comment for additional nominations. And if your case is strong enough, I may just put them on the final ballot.

Part 1

Julian 28 Robeson 14

One person can make all the difference. In the case of Julian it was the addition of quarterback Dae Shaun Hurley. For Robeson it was the injury of quarterback Jarvis Wright.

Julian won this game largely on the play of Dae Shaun Hurley. Robeson lost a big weapon when their starting quarterback Jarvis Wright did not play this game because of a knee injury suffered in a game last week.

Turnovers were also costly for Robeson. Robeson turned the ball over on fumbles twice inside the Julian 12 yard line in the first half. The first came on the opening drive of the game. Julian then made a long drive and scored on a two yard touchdown pass from Hurley to Martrell Travis. That turned out to be the only score of the half. Near the end of the half Julian recovered a fumble at their own 12 yard line when Robeson running back Devon Sanders(jr) could not handle the ball.

Julian made it 14-0 on a 6 yard touchdown run from Samuel Carter. Their third score came as a result of a Robeson miscue. Julian punted the ball but the ball hit the top of the Robeson punt returner and Julian recovered. Two plays later Julian scored to give Julian an insurmountable 22-0 lead with less than 5 minutes left in the game.

Robeson scored two touchdowns in the final two minutes of the game but at that time they game was way out of reach.

The key for this game was the play of Dae Shuan Hurley. He is a deadly runner. He finished with 194 yards on only 11 carries. He would have had over 250 yard if a 80 yard run was not called back on a holding penalty that was not even part of the play.

Julian also controlled Robeson star running back Devon Sanders(jr). Sanders is an all-city running back candidate but Julian held to speedster to no big runs.

Robeson's offense was also not the same without injured starting quarterback Jarvis Wright. The back up quarterback seemed over matched. The good news for Robeson is that Wright should be back in time for the state playoffs.

This is a giant win for Julian who beat their rivals. Julian also qualified for the state playoffs.