Lane Tech freshman wrestler Max Schneider has been getting some serious pub recently - more so after his 2nd palce state finish in wrestling. He's got a judo background, but has transitioned nicely into wrestling. Check out the cool article below.
http://www.premiumpreps.com/content.cfm?id=466
Check out these YouTube Videos of Max.
The first one is him at state, the second shows some of his Judo prowess.
Max Schneider (fr) became Lane Tech's first wrestler to finish in the top 2 in the state since 1971.
After an incredible run in the state tournament, Lane Tech freshman Max Schneider brought home a second place medal. All the way up to the state championship match, Schneider pinned all of his opponents including Ellis Coleman of Oak Park, the number one wrestler in the state. His finals opponent was Kevin Fanta of Lake Zurich. Schneider had already faced and pinned Fanta earlier this season at the Wheeling Tournament, so his confidence was there. But at the end Fanta, a senior, had just enough to beat the up and coming freshman 12-9.
With the second place finish, Max has now made a bit of history. He has become Lane Tech's first state placer since Curtis Owen placed 6th in 1994 and he has become Lane Tech's first wrestler to finish in the top 2 since Andre Allen placed 2nd in 1971.
Schneider- only a freshman- has three more years to join William Sturtevant, as Lane Tech's only other state champion in wrestling. Sturtevant won a title in 1946.
In other Public League news, Manley senior William Hadley, became his school's only state placer in school history when he finished 2nd in class AA- 160lbs.
Lane Tech freshman Max Schneider (left) battling Ellis Coleman of Park, ranked number one in the state and number 5 nationally. (sun-times photo)
The state wrestling community knew that Lane Tech freshman Max Schneider was good prior to the state tournament. But a stunning win over Ellis Coleman, the number one wrestler in the state at 135lbs, at the state quarterfinals, immediately stamped Schneider in the state and perhaps national spotlight.
The Chicago Sun-times called this a "Goliath Style- upset".
Maine South wrestling coach said "They'll be talking about this one for 20 years."
Here's another quote from a former Lane wrestler:
"Max Schneider just pinned the number 1 ranked wrestler in the state of Illinois,
Ellis Coleman out of Oak Park, who is also ranked top 10
nationally, in the Wrestling State Quarterfinals. Down 1 in
the third period he took Coleman down and pinned him. That is
huge news because that win makes Max Lane's first State placer
in over 10 yrs. Max Schneider is perhaps Lane's best athlete,
regardless of sport, and may have just launched himself in the
national spotlight with that win."
- Jamelle Williams
class of 2007
"two time state qualifier for Lane Tech"
But to Schneider it is just wrestling as usual:
"To me it's just another victory, it's an accomplishment but I don;t want to get too far ahead of myself."
There is still lot's of work to be done, Schneider wrestles in the state semi-finals today and regardless of the result will become Lane's first state placer since Curtis Owens placed 6th in 1994.
Schneider pins Coleman.....
and is crowned victorious. (Sun-times photo)
Jameel Carter (so) of Uplift was one of 9 Class AA CPS wrestlers to qualify for the state wrestling meet.
The IHSA decided to expand wrestling to 3 classes for the first time this year. The result was a complete bonanza for class AA CPS schools. Class AA schools qualified 9 wrestlers to state, whereas class AAA schools qualified 3 wrestlers. That is a total of CPS 12 wrestlers advancing to state in three classes, when 11 CPS wrestlers advanced to state last year in two classes.
Just to show you how hard it is to repeat advancing to state, of the 5 returning state qualifiers from state last year only Niko Liotta of Mather was able to advance again to state the next year. The others: Carlos Wilhelm of Mather, Justin Cobb of Lane Tech, Ameen Solebo of Mather, and John Price of Dunbar all failed to get past sectionals this year.
Also, city team champion Kelly failed to qualify anyone downstate. City runner up Lane Tech managed to qualify Max Schneider at 135lbs and freshman Nick Jankowski qualified as a state alternate.
Meanwhile, the CPS featured 10 new state qualifiers.
Some of the most noticeable state qualifiers for the CPS this year include:
Max Schneider (fr) of Lane Tech - state ranked at 135lbs. Only 3 losses this year have been to all state ranked wrestlers. What is amazing, is that Schneider is only a freshman and has never wrestled prior to wrestling this year. He did Judo when he was younger and has very supportive parents.
Ronzel Darling (fr) of Bowen - another super freshman, won the CPS city championship at 112lbs where he upset state ranked Nick Jankowski (fr) of Lane Tech in the semi-finals then rocked 2008 state wrestling qualifier Carlos Wilhem in the finals.
Niko Miller (sr) of Lakeview - first year state qualifier from Lakeview opened some eyes when he won city. but now after qualifying for state with a stellar 25-2 record people know he is for real.
David Whitaker (so) of Simeon - this amazing sophomore from the southside opened up some eyes when he advanced to state out of the super tough DeLaSalle Sectional featuring the likes of wrestling powers Mt. Carmel, St. Rita, Sandburg, #1 OPRF, and Lyons.
Class AA CPS 2009 State Qualifiers
Ronzel Darling (fr)- Bowen - 103lbs
Jameel Carter (so) - Uplift - 112lbs
Paul Stingley (jr) - Fenger - 119lbs
Keith Johnson (jr) - Gage Park - 130lbs
Stephen Reed (Sr) - Harper - 135lbs
William Hadley (sr) - Manley - 160lbs
Shelton Wallace (Sr) - Uplift - 171lbs
Mike McNeil (sr) - Chicago Agriculture Science - 189lbs
Niko MIller (sr) - Lakeview - 215lbs
Class AAA CPS 2009 State Qualifiers
David Whitaker (so) - Simeon - 160lbs
Niko Liotta (so) - Mather - 119lbs
Max Schneider (fr) - Lane Tech - 135lbs
Justin Cobb of Lane Tech qualified for sectionals by taking 1st at 140lbs in the Mather Regionals.
On Februray 7, 2009 Lane Tech participated in the Mather Wrestling Regionals along with Northside Prep, Mather, Taft, St. Patrick, Maine South, Leyden, Niles West, Schurz and Von Steuben. That is a total of 10 schools. In wrestling, each school is only able to wrestle one wrestler in each of the 14 weigth classes. Only the top 3 wrestlers in each weight class advances to sectional. Lane Tech was able to advance 7 wrestlers to next week's Leyden Sectionals.
Here are Lane's 7 sectional qualifiers, and their finish:
Nick Jankowski (fr) - 2nd place, 112lbs
Matt Finnegan (so) - 1st place, 119lbs
Hiathem Hamdam (so) - 3rd place, 125lbs
Max Schneider (fr) - 2nd place, 135lbs
Justin Cobb (sr) - 1st place, 140lbs
Nader Ihmoud (jr)- 2nd place, 152lbs
Pawel Piotrowicz (jr) - 2nd place - 171lbs
As expected Justin Cobb, took the 140lb match, when he beat Frank Cavello of St. Patrick 6-2. Sophmore Matthew Finnegan also took first when he beat Niko Liotta of Mather in a rematch of the city championship, in which Finnegan also won. This time it requires a 3-1 Finnegan win in overtime to overtake Liotta. Freshman phenom Max Schneider of Lane Tech also qualified for state sectionals after finishing 2nd to Joe Brewster of Maine South. Brewster came into the championship bout with Schenider with a 34-3 record and ranked #6 in the state in his weight class. Schneider came into the match with a 35-1 record. But Brewster, a senior was able to overtake Schneider 8-2.
Lane Tech heavyweight Laken Tomlinson, nearly qualfied at 285lbs, but just missed with 4th place finish. The result was sill impressive considering Tomlinson had only wrestled a few times prior to this.
Next up for Lane's 7 qualifiers will be the Leyden Sectionals this week.
In another note, Kelly looked imprressive in the very competitive St. Ignatious wrestling sectionals. Kelly qualified 10 wrestlers and had 2 first place finishes.
Noel Harvey (left; sr) will try to help Lane get past the Mather Regionals
Lane and Mather finished 2nd and 3rd last week at city. They will meet again as they try to advance past the Mather regionals. It will not be easy for any team or individual to get past the Mather regional this year because this year the Mather regional competition has been upgrade. This year's regionals (this Saturday, Feb 7) has the following schools participating:
Chicago (Lane)
Chicago (Mather)
Chicago (Northside)
Chicago (Schurz)
Chicago (St. Patrick)
Chicago (Taft)
Chicago (Von Steuben)
Franklin Park-Northlake (Leyden)
Park Ridge (Maine South)
Skokie (Niles West)
Key Individual match-ups that may occur and I'd love to see:
103lbs - Giovani Toledo (Lane Tech) vs. Anthony Sciocotta (St. Patrick)
Sciocotta is state ranked and is the favorite to win.
112lbs - Carlos Wilhelm (Mather) vs Nick Jankowski (Lane Tech)
The highly anticpated matchup betweend these two state ranked wrestlers failed to materialize at city when Jankowski lost in the semi-finals. Wilhelm ended up winning city at 112lbs. I'd love to see these two tangle is together at regionals.
119lbs - Antonio Liotta (Mather) vs Matthew Finnegan (Lane Tech)
I'd love to see this rematch of the city championship match in which Finnegan upset state ranked Liotta.
135lbs - Joe Brewster (Maine South) vs Max Schneider (Lane Tech)
Joe Brewster is ranked #6 in the state in his weight class; Schenieder, a freshman who has never wrestled until high school, is #7 ranked. Nuff'said!
Timothy Vassilidas (junior; 185lbs) of Schurz
On January 24, 2009 Lane Tech and about 10 other schools participated in the CPS North Wrestling Sectionals at Roosevelt High School.
Uplift's Jameel Carter finished 5th in his weight class (112lbs). Jameel is only a sophomore.
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Teams: Kelly 278, Lane 254, Mather 188, Fenger 178.5, Gage Park 150, Uplift 150, Bowen 147, Dunbar 132, Harper 123, Hyde Park 115, Simeon 112, Farragut 107, Manley 105, King 99, Taft 94, Bogan 85, Julian 81, Ag. Science 62.5, Harlan 62, Kelvyn Park 53, Lake View 52, Morgan Park 51, Douglass 50, Hubbard 49.5, Kenwood 44, Juarez 41, Phillips 39, Brooks 38, Vocational 37, Robeson 37, South Shore 36.5, Roosevelt 35, Curie 32, Chicago Math & Science 32, Marshall 31.5, Crane 30, Von Steuben 30
103: Ernest Williams, Bowen d. Manuel Soto, Kelly, fall 0:56; 112: Ronzel Darling, Bowen d. Carlos Wilhelm, Mather, 6-4; 119: Matt Finnegan, Lane d. Niko Liotta, Mather, 7-2; 125: Alcides Hernandez, Kelly d. Duane Green, Morgan Park, 5-4; 130: Tyrelle Young, South Shore d. Keith Johnson, Gage Park, t-fall 20-5; 135: Max Schneider, Lane d. Stephen Reed, Harper, fall 3:26; 140: Justin Cobb, Lane d. Denzel Vaden, Hyde Park, 3-1; 145: Jelone Carroll, Harper d. Chase Wilson, Lane, 7-2; 152: Jamal Carter, Uplift d. Abel Alvavado, Kelvyn Park, 2-1; 160: William Hadley, Manley d. David Whitaker, Simeon, 6-2; 171: Victorious Long, Douglass d. Martell Palm, Dunbar, 13-11; 189: Enrique Jimenez, Kelly d. Ameen Solebo, Mather, 5-4; 215: Niko Miller, Lake View d. Brian McCain, fall 2:30; 285: John Price, Dunbar d. Jeffrey Flanagan, Bogan, fall 1:38
Sophomore Matthew Finnegan left of Lane Tech is about to pin his opponent on his way to winning the city championship at 119lbs.
Anytime Lane Tech loses the city championship in wrestling it is a major disappointment for Lane fans and a complete "triumph" to the opponent. After all, Lane had won 17 of the last 21 city championships in varsity wrestling. Well, the triumph happened as a persevering Kelly team mustered just enough to overtake Lane 278-254 in the city championship.
Despite the disappointing loss to Lane fans, the Lane performance was stellar. Lane's 254 points was only 11 points less than the 265 points it scored from last year when Lane won city. The difference this year was Kelly. Kelly improved from last year's point total of 245.5 when it scored 2nd to 278 points to win this year's city championship.
Lane performed well enough to give them a chance at winning city, in a year which they had graduated all 4 of their city champions last year and 5 of 6 wrestlers who finished in 3rd place or above.
photo of Lane wrestlers and fans in the stands.
Below is an article from the Sun times:
Seven years ago, Kelly didn’t have a wrestling team. Now the Trojans have the best one in the Public League.
On a day when favorites had a hard time, Kelly’s two returning champions defended their titles and the Trojans beat out Lane 278-254 for the city championship at the Broadway Armory.
“Lane Tech, they’re a good team, too,” said Kelly’s Enrique Jimenez, who successfully defended his 189-pound title. “But I believe that we work hard and we deserve this.”
Lane beat Kelly 36-23 in a dual last month, which helped fuel the Trojans’ fire.
“The key to success is perseverance,” said Jimenez, who demonstrated plenty of the latter when he beat Mather’s Ameen Solebo 5-4 in overtime in the finals.
Down most of the match, Jimenez won it on a penalty point in overtime.
“That made my night,” Kelly coach Joe Joyce, who started the program six years ago, said of Jimenez’s win. “You saw a big heart. He sucked it up and that’s what we expected.”
The Trojans’ other champ was Alcides Hernandez, who fought off his back to edge Morgan Park’s Duane Green 5-4 in the 125 final on a locked-hands call in the closing seconds.
“I knew I was tired, but I couldn’t give up,” said Hernandez, last year's 119 champ. “I had to keep going.”
His road could have been easier had he not moved up from 119 pounds for this tournament.
“Our coach decided I could take it at both weights,” Hernandez said. “I said, ‘I’ll do what’s best for the team.’” That was a common theme for the Trojans.
“We bumped up so we could score a lot of points [in Friday’s early rounds] and it worked out,” Joyce said. “A couple kids gave up city title chances by going up a weight.”
Lane had a meet-best three champions: Matt Finnegan at 119, freshman Max Schneider at 135 and Justin Cobb at 140.
Schneider, whose only loss has been to second-ranked Nick Dardanes of Oak Park, never wrestled before this season.
“I came in not really knowing anything about this and I guess I still don’t know a lot compared to a lot of guys,” Schneider said.
But a background in judo has served him well in his new sport. “You could see in my last match I did a lot of hip tosses,” said Schneider, who pinned Harper’s Stephen Reed at 3:26 in the finals.
The only other school with multiple champions was Bowen, which had winners in the first two title bouts. Ernest Willis pinned Kelly’s Manuel Soto in 56 seconds at 103 and Ronzel Darling held off Mather’s Carlos Wilhelm (last year’s winner at 103) for a 6-4 decision at 112.
“I was trying to go out there, get the first takedown and put some pressure on him,” Darling said.
Dunbar heavyweight John Price had the only other fall in the finals, pinning Bogan’s Jeffrey Flanagan at 1:38.
Also winning titles were South Shore’s Tyrelle Young (130), Harper’s Jelone Carroll (145), Uplift’s Jamal Carter (152), Manley’s Wlliam Hadley (160), Douglass’ Victorious Long (171) and Lake View’s Niko Miller (215).
Three of the five returning champs failed to repeat and two of them didn't reach the finals.
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