CHICAGO MARIST TRACK AND FIELD

On Tuesday, May 2, 2006, the Northside College Prep Varsity Mens Track and Field Team traveled to Hanson Stadium for the qualifying Meet for the City Championships. The Meet features athletes from over 58 Chicago Public High Schools, and the Top 12 Field Event athletes, and Distance Event athletes advanced to the City Championship Meet on Saturday, May 6, 2006. Chris Zysko was ranked the 7th best Discus thrower in Chicago going into the meet. Outside Hanson Stadium, at the Discus cage, Chris Zysko earned the #2 ranking in Chicago with a throw of 122'2. The distance of the throw will carry over to City Championship Meet on Saturday, and all 12 qualifiers will get 3 additionals throws to determine the 2006 Discus City Champion. In the Mile, Patrick O'Connor (4:50), and Daniel Kittaka (4:54) both qualified among the Top 5 Milers in Chicago for the City Championships. O'Connor and Kittaka also qualified in the 3200m run for the City Championships based on seed times. In the 4x800m Relay, Daniel Kittaka ran a personal best time of 2:15 800m split on the first leg of the relay and made a nice exchange to Patrick O'Connor. O'Connor ran a 2:18 800m split on the second leg of the relay, but had no one to exchange the baton too on the third leg of the 4x800m relay. The Mustangs were ranked among the Top 4x800m Relay Teams in Chicago prior to the meet, but were not able to complete the relay at the Varsity City Championship Qualifying Meet because only 2 of 8 athletes entered in the relay showed up for the race. On Saturday, April 29, 2006, Coach Gordon designated Joey Paquette, Adam Swiatlowski, James Casper-Shipp, Joseph Terdik, Jordan Stacey, and Bobby Ziegler as 6 of the 8 entries for the 4x800m relay. However, on the same day, Joey Paquette notified Coach Gordon he could not race on Tuesday. Paquette was left on the Relay roster, so he would be eligible to race in the City Championships on Saturday. However, Adam Swiatlwoski and James Casper-Shipp did not show up for the meet. Joseph Terdik, Jordan Stacey, and Bobby Ziegler showed up to the meet right after the race ended, because an "AP" Exam that was given Nationally didn't start on time at Northside, but stated on time at every other CPS School. Therefore, Coach Gordon was left with only 2 of his 8 Relay entries, and the Mustangs were not able to finish the relay. The 4x100m Relay also had to be scratched because only 3 of the 8 athletes (Jose Choto, Tom Skawski, Manraj Bains) that Northside entered into the Relay showed up to the meet. Melvin Thomas AP Exam did not end in time. James Casper-Shipp and Nathan Michaelson did not show up. Jerry Tran is still recovering from a broken arm, and Christian Okoyoe left a message that he was sick. Members of the Northside College Prep Track & Field Coaching staff travel as far as 42 miles a day to attend practice, and make numerous sacerfices for the athletes on a daily basis and were deeply disappointed at the lack of dedication of the Varsity athletes to the TEAM for the City Championships Series. However, the Coaching staff was proud of each and every athlete that showed up and competed in the meet to the best of their ability, and the dedication that the Freshman-Sophomore squad displayed last Saturday and throughout the season. Members of the Northside College Prep Team will be asked to turn in their Uniform on Wednesday, May, 3, 2006, if for ANY reason, they will not be able to attend IHSA Sectionals (May 19) or the IHSA State Championship Meet (May 26-27) for the FULL duration of the Meet. The athletes who competed on Tuesday night, ran their guts out for the TEAM, and Jumped and Threw with determination, and made the Coaching staff proud. In the 800m Run, Joseph Terdik ran a personal best time of 2:09.30, and missed qualifying for the City Championships by only ".17" of a second. Terdik dropped 3 seconds of his personal best time and ran an inspiring race. Jordan Stacey also ran an outstanding race in the 800m run, with a personal best time of 2:20. Stacey dropped 3 seconds off his personal best time. In the Triple Jump, Geoffrey Edwards jumped a personal best 33'0! Bobby Ziegler also jumped a personal best 15'5 in the long jump! In the 4x200m Relay, Irfan Hussain collapsed right before exchanging the baton on the first leg of the Relay. Jose Choto made a nice recovery, and made an excellent hand-off to Tom Skawski. Geoffrey Edwards anchored the 4x200m Relay with a strong finish. In the 300m Hurdles, Bobby Ziegler showed great mental toughness fighting every second of the race despite several hard falls on his way to the finish line. Tom Skawski, who just started training for the 300m hurdles a few weeks ago, made it over every hurdle. In the 4x400m Relay, Joseph Terdik ran a 59.58 400m split on the first leg of the relay. Jordan Stacey ran a personal best 60.28 400m split on the second leg of the relay. Stacey dropped 4 seconds off his personal best time. Geoffrey Edwards ran a personal best 60.56 400m split on the third leg of the relay. Edwards also dropped 4 seconds off his personal best time. Patrick O'Connor, who moments earlier ran a 4:50 Mile, anchored the 4x400m relay with an outstanding 400m split of 59.97, for a total time of 4:00.39.