CHICAGO MARIST TRACK AND FIELD

On Saturday, May 5, 2007, the Northside Mens Track & Field Team traveled to Hanson Stadium in Chicago, Illinois for the Chicago Public School Track & Field Conference Championships. There are over 90 Chicago Public Schools, and over 2,700 Track & Field Athletes in the CPS Conference, making it the largest high school conference in the world. The conference is so large, that in order to have a conference championship meet, athletes must be ranked just to be invited to the qualifying meet. After the qualifying meet took place last Wednesday to determine the best 12 athletes in Chicago in the Distance events and Field events, and the best 8 athletes in Chicago in the sprinting events, the Northside Mustangs had qualified 12 athletes for the City Championships. A year ago, Mather's Maurice Fuller won the City Championships in High Jump with a jump of 6'0. The Northside College Prep school record (6'0) for High Jump was set in 2003 by Jelani Thompson. In 2007, five athletes were still remaining going into the first attempt at 6'2! The CPS announced over the stadium loud speaker the names of all five athletes remaining in the competition, and a large crowd gathered at the High Jump pit. Northside Captain Eric Nelson was one of the five remaining athletes in the competition, and Nelson was the only athlete with no misses through 6'0. On his first attempt at 6'2, Sophomore Eric Nelson BROKE THE SCHOOL RECORD with a personal best jump of 6'2!!! Whitney Young Senior Norman Thomas also cleared 6'2. The bar was then raised to 6'4, and Norman Thomas cleared it to win the competition. Eric Nelson was awarded a silver medal for placing second in the 2007 Varsity City Championships. Eric Nelson will be one of the favorites to qualify for the 2007 IHSA State Championships, at the Sectional meet. Last season, a jump of 5'11 qualified for State in the Mustangs sectional. In the Triple Jump, Northside Head Coach Jon Gordon had Sophomore Eric Nelson pass on his remaining three jumps as a precautionary move after his spikes got caught on the runway on his last attempt at 6'4 in the High Jump. Nelson finished ninth in Triple Jump on the strength of his marks in the qualifying meet, which carried over to the finals. In the 4x800m Relay, Senior John Holler ran the first 400m in 59 seconds, and a 2:08.90 800m split (59/69.90) on the first leg of the relay and made a nice exchange to Captain Geoff Edwards. Senior Geoff Edwards is the mustangs best sprinter, and holds the school record in the 100m, 200m, and 400m dash, and in effort to help his teammates, he ran the second leg of the 4x800m Relay in the City Championships. Geoff Edwards came through for the Mustangs, and ran a 63.10 for the first 400m, and a personal best 2:22.99 800m split (63.10/79.89) to put the Mustangs in fifth place, and made a nice exchange to Sophomore Simon Vecchioni. Vecchioni had been sick since Thursday, and with alternates Patrick O'Connor, and Brian Chhun not showing up to the meet, and Freshman Cuitlahuac Pineda recovering from a skate board injury, Vecchioni, a 2:16 800m runner, was willing to attempt to run for his teammates. Vecchioni ran a 68.11 for the first 400m, and a 2:27.11 800m split (68.11/79.00), but the short recovery time from his illness caught up to him in the final 150m, and four teams passed him. Junior Santino Merino anchored the Mustangs to ninth place with a 66.00 for the first 400m, and a 2:26 800m split (66/80), for a total time of 9:25. In the 3200m run, Mather's Carlos Hernandez edged Whitney Young's Ethan Heppner to win it. Northside's Jonathan Kittaka placed eighth overall with an outstanding time of 10:44 (5:11/5:33). Jonathan Kittaka was awarded a Medal for placing eighth in the 2007 Varsity City Championships. Northside Captain Preston Buehrer showed great mental toughness racing with a taped up foot, and placed 10th overall with a time of 11:00 (5:19/5:41). In the 800m run, John Holler dropped six seconds from the qualifying round, with an outstanding time of 2:10.11 (61/69.11) In the 1600m run, Northside Sophomore Jonathan Kittaka placed seventh overall with a time of 4:57 (69/2:26/3:44/4:57). Junior Preston Buehrer ran a time of 5:13 (70/2:28/3:54/5:13). On Monday, May 7, 2007, the entire Northside Track & Field Team will have a Team Meeting at 3:39 PM to announce the roster for the IHSA Sectional Championships and distribute banquet information. VARSITY POINTS SCORED AT CITY CHAMPIONSHIPS 1. Eric Nelson 8 2. Jonathan Kittaka 3 VARSITY POINTS SEASON LEADERS (14 Meets) 1. Jonathan Kittaka 66.25 2. Eric Nelson 59.00 3. Geoff Edwards 46.00 4. Preston Buehrer 40.37 5. Albert Lin 21.00 6. Patrick O'Connor 19.75 7. Santino Merino 17.50 8. John Holler 16.62 9. Simon Vecchioni 16.00 10.Jose Choto 14.75 11.Erik Flores 11.50 12.Benjamin Garcia 11.00 13.Cuitlahuac Pineda 10.25 14.Wemi Jemine 10.00 15.Vinh Nguyen 8.87 16.Harold Jaffe 8.00 17.Martin Melto 7.75 18.Hunter Speese 7.50 19.Andrew Czyszczon 7.00 20.Brian Chhun 6.00 21.Neal Capapas 5.75 22.Robert Garcia 3.50 23.Joey Paquette 2.37 24.Gustavo Hernandez 2.00 25.Darrel Johnson 1.50 26.Nick Ruff 1.00 26.Faraz Khan 1.00 26.Adam Swiatlowski 1.00 27.Peter Wilk 0.75 28.Omer Aba-Omer 0.50 The above athletes have earned a Varsity letter this season by scoring at the Varsity level.