CHICAGO MARIST TRACK AND FIELD

 On Saturday, March 5, 2016, the Northside Varsity Men traveled to Maine East High School for the 50th Annual Blue Demon Invitational. It was the Mustangs third appearance in Northside history at the Blue Demon Invitational.

 Former All State 800m runner, and Head Coach of the Maine East Track & Field Team, Scott Schultes, invited Northside to be a part of the 50th Annual Blue Demon Invitational. The meet is limited to ten Teams, and Northside accepted the invitation to be a part of a great indoor meet.

 Maine East has a long history of hosting the best Track meets in the Central Suburban league. The competition is always outstanding. They have also hosted Indoor Pentathlons at the start of every indoor track season. The Track is 160m and allows athletes to use 1/8 Pyramid spikes. Maine East also features upper deck stadium seating. Maine East Alumni include Hillary Clinton. 

 The 50th Annual Blue Demon Invitational featured Deerfield, Glenbard East, Leyden, Maine West, New Trier, Northside, Schaumburg, Northridge, Vernon Hills, and host Maine East.

 Entries were limited to two athletes per event in the Varsity division. The meet featured four Sophomore-Freshman events, the Shot Put, 4x800m Relay, 4x160m Relay, and 4x400m Relay.  

 Medals were awarded to the top six athletes or Relays in each event.

 Individual events and relays were scored on the following point scale: 10-8-6-4-2-1.

 Northside scored 67 points, and posted victories over: 5. Maine West (61 points), 6. Leyden (56 points), 7. Schuamburg (53 points), 8. Maine East (37 points), 9. Glenbard East (29 points), 10. North Ridge (21 points). The Chicago Northside Mustangs had a record of 6-3 on the day!

 Northside had a BIG day in ALL of the relays.

 First, the Varsity 4x160m Relay BROKE the SCHOOL RECORD (1:19.50) with an official time of 1:16.70. Northside Sophomore Nicholas Brown ran a 20.05 160m split on the first leg of the relay, and made a perfect exchange to Steven Kataba. Senior Steven Kataba ran a 18.79 160m split on the second leg of the relay, and made a nice exchange to Justin Washington. Northside Senior Justin Washington ran a 18.96 160m split on the third leg of the relay, and made a good exchange to Keith Jones. Northside Senior Keith Jones anchored Northside to FIRST PLACE with an impressive 18.61 160m split to BREAK THE SCHOOL RECORD with an official time of 1:16.70. The Chicago Northside Mustangs also came very close to the Stadium record!

 Nicholas Brown, Steven Kataba, Justin Washington, and Keith Jones were awarded GOLD MEDALS for finishing in FIRST place overall in the 4x160m Relay. Deerfield finished in second place with an official time of 1:18.20. Vernon Hills finished in third place with an official time of 1:18.3. Glenbard East and Leyden finished in a fourth place tie with an official time of 1:18.9. Schaumburg finished in sixth place to complete the scoring with an official time of 1:19.1. 

 Northside dropped 2.80 seconds from the Niles North Viking Invitational (1:19.50) to BREAK THE SCHOOL RECORD with an official time of 1:16.70. Nicholas Brown, Steven Kataba, Justin Washington, and Keith Jones will receive watermelons for breaking the school record in the 4x160m Relay.

  In the Sophomore 4x160m Relay, Glenbard East completed the scoring by finishing in sixth place with an official time of 1:24.3. Northside finished in seventh place with an official time of 1:25.10. Northside Sophomore Carel Jones ran a personal best 160m split of 19.94 on the first leg of the relay, and made a good exchange to Norberto Nieves. Freshman Norberto Nieves ran an outstanding 160m split of 21.29 on the second leg of the relay, and made a perfect exchange to Mason Sotomayor. Sophomore Mason Sotomayor ran a personal best 160m split of 21.81 on the third leg of the relay, and made a nice exchange to Osazee Osaghae. Freshman Osazee Osaghae anchored Northside to 2nd place in their heat, and in seventh place overall with an outstanding 21.69 160m split for an official time of 1:25.10.   

 Northside Sprints Coach Matthew Madera and the Chicago Northside Sprinters also earned MEDALS in the 50 yd Dash, 400m Dash, 200m Dash, and 4x400m Relay! 

 The next goal for the Northside Varsity sprinters will be to break the school record in the 4x200m Relay (1:33.16) at the Indoor City Championships and/or during the outdoor season.  

 In 2014, Brian McManus, Christian Thorsberg, Kyle Friedler, and Alex Ortiz finished in sixth place in the Sophomore 4x800m Relay with an official time of 9:59.02 at the Maine East Invitational.

 In 2016 (3 years later), the Varsity 4x800m Relay featured three athletes from that 2014 Sophomore Relay, and the time drop from the 2014 Maine East Invitational to the 2016 Maine East Invitational was ONE MINUTE and 20.42 SECONDS! 8:38.60! 

 In the Varsity 4x800m Relay, Vernon Hills won it with an outstanding time of 8:38.20. The Chicago Northside Mustangs finished in SECOND place with a season best time of 8:38.60. On the first leg of the relay, Northside Captain Danny Rosen ran 160m splits of 24, 24, 25, 25, and 26.64 for an 800m split of 2:04.64, and made a nice exchange to Captain Kyle Friedler. Junior Kyle Friedler ran 160m splits of 24, 24, 26, 27, and 26.13 for an 800m split of 2:07.13, and made a good exchange to Brian McManus. Junior Brian McManus ran 160m splits of 24, 27, 28, 30, and 28.39 for an 800m split of 2:17.39, and made a perfect exchange to Captain Alex Ortiz. Junior Alex Ortiz anchored the Chicago Northside Mustangs to SECOND place with 160m splits of 25, 25, 26, 27, and 26.08 for an 800m split of 2:09.08 for an official time of 8:38.60. Danny Rosen, Kyle Friedler, Brian McManus, and Alex Ortiz were awarded SILVER MEDALS for finishing in second place overall. New Trier finished in third place with an official time of 8:52.8. Northridge finished in fourth place with an official time of 9:14.6. Leyden finished in fifth place with an official time of 9:21.2. Maine West finished in sixth place to complete the scoring with an official time of 9:33.30.

 The Chicago Northside Mustangs are currently ranked #9 in Illinois in the 4x800m Relay on the Class 2A Leaderboard.

 The Chicago Northside 4x800m Relay will definitely qualify for the STATE Championships from the IHSA North Lawndale Class 2A Sectional in May 2016. Eight athletes go to the STATE Track & Field Championships when a relay qualifies for STATE. Northside has strong depth in the 4x800m Relay, and is excited about the development of the Sophomore 4x800m Relay.

 Prior to Saturday, the fastest time a Northside Sophomore 4x800m Relay had run this season was a 11:06.00 (Spartan Indoor Classic). That changed dramatically at Maine East.  

 In the Sophomore 4x800m Relay, Northside finished 3rd in their heat, and in fifth place overall with an outstanding time of 9:48.30. The Northside Sophomore 4x800m Relay dropped ONE MINUTE and 18 seconds frorm the Spartan Indoor Classic! 11:06.00 to 9:48.30! 

 In the Sophomore 4x800m Relay, Deerfield won it with an official time of 9:09.4. Leyden finished in second place with an official time of 9:26.80. Maine West finished in third place with an official time of 9:30.0. Venon Hills finished in fourth place with an official time of 9:44.10. The Chicago Northside Mustangs finished in fifth place with an official time of 9:48.30. Glenbard East finished in sixth place to complete the scoring with an official time of 9:49.50. Freshman Norberto Nieves, Sophomore Kyle Lowenthal, and Sophomore phenoms Charlie Guthmann and Jacob Yosowitz were awarded MEDALS for finishing in fifth place overall.

 On the first leg of the Sophomore 4x800m Relay, Northside Freshman Norberto Nieves ran 160m splits of 28, 29, 29, 31 and a NEGATIVE split of 30.37 seconds for an 800m split of 2:26.63, and made a good exchange to Kyle Lowenthal. Northside Sophomore Kyle Lowenthal ran 160m splits of 28, 28, 34, 33 and a NEGATIVE split of 29.22 seconds for an 800m split of 2:32.22, and made a nice exchange to Charlie Guthmann. Northside Sophomore phenom Charlie Guthmann ran impressive 160m splits of 28, 29, 29, 29 and a NEGATIVE split of 28.48 seconds for an 800m split of 2:23.48, and made a perfect exchange to Jacob Yosowitz. Northside Sophomore Jacob Yosowitz anchored the Chicago Northside Mustangs to the MEDAL STAND with 160m splits of 28, 29, 31, 33, and then ran the final 160m in an impressive NEGATIVE split of 24.84 seconds to outkick Glenbard East (9:49.50) with a 2:25.84 800m split for an official time of 9:48.30.