CHICAGO MARIST TRACK AND FIELD

On April 21, 2007, the Northside Varsity Mens Track & Field Team traveled to Eckersal Stadium for the Ed Key Invitational. The meet featured over 20 schools and is named after Ed Key, who was a long time high school coach in Illinois, and had numerous State Champions in the 100m dash. Ed Key would have enjoyed the Mustangs performance on Saturday. For the first time in school history, the Northside Mustangs brought home the 2nd place Trophy from the Ed Key Invitational, and were within six points of first place, despite a couple of Northside athletes leaving the meet early before they had completed all of their events. In the Discus, Captain Eric Nelson took third in his flight and sixth overall with a personal best throw of 91'7. Senior Robert Garcia took fourth in his flight, and ninth overall with a personal best throw of 82'2. In the Shot Put, Sophomore Eric Nelson came within 0'2 of the school record with a personal best throw of 36'11. Senior Darrel Johnson threw 31'7. In the High Jump, Sophomore Eric Nelson placed 2nd overall with a jump of 5'10. Nelson came close to clearing 6'0, and hit the bar with his elbow on the way down. Sophomore Simon Vecchioni placed fifth overall with a personal best jump of 5'2. Simon Vecchioni was also awarded a black belt on Saturday evening, the highest honor you can receive in Karate. In the Triple Jump, Captain Eric Nelson placed third overall with a jump of 38'2. Junior Vinh Nguyen placed fifth overall with a personal best jump of 26'4. In the Long Jump, Sophomore Brian Chhun jumped a personal best 14'9. Vinh Nguyen jumped 12'6. In the 3200m run, the one-two punch of Jonathan Kittaka and Preston Buehrer combined for 13 points! Jonathan Kittaka placed second overall with an outstanding time of 10:36 (5:05/5:31). Captain Preston Buehrer placed fourth overall with an outstanding time of 10:58 (5:17/5:41). In the 4x100m Relay, Freshman Hunter Speese ran a 12.09 100m split on the first leg of the Relay, and made a nice exchange to Junior Erik Flores. Erik Flores ran a 12.14 100m split on the second leg of the relay. Freshman Neal Capapas ran a 12.16 100m split on the third leg of the relay. Junior Jose Choto, on his birthday, anchored the Mustangs to a NEW SCHOOL RECORD with a 12.35 100m split, for a total time of 48.74. In the 4x800m Relay, Sophomore Simon Vecchioni ran a personal best 2:16 800m split(64/72) on the first leg of the Relay, and made a nice exchange to Junior Erik Flores. Erik Flores ran a 2:24 800m split (71/73) on the second leg of the relay. Junior Harold Jaffe ran a 2:22 800m split (71/71) on the third leg of the relay. Junior Santino Merino, anchored the Mustangs to sixth overall with a 2:24 800m split (66/78), for a total time of 9:26. In the 110m Hurdles, Freshman Andrew Czyszczon placed fourth overall with a time of 21.80. In the 100m Dash, Freshman Hunter Speese ran a personal best time of 12.27. Junior Preston Buehrer ran an outstanding time of 12.46. In the 800m run, Senior John Holler placed fourth overall with an outstanding time of 2:08.22 (59/69). Junior Harold Jaffe ran in place of Senior Geoff Edwards (injuried hamstring) and ran an outstanding time of 2:22 (69/73). In the Weightmen's 4x100m Relay, Senior Robert Garcia ran a 14.44 100m split on the first leg of the Relay. Sophomore Gustavo Hernandez ran a 13.00 100m split on the second leg of the Relay. Senior Joey Paquette ran a 12.92 100m split on the third leg of the Relay, and made a nice exchange to Junior Vinh Nguyen. Vinh Nguyen anchored the Mustangs to second place, with a 14.16 100m split, for a total time of 54.52. In the 4x200m Relay, Freshman Hunter Speese ran a 24.07 200m split on the first leg of the Relay. Sophomore Santino Merino ran a 25.82 200m split on the second leg of the Relay. Freshman Neal Capapas ran a 25.18 200m split on the third leg of the Relay. Junior Erik Flores had difficulty with the exchange and ran a 28.21 200m split on the anchor leg of the relay, for a total time of 1:43.28. In the 400m run, Junior Preston Buehrer placed second in his heat, with a personal best time of 58.40. Junior Jose Choto left the meet early, and had to be scratched from the 400m run. In the 300m Hurdles, Junior Santino Merino placed fifth overall with a time of 51.42. Freshman Andrew Czyszczon placed seventh overall with a personal best time of 53.19. In the 1600m run, Jonathan Kittaka placed second overall with a time of 4:59 (2:30/2:29). Junior Harold Jaffe ran in place of Senior John Holler, who left the meet early, and ran a personal best time of 5:20 (2:35/2:45) to place sixth overall and score vital points for the Mustangs. In the 200m Dash, Santino Merino and Neal Capapas ran in place of Jose Choto and Hunter Speese because both athletes left the meet early. Neal Capapas hand-held time was 24.99. Santino Merino hand-held time was 25.41. F.A.T. times will be posted as soon as we receive the official results. In the 4x400m Relay, Junior Erik Flores ran a personal best 400m split of 56.33 on the first leg of the relay, and made a nice exchange to Sophomore Brian Chhun. Brian Chhun ran a personal best 400m split of 57.81 on the secoond leg of the relay, and made a nice exchange to Freshman Neal Capapas. Neal Capapas ran a 59.93 400m split on the third leg of the relay, and made a nice exchange to Captain Preston Buehrer. Preston Buehrer anchored the Mustangs to second place in their heat, and sixth overall with a 61.27 400m split, for a NEW SCHOOL RECORD of 3:55.34! VARSITY POINTS SCORED AT ED KEY INVITATIONAL 1. Eric Nelson 17.00 2. Jonathan Kittaka 16.00 3. Andrew Czyszczon 7.00 4. Vinh Nguyen 6.00 5. Preston Buehrer 5.75 6. John Holler 5.00 7. Simon Vecchioni 4.75 7. Santino Merino 4.75 8. Harold Jaffe 3.75 9. Gustavo Hernandez 2.00 9. Robert Garcia 2.00 9. Joey Paquette 2.00 10. Erik Flores 1.50 11. Neal Capapas 0.75 11. Brian Chhun 0.75 VARSITY POINTS SEASON LEADERS (12 Meets) 1. Jonathan Kittaka 63.25 2. Eric Nelson 51.00 3. Geoff Edwards 46.00 4. Preston Buehrer 40.00 5. Albert Lin 21.00 6. Patrick O'Connor 19.75 7. Santino Merino 17.50 8. John Holler 16.25 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 8.50 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 2.00 23.Gustavo Hernandez 2.00 24.Darrel Johnson 1.50 25.Nick Ruff 1.00 25.Faraz Khan 1.00 25.Adam Swiatlowski 1.00 26.Peter Wilk 0.75 27.Omer Aba-Omer 0.50 The above athletes have earned a Varsity letter this season by scoring at the Varsity level.