CHICAGO MARIST TRACK AND FIELD

On Monday, February 19, 2007, the Northside College Prep Varsity Women's Track & Field Team traveled to De La Salle High School in Chicago, Illinois for the President Day Invitational. De La Salle High School is famous for their Alumni which includes Mayor Richard Daley. The Team began the day by singing Happy Birthday to Northside Assistant Coach Jose Nebrida. Team Captains presented Nebrida with a Pie, and a nice card, which was signed by the entire Team. After completeing 152 Marathons, Jose Nebrida reached the youthful age of 65. It turned out to be an outstanding birthday for Jose Nebrida. His wife threw him a surprise party, and the Mustangs delivered the best present ever, a dramatic come from behind Team VICTORY at the President Day Invitational. The lady Mustangs are now off to a 6-0 start to the 2007 Track & Field Season!!! The President's Day Invitational featured host De La Salle High School, Harper High School, Washington High School, Julian High School, Cage Park High School, and Dunbar High School. The meet was an eight hour battle, that began with the Shot Put. Since January 2007, Northside throwers have been meeting with Northside Head Coach Jon Gordon every morning at 6:15 am in the weight room, and working on throwing technique in the gym, and in the hallways. The Mustangs dedication paid off at the President Day Invitational. Junior Kaitlin Renkosiak placed 4th overall with a throw of 22'1. Junior Jolanda Steier placed 5th overall with a personal best throw of 21'6. The Mustangs scored 9 points in the Shot Put. In the 55 meter low hurdles, Freshman Karen Li won the Sophomore-Freshman division with a personal best time of 10.94. Sophomore Maria Zdunek finished second with a personal best time of 11.57. In the Varsity 55 meter low hurdles, Junior Kelly Varney placed 4th with an outstanding time of 10.18. Senior Amy Perez placed 6th with a Personal Best time of 11.58. The Mustangs scored 8 points in the 55 meter low hurdles. In the 55 meter dash Sophomore-Freshman Division, Sophomore Stephanie Sotomayor placed 8th with an outstanding time 8.91. Sophomore Mariam Bawany placed 11th with a personal best time of 9.78. In the Varsity 55 meter dash, Senior Natalie Hanigan placed 8th with an outstanding time of 8.06. Sophomore Adoara Achufusi placed 11th with an outstanding time of 8.38. The Mustangs scored 1 point in the 55 meter dash. In the 4x800m Relay, Senior Julie Bujnowski battled Harper for the lead on the opening leg with an outstaning 800m split of 2:56.87. After a nice exchange, Junior Meghan Schmit ran an outstanding 800m split of 2:59.95, and passed the baton to Senior Jaye Gardiner. Gardiner ran a personal best 800m split of 3:03.18, and passed the baton to Sophomore Carmen Abelson. Carmen Abelson anchored the relay to VICTORY with an outstanding time of 2:54.87 for the final 800 meters of the 4x800m Relay. The Mustangs scored 10 points in the 4x800m Relay. In the Long Jump, Senior Julie Bujnowski had one jump left after the 4x800m relay, and it was her best jump of the day. Bujnowski jumped an outstanding 13'4.5 to place 6th overall. Sophomore Maria Torres placed 7th overall with an outstanding jump of 13'1.5. Junior Courtney Konow placed 9th overall with a personal best jump of 9'10. The Mustangs scored 5 points in the long jump. In the High Jump, Junior Kelly Varney placed 3rd overall and secured 6 vital points for the mustangs with a jump of 4'0. In the Triple Jump, Maria Torres placed 1st overall with a jump of 31'5. Sophomore Gayatri Satam placed 5th overall with a jump of 26'4. Junior Kaitlin Renkosiak placed 6th overall with a jump of 22'9.25. The Mustangs scored 17 points in the Triple Jump. In the Sophomore-Freshman 4x160m Relay, Stephanie Sotomayor, Gayatri Satam, Karen Li, and Maria Zdunek combined for an outstanding time of 1:48.51 to place 5th overall. In the Varisty 4x160m Relay, Senior Natalie Hanigan ran an impressive 23.81 split on the first leg of the relay, and made a nice exchange to Sophomore Maria Torres. Torres ran an outstanding 24.15 split on the second leg of the relay, and made a nice exchange to Sophomore Adaora Achufusi. A Julian runner colided with Achufusi causing her to hit the ground hard, but she quickly got up to secure vital points for the Mustangs with a 28.13 split on the third leg of the relay, and made a nice exchange to Junior Kelly Varney. Varney ran a 24.64 split on the final leg of the relay to finish 5th overall with an outstanding time of 1:40.65. The Mustangs scored 4 points in the 4x160m Relay. In the Varsity 1600m run, the one-two punch of Sophomore Carmen Abelson (6:20) and Senior Jessica Galang (7:09) dominated the field, and placed first and second respectively. Abelson ran outstanding 800m splits of 3:09 and 3:11. Galang also ran outstanding 800m splits of 3:21 and 3:48. The Mustangs scored 18 points in the Mile. In the Varsity 400m run, Senior Julie Bujnowski placed 5th with a time of 72.93. Junior Courtney Konow placed 7th with a Personal Best time of 76.13. The Mustangs scored 6 points in the 400m run. After the 400m run, the Mustangs had moved into 2nd place overall, and were closing in on Dunbar High School with the 800m run and the 4x400m as the only remaining events. The Mustangs had originally planned on Anna Parks, Jennifer Friedmann, and Hannah Geil-Denfeld running in the Varsity 800m run. However, Hannah Geil-Denfeld was sick, and Jennifer Friedmann did not show up to the Bus. Northside Head Coach Jon Gordon announced as the Team was getting off the Bus, that Freshman Bessie Nolan, and Senior Amy Perez would run in their place. Although both athletes have a Cross Country background, neither was planning on running in the 800m run at the meet. Both athletes showed great mental toughness, and determination with milestone performances. In the 800m run, Harper's Paulette Murry quickly took the lead with a strong start. After two laps, Northsides Anna Parks, Bessie Nolan, and Amy Perez moved in front of Murry. The Mustangs then held of strong surges from Kiara Williams, Lavon Johnson, and Kenyetta Sadler. Sophomore Anna Parks finished first overall with an outstanding time of 2:42. Freshman Bessie Nolan finsihed second overall with a personal best time of 2:50. Senior Amy Perez finished third overall with a personal best time of 2:59. The Mustangs SWEPT the top three places in the 800m run! The Mustangs scored 24 points in the 800m run to put them a few points ahead of Dunbar High School for FIRST place in the President Day Invitational. In the Sophomore-Freshman 4x400m Relay, Sophomore Alice Thatcher, Freshman Mahaim Hiader, Freshman Jessica Tapia, and Freshman Collen Hoffman combined for a 4x400m relay time of 6:29.30 to place second overall in the 4x400m relay. After an eight hour battle, the meet was going to come down to the final event, the Varsity 4x400m Relay. The Mustangs had to stay ahead of Dunbar in the 4x400m Relay to win the meet. After a meeting with the coaching staff and Team Captains, with the President Day Invitational Championship on the line, the Mustangs changed the order of the 4x400m Relay. Junior Kelly Varney lead off the Relay with a 75.46 400 meter split. Senior Julie Bujnowski ran the second leg with a 73.44 400 meter split. Senior Natalie Hanigan ran the third leg with a 72.90 400 meter split. Sophomore Anna Parks anchored the Relay to 3rd place overall, and one place ahead of Dunbar High school to win the Invitational with a 67.00 400 meter split on the final leg of the 4x400m Relay with a final time of 4:48.90. The Mustangs scored 6 points in the 4x400m relay. Team Scores: 1. Northside College Prep 145 2. Dunbar 137 3. Harper 68 4. Julian 66 5. De La Salle 52 6. Washington (Chicago) 25 7. Gage Park 15 VARSITY POINT LEADERS 1. Kelly Varney 13.5 2. Maria Torres 13.0 3. Carmen Abelson 12.5 4. Anna Parks 11.5 5. Julie Bujnowski 11.0 6. Amy Perez 9.0 7. Jessica Galang 8.0 7. Bessie Nolan 8.0 7. Kaitlin Renkosiak 8.0 8. Gayatri Satam 4.0 8. Jolanda Steier 4.0 9. Natalie Hanigan 3.5 10.Jaye Gardiner 2.5 10.Meghan Schmit 2.5 11.Courtney Konow 2.0 12.Adaora Achufusi 1.0 SOPHOMORE-FRESHMAN POINT LEADERS 1. Karen Li 11 2. Maria Zdunek 9 3. Stephanie Sotomayor 2 3. Alice Thatcher 2 3. Mahaim Haider 2 3. Jessica Tapia 2 3. Collen Hoffman 2 4. Gayatri Satam 1 WIN = What's Important Now?