CHICAGO MARIST TRACK AND FIELD

On Saturday, March 10, 2007, the Northside Women Track & Field Team traveled to Henry Crown Field House for the CPS Varsity Indoor Invitational. The meet featured over 60 schools and 400 athletes! Team Trophies were awarded to the Top 3 Teams, and Individual Medals for places 1st through 3rd, and ribbons for places 4th through 6th. The meet lasted approximately five hours and came down to the final event with Northside College Prep and Dunbar High School tied for third place with 44 points. The Mustangs 4x400m Relay came through and placed 2nd in the 4x400m Relay to take sole possession of Third place out of 60 schools! It was the highest Varsity Team finish in the history of Northside College Prep at the CPS Varsity Indoor Invitational. Several school records were also broken by the Northside College Prep Women, and the IHSA automatic state qualifying standards were approached as well. In the Triple Jump, Sophomore Maria Torres BROKE THE SCHOOL RECORD with a jump of 34'4 to place 2nd overall. Torres is now within 1'2 of the IHSA Automatic State Qualifying standard. Maria Torres has QUALIFIED for the Illinois Prep Top Times Invitational by jumping the automatic qualifying standard of 34'4. The Illinois Prep Top Times Invitational features the top athletes in the State in every event. The Illinois Prep Top Times Invitational takes place at Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday, March 31, 2007 in Bloomington, Illinois. In the Shot Put, Kaitlin Renkosiak upset Whitney Young to place seventh overall. In the Long Jump, Julie Bujnowski placed 9th overall with a jump of 12'10. In the High Jump, Kelly Varney placed 6th overall with a jump of 4'2. In the 3200m run, Junior Rachel Kittaka WON with an outstanding time of 12:29. Kittaka came within 8 seconds of the school record in her first meet of the season, and ran the fastest time indoors ever by a Northside female athlete for two miles. Kittaka was at 2:50 for 800m, 5:56 for the Mile, 9:13 for 1.5 Miles, and 12:29 for two miles. Kittaka was awarded a Gold Medal, and a 2007 CPS Champion bag. In the 4x800m Relay, the Northside Varsity Women made history by breaking the SCHOOL RECORD by 18 secords. Sophomore Anna Parks lead off the first leg of the relay with an outstanding time of 2:33. Senior Julie Bujnowski ran a 2:49 800m split fot the second leg of the 4x800m Relay. Sophomore Carmen Abelson ran a 2:51 800m split for the third leg of the 4x800m Relay. Senior Mary Shelus, anchored the 4x800m Relay to FIRST PLACE and a NEW SCHOOL RECORD with a 2:32 800m split, and a total time of 10:45.70. All members of the Relay were awarded Gold Medals and 2007 CPS CHAMPION bags. In the 55m Hurdles, Kelly Varney placed sixth overall. In the 800m run, Sophomore Anna Parks came from behind to win the 2007 CPS Varsity Indoor Invitational title, with an outstanding time of 2:38. In the 4x200m Relay, Natalie Hanigan ran a 31.07 200m split on the first leg of the Relay. Hanigan made a nice exchange to Maria Torres. However, an athlete from another team ran into Maria Torres after the exchange. Torres recovered, and ran a 30.88 200m split on the second leg of the 4x200m Relay. Adaora Achfusi ran a 31.55 200m split on the third leg of the 4x200m Relay. Kelly Varney anchored the 4x200m relay with a 29.64 200m split, for a total time of 2:03.14. In the Mile, Sophomore Carmen Abelson had one of most impressive races of her career. Abelson was seeded fourth in the mile, and was in fifth place with three laps to go. Carmen Abelsson kept the lead pack within sight the whole race, and came from behind and took the lead with less than 150 meters to go, to WIN the 2007 CPS Indoor Mile! Abelson ran an outstanding time of 6:23 (3:10/3:13). Abelson was awarded a Gold Medal and a 2007 CPS CHAMPION bag. In the 200m Dash, Jennifer Kane placed 11th with a time of 30.23. In the 4x400m Dash, the Mustangs needed to beat Dunbar High School to break a tie for third place. The Mustangs not only beat Dunbar, but placed SECOND overall with an outstanding time of 4:42.74. Julie Bujnowski ran a 68.32 400m split on the first leg of the 4x400m Relay. Kelly Varney ran a 71.17 400m split on the second leg of the 4x400m Relay. Natalie Hanigan ran a 73.38 400m split on the third leg of the 4x400m Relay. Anna Parks anchored the 4x400m Relay to SECOND overall, with an outstanding 69.87 400m split, for a total time of 4:42.74. CPS VARSITY INDOOR INVITATIONAL POINT TOTALS 1. Anna Parks 14.50 2. Carmen Abelson 12.50 3. Julie Bujnowski 8.50 4. Maria Torres 8.00 5. Kelly Varney 4.00 6. Mary Shelus 2.50 7. Natalie Hanigan 2.00 VARSITY POINT LEADERS (3 Meets scored) 1. Maria Torres 39.00 2. Anna Parks 36.00 3. Julie Bujnowski 31.50 4. Carmen Abelson 29.00 5. Kelly Varney 25.50 6. Jessica Galang 12.00 6. Bessie Nolan 12.00 7. Natalie Hanigan 10.50 8. Amy Perez 9.0 9. Kaitlin Renkosiak 8.0 10.Gayatri Satam 5.0 11.Jaye Gardiner 4.5 11.Meghan Schmit 4.5 12.Jolanda Steier 4.0 13.Adaora Achufusi 3.0 14.Mary Shelus 2.5 15.Courtney Konow 2.0 15. Jennifer Kane 2.0 15. Amina Jambo 2.0 15. Maria Zdunek 2.0 16. Monica Laytham 1.0 16. Karen Li 1.0 16. Courtney Konow 1.0 The above athletes have all earned a Varisty letter this season by scoring 1 or more points in a Varsity meet.