CHICAGO MARIST TRACK AND FIELD

On Tuesday, March 20, 2007, the Sophomore-Freshman Boys Track and Field Team traveled to Fenton High School in Bensenville, Illinois to compete against eight of the best Sophomore-Freshman Teams in Illinois. The meet featured Buffalo Grove High School, Niles North, Lake Park, West Chicago, Fenton High School, Northside College Prep, Brooks College Prep, and St.Joseph. The Meet was one of the best organized meets that the Mustangs attended during the 2007 Indoor season. The meet was named after two former Fenton athletes, who earned All-American honors during their collegiate careers. Jim Nichols (All-American in 800m run) and Emil Ostberg (All-American in the 200m Dash). To earn All-American honors, a collegiate athlete has to place in the Top 8 in the Country at the NCAA National Track and Field Championships. Fenton awarded Team Trophys to the Top 3 Teams, and Plaques for the Top 5 individual finishers and Top 4 Relays in every event. In the Shot Put, it was the best competition the state has seen this season. All sixteen throwers were outstanding, and it took something special to score and place in the top six in this meet. Freshman Alejandro Valdivieso threw a personal best 25'6. Captain Eric Nelson won his flight, and scored vital points for the Mustangs by placing 6th overall with a Personal Best throw of 36'9!! Nelson is now within 0'3 of the school record!! Lake Park's Dan Block broke the meet record, and stadium record, with an IHSA automatic state qualifying throw of 53'5.5. Block's throw went past the Shot Put area, and into the High Jump take-off area. It was by far the best Shot Put competition the Mustangs have been in this season. In the High Jump, there were several ties. The ties were broken by awarding the higher place to the athlete with the least number of total misses during the high jump competition. Northside Freshman Hunter Speese placed 7th out of sixteen jumpers, with a jump of 5'0. Sophomore Wemi Jemine earned a plaque by placing 4th overall with a jump of 5'6. Niles North Randell Smith placed second with a jump of 6'0. Buffalo Grove's Matt Newman won it with a jump of 6'0. In the Pole Vault, after only one day of practice, Northside Sophomore Simon Vecchioni made history by becoming the first Northside Athlete to compete in Pole Vault in a meet. Vecchioni came close to clearing 6'6 on his first attempt, but came down on the cross bar as he was clearing it. It was an outstanding first meet pole vaulting for Simon Vecchioni. Vecchioni learned steps, had solid pole vault plants, and was able to release the bar with ease. Vecchioni will resume pole vault practice on Thursday night, and will set the school record in his next meet. In the Long Jump, Sophomore Martin Melto scored for the Mustangs by placing 6th overall with a personal best jump of 17'5.75. Melto improved by 0'6.75! Sophomore Wemi Jemine jumped an outanding 14'11.25. In the Triple Jump, Freshman Jiasong Yang jumped a personal best 34'7.5. Yang's performance is even more impressive considering he raced the two mile prior to jumping, and still improved his PR 5'8.5 after racing the two mile!! Sophomore Albert Lin secured vital points for the Mustangs by placing fourth overall with a personal best jump of 37'3.5! Lin was awarded a plaque for placing fourth in the meet. In the 4x800m Relay, the Mustangs placed 5th a year ago, with Brandon Cooper (2:27), Santino Merino (2:40), Simon Vecchioni (2:40), and Eric Ullrich (2:40) earning a plaque. In 2007, the Mustangs were seeded fourth. However, Sophomore Brian Chhun, who ran a 2:33 800m split at the UC Lab School Invite was unable to make the meet. Who would be able to replace Chhun's speed in the relay? The Mustangs hopes of a top four finish in the Relay looked bleak. As the bus pulled into Fenton High School, Northside Head Coach Jon Gordon announced Freshman Nickolas Ruff would replace Chhun in the 4x800m Relay. Freshman Nickolas Ruff showed great determination and came through big for the Mustangs. The Mustangs upset Niles North to finish second overall with a total time of 9:42. On the first leg of the 4x800m relay, Sophomore Simon Vecchioni ran an outstanding time of 2:22, which was 18 seconds faster than a year ago. Sophomore Jonathan Kittaka ran an outstanding time of 2:23 on the second leg of the 4x800m Relay, and made a nice exchange to Freshman Nickolas Ruff. Ruff ran a personal best time of 2:33, and made a nice exchange to Freshman Cuitlahuac Pineda. Pineda passed Niles North on the anchor leg of the 4x800m relay with a personal best 2:24 800m split, to secure a second place overall for the Mustangs, with an outstanding total time of 9:42. Simon Vecchioni, Jonathan Kittaka, Nickolas Ruff, and Cuitlahuac Pineda were awarded the Second place plaque in the 4x800m Relay after the meet. In the 4x135 Yards Relay, Martin Melto, Sam Olver, Nebiu Tadele, and Peter Wilk, combined for an outstanding time of 76.2 to place seventh overall. In the 3200m run, Freshman Jaisong Yang ran a personal best time of 11:47 to place seventh overall. Freshman Cooper Eben ran an outstanding time of 12:37. In the 50 Yard High Hurdles, Freshman Andrew Czyszczon ran a personal best time of 8.90. Sophomore Albert Lin ran a time of 8.95. In the 50 Yard Dash, Sophomore Wemi Jemine ran an outstanding time of 6.20. Freshman Hunter Speese ran a time of 6.31. In the 800m run, Sophomore Simon Vecchioni ran an outstanding time of 2:24. Freshman Andrew Czyszczon tied his personal best with an outstanding time of 2:32. In the 4x270 yards relay, Sophomore Martin Melto ran an outstanding time of 36.35 on the first leg of the relay, and made a nice exchange to Shaheed Ghogha. Ghogha ran a 270 yards split of 36.98. Sophomore Albert Lin ran an outstanding split of 36.56 on the third leg of the relay, and made a nice exchange to Neal Capapas. Freshman Neal Capapas anchored the relay to fifth overall with a split of 37.36, and a total time of 2:27.25. In the 400m run, Freshman Hunter Speese ran a time of 65.06. Freshman Peter Wilk ran a time of 66.95. In the 50 Yard Intermediate Hurdles, Albert Lin ran an outstanding time of 8.47. Freshman Andrew Czyszczon ran a personal best time of 8.63. In the Mile run, Lake Park's Craig Watson won it with a personal best time of 4:57. Buffalo Grove's Mike Galla placed second with a 4:58. Lake Park's Steve Krauss placed third with a 4:59. Northside Sophomore Jonathan Kittaka ran a personal best 5:04 (2:28 / 2:36) to place fourth overall. Freshman Cuitlahuac Pineda ran a personal best time of 5:24 (2:39 / 2:45). Jonathan Kittaka was awarded a plaque for placing fourth overall. In the Emil Ostberg 200m run, Sophomore Wemi Jemine (27.6), and Freshman Hunter Speese (27.7) placed 5th and 6th respectively. Jemine was awarded a plaque for placing fifth overall. In the 4x405 Yards Relay, Sophomore Simon Vecchioni ran an outstanding time of 55.55 on the first leg of the relay and made a nice exchange to Andrew Czyszczon. Freshman Andrew Czyszczon ran a 59.73 split on the second leg of the relay. Freshman Neal Capapas ran a 60.97 split on the third leg of the relay, and made a nice exchange to Peter Wilk. Freshman Peter Wilk anchored the Mustangs to fifth overall with an outstanding 62.29 split, for a total time of 3:58.54. (Coming soon: Sophomore/Freshman Point Totals)