CHICAGO MARIST TRACK AND FIELD

On Saturday, March 24, 2007, the Northside College Prep Varsity Mens Track & Field Team traveled to historic Walter Eckersall Memorial Stadium on the corner of 82nd Street and Yates in Chicago, Illinois for the Kenwood Classic. In 1947, the City of Chicago built Walter Eckersall Memorial Stadium. Walter Eckersall set a ten-second-flat Illinois hundred-yard dash record in 1903 that stood for 25 years until the future Olympian Ralph Metcalfe broke it in 1928. Eckersall attended Hyde Park High School, and ran rings around opponents on the football field. He lead his high school team to a 105-0 victory for the National Championship against Brooklyn Tech. Fifthteen year old Knute Rockne sneaked into the park to see it. Walter Eckersall became an All American at the University of Chicago in Track and Football, and was inducted into the College Football hall of fame. Amos Alonzo Stagg called Eckersall, "a selfless performer...marked by complete dedication". Walter Eckersall would have been proud of the performance by the Northside Varsity Men at the 2007 Kenwood Classic. The meet featured over thirty schools including: Amundsen, Bogan, Bronzeville, Brooks, Calumet, CICS, Clemente, Corliss, Curie, Driscoll, Dunbar, Dyett, Grays Lake, Harlan, Hubar, IL Science, Immaculate Conception, Julian, Kelvyn Park, Kennedy, Lake View, Marshall, Mather, Morgan Park, Morton, Northridge, Park, Payton, Providence, South Shore, Benedict, Steinmetz, Sullivan, Von Steuben, Quigley Prep, and Washington. The point scale used for the meet was 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1, with eight places scoring. The Northside Mustangs finished fourth overall, and were within 5.5 points of second place, despite not competing in the Weightman's Relay and High Jump. The Mustangs posted 32 victories on the day! In the open 800m, the Mustangs were led by Freshman Andrew Czyszczon with a personal best time of 2:25. Junior Adam Swiatlowski ran an outstanding time of 2:26. Freshman Nickolas Ruff dropped 4 seconds in less than a week for a personal best 800m time of 2:29. Freshman Cooper Eben ran a personal best time of 2:33. Senior Joey Paquette ran a season best time of 2:34. Sophomore Nathan Michaelson ran a personal best time of 2:36. Junior Brad Eben ran a time of 2:37. Junior Faraz Khan ran a time of 2:39. Freshman James Rey ran a personal best time of 2:47. Freshman Jared Goldstein ran a personal best time of 2:49. Junior Vinh Nguyen ran a personal best time of 2:50. Sophomore Coleman Gailloreto ran a personal best time of 2:53. In the Discus, Preston Buehrer threw a personal best of 75'0. In the Shot put, Robert Garcia threw a personal best of 27'2.5. Junior Vinh Nguyen threw a personal best of 24'8.5, an improvement of over 3'0!. In the 3200m run, Jonathan Kittaka outkicked Lakeview's Areki to the finish to win it with a personal best time of 10:32 (5:11/5:21). Kittaka was awarded a medal for first place. Preston Buehrer ran a personal best time of 10:50 (5:19/5:31) to place fifth overall and secure vital points for the Mustangs. GRN's Cerk finished in sixth place with a time of 10:55. Mather's Hernandez finished in seventh place with a time of 11:12. Driscol's Woosley finished in eigth place with a time of 11:20 to complete the scoring. In the 4x100m Relay, Sophomore Martin Melto ran a 12.29 100m split on the first leg of the relay. Sophomore Brian Chhun ran a 12.51 100m split on the second leg of the relay. Junior Erik Flores ran a 13.64 100m split on the third leg of the relay. Junior Jose Choto ran a 12.16 100m split on the fourth leg of relay, for a combined time of 50.60. In the 4x800m Relay, Senior John Holler dropped 7 seconds off his personal best time for an outstanding 2:10 800m split, and made a nice exchange to Junior Harold Jaffe. Jaffe ran a personal best time of 2:21 on the second leg of the 4x800m Relay. Freshman Cuitlahuac Pineda ran a personal best time of 2:20 on the third leg of the 4x800m Relay. Senior Patrick O'Connor anchored the 4x800m Relay to fourth place overall with a season best 2:15 800m split, for a total time of 9:06. In the 110m Hurdles, Andrew Czyszczon ran a personal best time of 22.47. Junior Santino Merino recovered instantly from a fall, and ran a personal best time of 24.32. In the 100m Dash, Preston Buehrer placed third in his heat, with a personal best time of 12.41. Buehrer came within .27 of the school record (12.14). In the 800m run, Senior John Holler ran the first quarter in 62 seconds, and ran the second quarter in 68 seconds to place fifth overall with a personal best time of 2:10 (62/68). Holler came within 1.39 seconds of the the school record (2:08.61). Sophomore Jonathan Kittaka placed ninth overall in the 800m run with a personal best time of 2:16 (64/72). The Mustangs had to scratch the weightmen's Relay due Eric Nelson missing the bus, and relay alternate Alejandro Valdivieso did not show up to the meet. In the 4x200m Relay, Sophomore Martin Melto ran a 26.79 200m split on the first leg of the relay. Junior Santino Merino ran a 25.80 200m split on the second leg of the relay. Sophomore Brian Chhun ran a 26.55 200m split on the third leg of the relay. Freshman Neal Capapas ran a 25.56 split on the fourth leg of the relay, for a combined time of 1:45.10. A year ago, Geoff Edwards ran his first 400m race ever as part of the 4x400m relay at the Kenwood Classic with a 64 seconds 400m split. In 2007, at the same meet, one year later, in the 400m Dash, Senior Geoff Edwards BROKE THE SCHOOL RECORD with a personal best time of 56.70 to place third overall! The record was previously held by Danny Garcia (56.92, 2003). Edwards was awarded a Medal for placing third overall. Junior Jose Choto ran an outstanding time of 60.06. In the 300m Hurdles, Junior Santino Merino ran a personal best time of 52.70. Freshman Andrew Czyszczon ran a personal best time of 57.10. In the 1600m run, the Mustangs one-two punch of Patrick O'Connor and Preston Buehrer yielded 18 points for Northside. The maximum points a Team can score in an event is 18. Senior Patrick O'Connor broke away from Kenwood's Whitfield in the final 400 meters to win it with an outstanding time of 5:01 (2:30/2:31). Junior Preston Buehrer was in fifth place, and outkicked Mather's Garth (5:11), ILMS Olilvie (5:10), and Kenwood's Whitfield (5:08) in the final 200 meters to place second overall with an outstanding time of 5:05 (2:31/2:34). Patrick O'Connor and Preston Buehrer were awarded Medals for placing 1st and 2nd in the Mile. In the 200m Dash, Senior Geoff Edwards and Junior Jose Choto toed the line to attempt to break Jonathan Miller 200m Dash School record (25.09, 2003), and score vital points for the Mustangs. Choto and Edwards both came through for the Team. Jose Choto placed fifth overall with a personal best time of 24.77. Geoff Edwards BROKE HIS SECOND SCHOOL RECORD OF THE DAY with a personal best time of 24.35 to tie for third place overall with Morgan Park's Turner. Edwards was awarded a Medal for placing Third in the 200m Dash. Thanks to the efforts of Jose Choto and Geoff Edwards, the Mustangs scored 9.5 points in the 200m Dash! In the 4x400m Relay, the Mustangs placed 2nd overall, with a time of 3:59.48. Freshman Neal Capapas ran an outstanding 58.83 400m split on the first leg of the Relay. Sophomore Brian Chhun ran an outstanding 61.44 400m split on the second leg of the Relay. Junior Erik Flores ran an outstanding 60.33 400m split on the third leg of the Relay and made a nice exchange to Senior John Holler. Holler anchored the Mustangs to second place overall with a 58.88 400m split, for a total time of 3:59.48. KENWOOD CLASSIC TEAM SCORES 1. Morgan Park 119.30 2. GRN 71.00 3. South Shore 68.00 4. NORTHSIDE COLLEGE PREP 65.50 5. Kenwood 45.00 6. ILMS 43.00 7. Mather 32.00 8. Payton 30.30 9. Hubbard 29.00 10. Julian 24.00 11. Corliss 21.50 12. Brooks College Prep 19.00 13. Northridge 17.00 14. Clemente 13.30 15. Driscoll 13.00 16. IMC 11.00 17. Sullivan 8.50 18. Lake View 8.00 19. Curie 4.00 20. Others 0.00 KENWOOD CLASSIC VARISTY POINT LEADERS 1. Preston Buehrer 12.00 2. Geoff Edwards 11.50 3. Patrick O'Connor 11.25 4. Jonathan Kittaka 10.00 5. John Holler 7.25 6. Jose Choto 5.00 7. Erik Flores 2.00 7. Brian Chhun 2.00 7. Neal Capapas 2.00 8. Cuitlahuac Pineda 1.25 8. Harold Jaffe 1.25 VARSITY POINTS SEASON LEADERS (6 Meets) 1. Geoff Edwards 31.00 2. Preston Buehrer 23.00 3. Patrick O'Connor 19.75 4. Jonathan Kittaka 19.00 5. Jose Choto 12.00 6. John Holler 11.25 7. Benjamin Garcia 11.00 8. Albert Lin 9.00 9. Santino Merino 8.25 10.Simon Vecchioni 5.50 10.Hunter Speese 5.50 10.Erik Flores 5.50 11.Martin Melto 4.75 12.Brian Chhun 4.50 13.Cuitlahuac Pineda 4.25 14.Neal Capapas 2.75 15.Harold Jaffe 2.25 16.Darrel Johnson 1.50 16.Robert Garcia 1.50 17.Vingh Nguyen 1.50 18.Faraz Khan 1.00 18.Vinh Nguyen 1.00 19.Peter Wilk 0.75 20.Omer Aba-Omer 0.50