CHICAGO MARIST TRACK AND FIELD

On Saturday, May 6, 2006, Northside Mens Track & Field Team sent 3 athletes to the Varsity City Championships, Chris Zysko, Patrick O'Connor, and Daniel Kittaka. The Mustangs had a 4x800m relay seeded to qualify along with Zysko, O'Connor, Kittaka for the City Championships, but were DQ in the qualifying meet because of an AP Exam lasting an hour later than originially scheduled made it impossible to make it to the qualifying the meet in time for the race. The Mustangs were also DQ in the 4x100 and other events at the Qualifying meet due to athletes taking an AP Exam. However, Zysko, O'Connor, and Kittaka were still determined to improve on last year's 20th place finish in the City Championships despite only having 3 athletes in the meet. The Mustangs shocked everyone but themselves, and finished 12th overall in Chicago out of 58 schools with only 3 athletes. Chris Zysko placed 4th overall in the Discus with a throw of 122'2. Patrick O'Connor placed 5th overall in the 3200m run with a personal best time of 10:24. O'Connor was at 5:00 at the Mile mark, and had his strongest start to any race this season. O'Connor's time in the City Championships is also on pace with distance legend and former City Champion John Krumsee performance in the City Championships during his Junior year of high school (10:14). Daniel Kittaka placed 7th overall in the 3200m run with an outstanding time of 10:44. Although Kittaka has run many races this season at a faster time, he still had his best race of the season through 2400 meters (7:54), which is exactly the pace he needs to run at IHSA Sectionals. In the Mile, the Mustangs went out slower then planned, but still ran outstanding races. Patrick O'Connor placed 7th overall with a 4:53 Mile. Daniel Kittaka placed 9th overall with a 4:57 Mile. VARSITY POINTS SCORED Patrick O'Connor 6 Chris Zysko 5 Daniel Kittaka 2 SEASON MENS VARSITY POINT LEADERS (11 MEETS): 1. Daniel Kittaka 76.75 2. Patrick O'Connor 71.25 3. Eric Nelson 43.75 4. Joseph Terdik 32.75 5. Chris Zysko 30.00 6. Preston Buehrer 22.25 7. Brandon Cooper 14.50 8. Joey Paquette 7.25 9. Santino Merino 7.25 10. Bobby Ziegler 6.50 11. Jonathan Kittaka 6.25 12. Benjamin Garcia 5.25 13. Geoffrey Edwards 5.00 14. Erik Flores 3.75 15. Wemi Jemine 3.00 16. Manraj Bains 2.50 17. Albert Lin 2.00 18. Tuan Lee 2.00 19. Sam Vergara 1.75 20. Brian Chhun 1.50 21. Nick Florence 1.50 22. Eric Ullrich 1.25 23. James Casper-Shipp 1.25 24. Spencer Rosenfeldt 1.25 25. Jordan Stacey 1.00 26. Jose Choto 1.00 27. Tom Skawski 0.75 28. Aamir Khan 0.75 29. Christian Okoye 0.50 30. Ryne Tobin 0.50 31. Simon Vecchioni 0.25 32. Irfan Hussain 0.25

On Saturday, May 6, 2006, the Northside College Prep Womens Track and Field Team traveled to Hanson Stadium for the Varsity City Championships. The Mustangs scored a Team City Championship record 34 points and placed 8th out of 58 CPS Schools. It was the highest finish in the history of the Northside Womens Track & Field program. A year ago, Rachel Kittaka ran a 6:14 in the 1600m Run and a 13:16 in the 3200m run in the City Championships. In 2006, Rachel Kittaka ran a 12:23 in the 3200m run to place 3rd overall in the City, and dropped 25 seconds off her personal best time. In the Mile, Kittaka ran a 5:45 to place 4th overall in the City. In the 4x800m Relay, Maruja Yoshimura ran a 2:58.52 800m split on the first leg of the relay. Carmen Abelson ran a 2:46.48 800m split on the second leg of the relay. Jessica Galang ran a 3:20 800m split on the third leg of the relay. Due to missing athletes (Meghan Schmitt, Chynna Moerlien), 3200m runner Julia Shimada was the only available alternate for the anchor leg of the relay. Shimada ran the fourth leg of the relay at her warm-up pace of 3:43 800m split, for a total time of 12:48, to place 8th overall. After medaling in the 4x800m Relay, Julia Shimada placed 4th overall in the 3200m with an outstanding time of 13:59. In 100m Hurdles, Kelly varney placed 7th overall with an outstanding time of 18.63. In the Long Jump, Julie Bujnowski placed 8th overall with a jump of 14'4.50. In the Triple Jump, Maria Torres placed 5th in Chicago with a personal best jump of 32'10.00. Gayatri Satam jumped an outstanding 30'4.50. In the High Jump, Julie Bujnowski placed 6th overall with a jump of 4'4. Kelly Varney placed 7th overall with a jump of 4'2. In the 800m run, Anna Parks placed 5th overall with a personal best time of 2:32.70. Julie Bujnowski also ran a personal best time of 2:42.78 in the 800m run. Maruja Yoshimura ran an outstanding time of 6:30 in the Mile run. In the 4x400m relay, Kelly Varney ran a 65 400m split on the first leg of the relay. Carmen Abelson ran a 71 400m split on the second leg of the relay. Julie Bujnowski ran a personal best time of 64.34 400m split on the third leg of the relay. Anna Parks anchored the 4x400m relay with an outstanding 66.81 400m split, to place 8th overall, with a total time of 4:31.44. VARSITY POINTS SCORED 1. Rachel Kittaka 11 2. Julia Shimada 5.25 3. Anna Parks 4.25 4. Kelly Varney 4.25 5. Julie Bujnowski 4.25 6. Maria Torres 4.00 7. Carmen Abelson 0.50 8. Maruja Yoshimura 0.25 9. Jessica Galang 0.25

On Friday, May 5, 2006, Northside College Prep Sophomore-Freshman Mens Track & Field Team competed for the Outdoor CPS Track and Field Championship. In 2005, the Mustangs did not score a single point in the City Championships and placed 58th overall. In one year, the Mustangs went from 58th place to 3rd place overall in the Outdoor City Championships!!! The Meet was won by Lane Tech. There was a tie for second between Morgan Park and Mather, with the Mustangs finishing in Third Place in the City Championships!! In the High Jump, there was great sportsmanship between Mather and Northside, with jumpers from both Teams encouraging each other on every jump. After two attempts, neither Northside or Mather had cleared 5'6, and both squads had one remaining athlete in the competition. The Mather athlete barely missed it on his Third Attempt. Freshman Eric Nelson then cleared 5'6 on his Third attempt to win the competition. The bar was then raised to 5'8, and Nelson had an incredible jump and was way above the bar on his very first attempt. A crowd gathered to the High Jump pit as the bar was raised to 5'10. On Nelson's first attempt, Nelson had a great take-off, and cleared 5'10. The High Jump Bar was then raised to 6'0. On his first attempt, his spike got caught in the runway before take-off. Nelson was ok, and was ready for his second attempt. On his second attempt, Nelson was up and over 6'0, and just barely tapped the bar on the way down. It appeared briefly that he had cleared 6'0, but the bar rattled and came off. On his third attempt, Nelson came close again to clearing 6'0. Eric Nelson won both the 2006 CPS Indoor and Outdoor High Jump Championships. In the Shot Put, Benjamin Garcia finished 7th overall with a throw of 32'5.50. John Ko threw a personal best 31'2.75. In the Triple Jump, Eric Nelson placed 3rd overal with a personal best jump of 36'11. Albert Lin placed 4th overall with a jump of 36'6. Lin also placed 4th in the Long Jump with an outstanding jump of 17'05. In the 4x800m Relay, Erik Flores ran a 2:23 800m split on the first leg of the relay. Simon Vecchioni ran a 2:30 800m split on the second leg of the rleay and made a nice exchange to Daniel Preimer. Preimer dropped 5 seconds, and ran a personal best 2:23 800m split on the third leg of the relay. Eric Ullrich anchored the relay with a 2:29 800m split, for a total time of 9:44, and 6th overall in the City. In the 3200m run, there was an epic battle with several lead changes between the top 5 athletes. Northside Preston Buehrer ran an aggressive race and outkicked runners from Lane Tech and Mather to the finish line to place second overall in the City with a personal best time of 10:57. Buehrer dropped over 20 seconds off his personal best time. Jonathan Kittaka also ran an outstanding race with a time of 11:16 to place 5th overall. In the 110m Hurdles, Albert Lin (21.03) and Sammy Caronagan (22.37) placed 6th and 7th overall respectively. In the 4x200m Relay, Brian Chhun ran a 27.52 200m split on the first leg of the relay. Simon Vecchioni ran a 31.22 on the second leg of the relay and made a nice exchange to Santino Merino. Merino ran a 27.00 200m split on the third leg of the relay. Sam Vergara anchored the relay to 4th place overall with an outstanding 27.25 200m split, for a total time of 1:52.99. In the 400m Dash, Benjamin Garcia placed 7th overall with an outstanding time of 58.62. In the 300m Hurdles, Eric Nelson dropped 3 seconds, and ran a personal best unofficial time of 47.75 to place 5th overall in Chicago! In the 1600m Run, Preston Buehrer (5:19), and Jonathan Kittaka (5:21) placed 7th and 8th overall. In the 4x400m Relay, Brian Chhun ran a 61.52 400m split on the first leg of the 4x400m relay. Eric Nelson ran a 60.53 400m split on the second leg of the 4x400m relay and made a nice exchange to Erik Flores. Flores ran a personal best 59.95 400m split on the third leg of the relay. Preston Buehrer anchored the relay with a 62.30 400m split, for a total time of 4:04.30. The Mustangs will begin preparing for IHSA Sectionals on Monday, May 8, 2006, at 3:45 pm SOPHOMORE-FRESHMAN POINTS SCORED 1. Eric Nelson 20.25 2. Albert Lin 13.00 3. Preston Buehrer 10.25 4. Jonathan Kittaka 5.00 5. Benjamin Garcia 4.00 6. Sammy Caronagan 2.00 7. Simon Vecchioni 2.00 8. Brian Chhun 1.50 9. Sam Vergara 1.25 10. Santino Merino 1.25 11. Erik Flores 1.00 12. Daniel Preimer 0.75 13. Eric Ullrich 0.75 SOPHOMORE/FRESHMAN SEASON POINT LEADERS 1. Albert Lin 66.00 2. Eric Nelson 50.25 3. Jonathan Kittaka 38.00 4. Wemi Jemine 27.50 5. Hiro Joho 20.50 6. Sam Vergara 19.50 7. Jerry Tran 19.00 8. James Casper-Shipp 19.00 9. Eric Ullrich 17.75 10.Brad Eben 16.50 11.Brian Chhun 15.50 12.Ryan Walach 15.00 13.Preston Buehrer 14.25 14.Jose Choto 13.25 15.John Ko 11.25 16.Brandon Cooper 11.00 17.Simon Vecchioni 10.25 18.Erik Flores 9.50 19.Sammy Caronongan 9.50 20.Santino Merino 8.50 21.Benjamin Garcia 8.25 22.Kyle Diep 7.75 23.Irfan Hussain 7.50 24.Tyler Johnson 5.50 25.Joseph Kanikunnel 5.50 26.Walid Mohammad 5.25 27.Shaheed Ghogha 5.00 28.Dilraj Sekhon 5.00 29.Nathan Michaelson 3.50 30.Spencer Rosenfeld 2.25 31.Coleman Gailloreto 2.00 32.Eli Tullis 1.50 33.Christian Okoye 1.50 34.Daniel Preimer 0.75 35.Craig Melhuse 0.50

On Wednesday, May 3, 2006, the Northside College Prep Womens Track & Field Team dominated at the City Championship Qualifying meet. In the 4x800m Relay, Maruja Yoshimura ran a 2:54 800m split on the first leg of the relay. Carmen Abelson ran a 2:52 800m split on the second leg of the relay. Meghan Schmitt ran a 2:52 800m split on the third leg of the relay. Racheal Kittaka anchored the relay to 4th overall with a 2:47 800m split, for a total time of 11:25, qualifying for the City Championships on Saturday. Julie Bujnowski qualified for the City Championships in the Long Jump with a Jump of 14'4.25. Bujnowski also qualified in the 800m run with a time of 2:47. Bujnowski also qualified in the High Jump with a jump of 4'2. Julie Bujnowski also helped the 4x400m Relay qualify with a 66.04 400m split on the third leg of the 4x400m relay. Maria Torres and Gayatri Satam both qualified for the City Championships in the Triple Jump. Kelly Varney qualifed for the City Championships in the 100m Hurdles with an outstanding time of 18.91. Varney also qualified in the High Jump with a jump of 4'2. Anna Parks qualified for the City Championships in the 800m run with an outstanding time of 2:45. Rachel Kittaka qualified for the City Championships in the Mile with a personal best 5:45. Maruja Yoshimura also qualified for the City Championships in the Mile with an outstanding time of 6:31. Rachel Kittaka and Julia Shimada both qualified for the 3200m run based on seed times. In the 4x200m Relay, the Mustangs ran a season best 1:56.80, but did not qualify for the City Championships. In the 4x400m Relay, Meghan Schmitt ran a 72.21 400m split on the first leg of the relay and made a nice exchange to Carmen Abelson. Abelson ran a 71.95 400m split on the second leg of the relay. Julie Bujnowski ran a 66.04 400m split on the third leg of the relay. Anna Parks anchored the 4x400m relay with an outstanding 68.13 400m split, for a total time of 4:38.15 to qualify for the City Championships. The Mustangs will compete for the Chicago Public School Title on Saturday, May 6, 2006, at 9:30 am, at Hanson Stadium.

On Tuesday, May 2, 2006, the Northside College Prep Varsity Mens Track and Field Team traveled to Hanson Stadium for the qualifying Meet for the City Championships. The Meet features athletes from over 58 Chicago Public High Schools, and the Top 12 Field Event athletes, and Distance Event athletes advanced to the City Championship Meet on Saturday, May 6, 2006. Chris Zysko was ranked the 7th best Discus thrower in Chicago going into the meet. Outside Hanson Stadium, at the Discus cage, Chris Zysko earned the #2 ranking in Chicago with a throw of 122'2. The distance of the throw will carry over to City Championship Meet on Saturday, and all 12 qualifiers will get 3 additionals throws to determine the 2006 Discus City Champion. In the Mile, Patrick O'Connor (4:50), and Daniel Kittaka (4:54) both qualified among the Top 5 Milers in Chicago for the City Championships. O'Connor and Kittaka also qualified in the 3200m run for the City Championships based on seed times. In the 4x800m Relay, Daniel Kittaka ran a personal best time of 2:15 800m split on the first leg of the relay and made a nice exchange to Patrick O'Connor. O'Connor ran a 2:18 800m split on the second leg of the relay, but had no one to exchange the baton too on the third leg of the 4x800m relay. The Mustangs were ranked among the Top 4x800m Relay Teams in Chicago prior to the meet, but were not able to complete the relay at the Varsity City Championship Qualifying Meet because only 2 of 8 athletes entered in the relay showed up for the race. On Saturday, April 29, 2006, Coach Gordon designated Joey Paquette, Adam Swiatlowski, James Casper-Shipp, Joseph Terdik, Jordan Stacey, and Bobby Ziegler as 6 of the 8 entries for the 4x800m relay. However, on the same day, Joey Paquette notified Coach Gordon he could not race on Tuesday. Paquette was left on the Relay roster, so he would be eligible to race in the City Championships on Saturday. However, Adam Swiatlwoski and James Casper-Shipp did not show up for the meet. Joseph Terdik, Jordan Stacey, and Bobby Ziegler showed up to the meet right after the race ended, because an "AP" Exam that was given Nationally didn't start on time at Northside, but stated on time at every other CPS School. Therefore, Coach Gordon was left with only 2 of his 8 Relay entries, and the Mustangs were not able to finish the relay. The 4x100m Relay also had to be scratched because only 3 of the 8 athletes (Jose Choto, Tom Skawski, Manraj Bains) that Northside entered into the Relay showed up to the meet. Melvin Thomas AP Exam did not end in time. James Casper-Shipp and Nathan Michaelson did not show up. Jerry Tran is still recovering from a broken arm, and Christian Okoyoe left a message that he was sick. Members of the Northside College Prep Track & Field Coaching staff travel as far as 42 miles a day to attend practice, and make numerous sacerfices for the athletes on a daily basis and were deeply disappointed at the lack of dedication of the Varsity athletes to the TEAM for the City Championships Series. However, the Coaching staff was proud of each and every athlete that showed up and competed in the meet to the best of their ability, and the dedication that the Freshman-Sophomore squad displayed last Saturday and throughout the season. Members of the Northside College Prep Team will be asked to turn in their Uniform on Wednesday, May, 3, 2006, if for ANY reason, they will not be able to attend IHSA Sectionals (May 19) or the IHSA State Championship Meet (May 26-27) for the FULL duration of the Meet. The athletes who competed on Tuesday night, ran their guts out for the TEAM, and Jumped and Threw with determination, and made the Coaching staff proud. In the 800m Run, Joseph Terdik ran a personal best time of 2:09.30, and missed qualifying for the City Championships by only ".17" of a second. Terdik dropped 3 seconds of his personal best time and ran an inspiring race. Jordan Stacey also ran an outstanding race in the 800m run, with a personal best time of 2:20. Stacey dropped 3 seconds off his personal best time. In the Triple Jump, Geoffrey Edwards jumped a personal best 33'0! Bobby Ziegler also jumped a personal best 15'5 in the long jump! In the 4x200m Relay, Irfan Hussain collapsed right before exchanging the baton on the first leg of the Relay. Jose Choto made a nice recovery, and made an excellent hand-off to Tom Skawski. Geoffrey Edwards anchored the 4x200m Relay with a strong finish. In the 300m Hurdles, Bobby Ziegler showed great mental toughness fighting every second of the race despite several hard falls on his way to the finish line. Tom Skawski, who just started training for the 300m hurdles a few weeks ago, made it over every hurdle. In the 4x400m Relay, Joseph Terdik ran a 59.58 400m split on the first leg of the relay. Jordan Stacey ran a personal best 60.28 400m split on the second leg of the relay. Stacey dropped 4 seconds off his personal best time. Geoffrey Edwards ran a personal best 60.56 400m split on the third leg of the relay. Edwards also dropped 4 seconds off his personal best time. Patrick O'Connor, who moments earlier ran a 4:50 Mile, anchored the 4x400m relay with an outstanding 400m split of 59.97, for a total time of 4:00.39.