BY MICHAEL WOJTYCHIW
With two state championships, a runner-up and three third-place finishes since 1999-2000, success defines the Fenwick girls basketball program. Continue reading
Owens shows Fenwick freshmen how it’s done
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Category Archives: Features
Elmwood Park juniors learn at Parker Tournament
BY MICHAEL WOJTYCHIW
Coming off a 14-13 season, change can be a good thing.
However, the amount of change that occurred at Elmwood Park between the end of last season and the start of this season is staggering. Nine of last year’s 11 team members, including seven members of the Class of 2012, were not on the Opening Day roster. The two players who return are seniors Elliott Perez and Pat McNulty.
Despite the lack of varsity experience, all of the 2012-13 Tigers entered the season with at least one year in the system under their belts. Seven of this year’s 10 varsity members are juniors who saw playing time on the sophomore level.
“We all have some experience, so its nothing really new to us,’’ junior Presley Garrett said. “We just have to play together and it will all work out.’’
With many already having played with each other in the past, becoming familiar with each other on the court might not be too much of an issue. But the juniors are glad they do have some returning leadership to help them through their first varsity season.
“We’ve only got two seniors coming back this year but they’ve shown us how to do things at this level,’’ said junior Hassan Basbous. “We’ve all played before, but for there to be guys that can give us some advice is always good.’’
Once again the Tigers opened their season at the Francis Parker Tournament, which features other teams in Class 3A or lower. Basbous feels the team can pick up some pointers there.
“It’s good playing against some of these teams because we can learn from our mistakes during the game and work some stuff out,’’ said Basbous. “It’s especially good because we don’t have the most varsity experience so it can help out there.’’
Garrett also has similar feelings.
“We can only grow as a team by playing games like these,’’ he said. “I know that I, for one, can work on things you can’t do in practice. Game situations are a lot different than in practice. These plays count.’’
Elmwood Park hopes its new squad will bring more victories. The juniors believe that success is on the horizon.
The team opened the season by defeating CICS-Northtown 72-53 behind Garrett’s team-high 18 points. Elmwood Park struggled against UIC Prep before pulling out a 54-52 win. Elliott Perez, who was named tournament MVP, led the squad with 18 points. In the wrap-up to the tournament, the Tigers fell to host Parker, 71-63.
Link to story: http://bit.ly/XkQYxZ
Hornets seniors use their experience
Hornets seniors put experience into practice
BY MICHAEL WOJTYCHIW November 2, 2012
RIVERSIDE — Coming into the 2012 postseason, Hinsdale South was looking to rekindle some of the magic that led it to the supersectionals in 2010, and forget about last year’s early exit in the regional final. Continue reading
Second generation arises at Elmwood Park
Kingsmill coaching the next generation of Brunos
BY MICHAEL WOJTYCHIW November 2, 2012
BENSENVILLE — Some coaches love their sport so much they remain at the same school for many years and end up seeing sons and daughters of athletes they used to coach. Continue reading
Trinity Runners Up To The Challenge
Young Blazers run into uncharted territory
BY MICHAEL WOJTYCHIW October 29, 2012
BENSENVILLE — When a new season arises, every high school team has the same goal: to make the state playoffs and — if they’re lucky — the finals. Continue reading
Elmwood Park makes history
Wojcik at home winning regional
BY MICHAEL WOJTYCHIW October 25, 2012
ELMWOOD PARK — For years, the cross country teams at Elmwood Park always had wanted to do what other schools had the chance to: the opportunity to host a postseason meet.
On Saturday that opportunity finally arose and the Tigers took full advantage, as the boys won the Class 2A regional meet and the girls finished third.
“Winning while hosting was fantastic,” Elmwood Park coach John Kingsmill said. “Because it was essentially a home meet, a lot of parents were able to attend, as were alumni. It was a community effort to make this happen.”
In previous years, Kingsmill said they had not been able to host for reasons such as lack of support staff and location, amongst other reasons. But this year that all changed. When the IHSA threatened to cancel the regional because nobody stepped up to host, Elmwood Park got the event it always had wanted.
“It was great because right after that was decided, both Lake View and St. Patrick both came to us and helped us with getting all the tags and pinning them to all the runners,” Kingsmill said.
For junior captain Juan Amadore, it meant a little more though.
“It was a great privilege,” he said. “It’s always great to race in front of your fans, it gives you a bigger drive. We know the course and that helped a long ways in winning,
“We have to give it up for coach. Because of him all these people (alumni, parents, neighbors) came out. They all love him and would do anything for him. It really wasn’t a shock so many people came.”
What made the win more sweet for the boys was that their squad does not feature any seniors.
“Normally you want to go with the experienced ones, because they’ve developed physically and are at peak shape,” Kingsmill said. “This year, the strength of the boys team is our youth.”
Amadore, who has been in the program for three years but is in his first year on the varsity, was honored when he was named a captain by Kingsmill earlier this season.
“I always try to encourage them and tell them the be ready for the race,” Amadore said. “It’s a big responsibility to represent the school and we always need to be mentally ready.”
The Tigers will have to be mentally ready when they compete for the sectional crown Saturday. One of their opponents will be Jones Prep of the Chicago Public League. Jones, a small school in the South Loop, is ranked No. 16 in the country and the top 2A school in the state.
“We’ve already made a listing of who the runners are going to be, how they’ve done against each other in previous meets and who they have to watch for next weekend,” Kingsmill said.
The Tigers boys team had three runners finish in the top five, including Ricky Wojcik, who won with a time of 16 minutes, 12 seconds. Rocco Lepore (16:49) and Lucas Kieffer (16:56) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
The girls team grabbed third behind Resurrection and Trinity. Bridget Ziegler finished second in 19:38, just three seconds behind champion Elizabeth Molina of Lake View. Kelly Scanlon’s time of 20:08 gave her a fifth-place finish.
Link to story: http://bit.ly/Ttksqe
Leyden freshmen twins succeeding at varsity level
Szelazek twins fit in as freshmen
BY MICHAEL WOJTYCHIW October 25, 2012
CHICAGO — For most high school athletes, the goal is to be good enough to make varsity.
But to make varsity with your twin? Not many things better than that.
That’s the case for twins Mati and Misia Szelazek, freshmen cross country runners at Leyden this fall.
“It’s fun having him there,’’ said Misia. “He’s always supportive of me in my events. He’s competitive, but that’s what keeps me going.’’
For some freshmen, the pressure of making varsity in the first year can be too much to bear and might be a struggle to handle it. It was different for the Szelazeks, however. Misia was on the girls varsity team from the first day of the season, while Mati was elevated to the boys varsity for the first home meet, against Downers South on Sept. 10.
“The coaches put me in the meet because another runner was absent and I have been running on varsity since then,’’ said Mati. “I did feel pressure because I was just thrown in there.’’
Both seem to put pressure on themselves, though. Whether it be Mati feeling he let his team down because his time, as the sixth runner, couldn’t break the tie with Elmwood Park and give the Lions a win. Or it’s Misia feeling the expectations of having to succeed as the only freshman on the roster from the start of the season.
It wasn’t always that way though. Both Szelazeks started running cross country in fifth grade. At first they didn’t enjoy much success, which Misia admits now led to some tears. But it didn’t keep them from becoming their best.
“We always loved running and we were good at most other sports, so we knew if we worked at it, we could make it this far,” Misia said. “Going to the Leyden camps since fifth grade helped too. The people knew us here, we knew the coaches already, so it wasn’t as hard of a transition.’’
While Mati agrees with his sister, he’s also found another thing that has helped ease the transition: his teammates.
“The older members are more calm and composed so I don’t feel rushed,” he said. “They’re there to cheer you on. ‘Good job’ is the best advice you can get from anybody.’’
The Szelazeks and the rest of the Eagles will run at the Niles West sectional on Saturday.
Link to story: http://bit.ly/Su2unK
Darrow Makes Debut
Darrow all the way back
BY MICHAEL WOJTYCHIW October 5, 2012
Sept. 26, 2011 will be a day that will always stick out in Barrington offensive lineman Mason Darrow’s mind.
That night, the fourth week of the regular season, Darrow went down with a season-ending foot injury in the team’s 37-14 win over Wheeling. Continue reading
Freshman Friedman Succeeding
Maine South frosh Friedman adapting on the fly
BY MICHAEL WOJTYCHIW
After playing in 85 United States Tennis Association matches from October to July, and playing in some of the biggest tournaments in the nation, it would appear that high school tennis would be a piece of cake for Maine South freshman Leigh Friedman. Continue reading
Ryba Recovering Nicely
Ryba aims to take next step
BY MICHAEL WOJTYCHIW
Glenbrook South junior Caroline Ryba, considered one of the top 70 tennis players in her class nationally, suffered a hamstring injury toward the beginning of club season in the winter. Continue reading
