All hail the Kings
of Chicago

By Rob Valentin

ChicagolandPreps.com Editor

Saturday, October, 17, 2009

    All season long the goal for Northside College Prep was to capture a city championship.

    Mission Accomplished.

    The Mustangs cruised to the program’s first city title as they scored 44 points, besting second place Lane Tech (60), third place Mather (64) and a hail storm at the beginning of the race. All five scoring runners for Northside finished in the top 20 of a race that featured 175 participants.

    “This is our first city championship and it’s a lot of fun because it’s my senior year,” said Cuitlahuac Pineda-Youniss who took second place in a photo finish. “I’m really happy about our team.”

    “This means a lot because the seniors on this team Jiasong (Yang), Cooper (Eben) and Cuit have been the foundation of the team,” said junior Charlie Mesimore. “This program really got good when they became sophomores. They’re really good and they’re the best training partners. Just to win it for them means the most for me.”

    The meet wound up being closer than expected.

    “It was a lot closer than we thought it was going to be because we haven’t raced schools like Lane and Mather in a while,” said Northside runner Wesley Laytham. “We were all pretty worried after the first mile and Charlie and I, who have admitted we’re not having the best years, just tried to hold onto the city title for us.”

    The race for the individual title couldn’t have been any closer, literally.

    Lane Tech’s Kulayifi Haji and Pineda-Youniss were locked in an epic battle the last couple hundred yards and Haji was able to pull off the victory by one-hundredth of a second. Haji’s time was 15:37.15 and Pineda-Youniss was 15:37.16.

    “He took a lead in the last 800 meters and for the rest of the race I didn’t even remember what I was racing,” Pineda-Youniss. “I just told my body to go as fast as I can. I saw the finish line and I was just running to run.”

    Cooper Eben wasn’t too far behind, taking sixth place in a time of 15:51.59.

    “We were working pretty hard and we were really going for first place,” Eben said. “I came in expecting to do better than I did. I didn’t feel up to what I should have today.”

    Eben had a good plan for the race and while he didn’t have his best performance, he got the job done.

    “Throughout the first mile I was up with the main pack,” Eben said. “The front pack started moving a little ahead of me. I was with Victor Terrezas from Lane Tech and I just kept thinking ‘Don’t let Victor pass you.’ That kept me going strong and brought me through the finish.”

    Mesimore finished the race in a time of 16:05.63, which was good enough for ninth place.

    “After the first mile I just started thinking about moving up,” Mesimore said. “Lane only had two guys ahead of me but Mather had four and I knew I had to catch up to those Mather guys. I passed two of them and then the pack really strung out.”

    The beginning of the race with was greeted with a brief hail storm and that definitely got all the runners juiced up.

    “That was pretty cool,” Mesimore said. “Everyone was so pumped up but I just kept thinking ‘Everyone is going to be so jacked up. You have to contain yourself and run your race.’ That’s what I told all the guys and it was. At the mile I was in 25^th and then guys just started coming back to me.”

    Laytham was the fourth Mustang runner to cross the finish line as he took 11^th place in a time of 16:17.45.

    “The first half mile was pretty quick because we all had a lot of adrenaline,” Laytham said. “But then we all settled into a good and worked on gutting it out to get the guy in front of us.”

    Northside’s unsung hero was Fahad Sarvari. The junior had the race of his life taking 20^th place in a time of 16:40.86, which beat his personal record by 30 seconds.

    “I just went and didn’t hold anything back,” Sarvari said. “I came in ready to go. This is why we have seven guys running. It’s a team effort and if someone has a bad day, someone has to step up.

    “I’ve been having bad days, so I was due to step up. I wish my times would have gradually gotten better but I’ll take the spike.”

    Other key contributors for the Mustangs were Yang (35^th, 17:09.12) and Erik Zuehlke (37^th, 17:16.99).

    Up next for Northside is the Class 3A Loyola Regional at Harms Woods on Saturday, October 24^th.

    “We’re just going to go out and run hard,” Laytham said. “Charlie and I are going to do a lot of preventative stuff this week like stretching and icing so we can both have PR’s next week.”

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Northside brings home
fourth at Niles West

Rob Valentin

ChicagolandPreps.com Editor

Saturday, October 3, 2009

    Northside College Prep had a preview on Saturday of the state sectional course they’ll be running on come Oct. 31.

    And the Mustangs had some success taking fourth place in the White Division of the Pat Savage Niles West Invite.

    Leading the way for Northside was Cuitlahuac Pineda Youniss, who finished fifth with a time of 16:08.56.

    “I wish the race was yesterday because I was flying through warm-ups,” Pineda Youniss said. “I was hoping to go faster because I wanted to break 16:00.”

Pineda Youniss ran into some trouble during the last mile when he was cut off by a competitor trying to pass a lapped runner. Pineda Youniss took a tumble and was passed by two other runners.

    “I almost hit a flag pole,” Pineda Youniss said. “In the last half mile, you’re trying to build up your momentum so imagine just completely stopping and then having to get back up and get that speed.”

    The good news is that the entire Mustangs team was able to get some experience on a Niles West course that they’ll be running on when sectionals roll around.

    “They changed the course from last year so now you know when you need to kick heading into the final part,” Pineda Youniss said.

    Cooper Eben was close on his teammates heals and finished the 3-mile course in a time of 16:12.73, which was good enough for seventh place.

    “One of the hardest parts about this course is the start,” Eben said. “They’re really small boxes, there’s a lot of runners and it’s so easy to get boxed in. And there’s a lot of tight turns.

    “It takes a lot of energy trying to go around packs and I got too tired early in the race. The last two miles I was pretty close to Cuit and that’s when he got tripped up.”

    Up next for Northside was Charlie Mesimore whose trying to bounce back from some early-season injuries and get back to 100 percent. The junior came across the line in 27^th place with a 16:39.49.

    “I ran slower today than last week so that was bad,” Mesimore said. “In the beginning I was way back in the 100’s because it’s so crowded and the turns are tough to navigate.

    “It’s just kind of frustrating because I ran this meet last year and I was a minute slower today. But I don’t think anyone was satisfied with how they ran this week.”

    Mesimore and his team don’t have a meet next week as they prepare for the city meet but that only means this week of practice will be pretty tough.

    “The week before city might be a little easier but we’ll train real hard this week,” Mesimore said. “That should be fun. The goal will be to win city and I want to PR and finish top ten.”

    Wesley Laytham was the fourth Mustangs’ runner to cross the finish line and he was right behind Mesimore taking 28^th place in a time of 16:39.77.

    “Today was just overall a bad day,” Laytham said. “With the crowded start we got boxed in and Cooper and I had to fight through that.”

    Things only got worse for Laytham after the crowded start.

    “My hamstrings tightened up after the first mile and I was kind of dying,” he said. “It just wasn’t the best day.”

       ________________________________________________________________

Mustangs take big step

By Rob Valentin

ChicagolandPreps.com Editor

Saturday, September 26, 2009

     Running at full strength for the first time this season, Northside College Prep had an opportunity to show how dangerous they’ll be as they took second place in the Leyden Invitational on Saturday.

     Junior Charlie Mesimore was as close to 100 percent as he’s been the entire year and was the Mustangs fourth runner across as he finished the 5k course in ninth place with a time of 16:56.

     “This is my first real race back and it’s just about getting back into racing form,” Mesimore said. “The first two miles I ran 5:20 and 5:18 and that’s really good. But the last mile I was barely sub 6:00 so I just have to work on that.”

     While Mesimore didn’t have a perfect race, he was just happy to be on the course after a rought start to the 2009 campaign.

     “It’s just been frustrating,” he said. “I had a great summer of training and then I broke my toe the first week of August. I was slow coming back and then at St. Pat’s I dropped out after having some quad tightness.

     I got that checked out this week and the doctor gave me some anti-cramping medicine and it’s really worked out. My goal is to be good for regionals, maybe city. I should be able to hit my peek for this year.”

     Cuitlahuac Pineda-Youniss was once against Northside’s top runner, as the senior took fourth place in a time of 16:24.

     “Today was kind of a bad race,” he said. “I had a real bad cold and the past week I’ve just been recovering from sickness. I just didn’t have the best mentality. I always want to PR and do my best but I just came into this meet feeling bad.”

     Pineda-Youniss was happy to have his teammate on the course running well.

     “It was good to see Charlie get a race in,” he said. “He had a good time and this just makes us stronger for regionals and sectionals later this season.”

     Cooper Eben wasn’t far behind Pineda-Youniss as he took fifth in a time of 16:25. In fact, Eben had the lead heading into the last 50 yards but Pineda Youniss’ longer legs allowed him to slip past Eben. Still there was a lot for Eben to be happy about.

     “It was a great race, probably the best of my season so far,” he said. “The first mile was different than other races because it was a much smaller field so I was able to get in the front pack within the first 30 seconds. I just tried to stay up with Cuit and we just kind of went back and forth.”

     One of the reasons Eben was happy with his performance has to do with his college plans.

     “I know Yale looks at runners for the 5k at 16:00 so that’s my biggest motivation,” Eben said. “My previous best for a 5k was 16:58. I really want to go to Yale. I visited the campus in spring break and it was so amazing. I loved listening to the presenters talking about the school.”

     Sandwiched between Eben and Mesimore was Wesley Laytham, who finished the course in a time of 16:42.

     “For the first mile we were a solid pack and I kept all the guys in sight for the entire race,” Laytham said. “When you’re that close you really feel like racing. The first mile was fast and my hamstring hurt a little bit for the rest of the race. But I think it was a really good race for me.”

     Rounding out the lineup for Northside was Jiasong Yang (18^th, 17:31), Erik Zuehlke (23^rd, 18:00) and Fahad Savari (47^th, 19:51).

     “I felt pretty good today,” Zuehlke said. “I tried to stay with Jiasong for most of the race. It was a fun race and I didn’t feel too much pressure. I had a real good second mile and that’s usually the weakest. But I still need to work harder on my second mile and my kick a bit.”

     The Mustangs will compete at Niles West next week in what will be a sneak preview of the course that hosts the sectional meet on October 31.

Northside fights through adversity

By Rob Valentin

ChicagolandPreps.com Editor

Saturday, September 13, 2009

  

   Northside College Prep’s boys had a lot to overcome in Saturday’s Gordon Tech Invitational at Horner Park.

   The first hurdle came when Charlie Mesimore woke up with a fever and was scratched from the race. That meant everyone was going to have to pitch in to make up for the loss of one of the Mustangs’ top runners.

   Cuitlahuac Pineda Youniss did his best to chip in and was in position to take the lead late in the race when he was spiked by a fellow runner.

Pineda Youniss, however, stayed tough and finished the race in sixth place with a time of 15:57. It was his best finish on the Horner park course.

   “It was nice to see that even though he got spiked and it affected him, he was able to run his fastest time on this course,” said Northside head coach Jon Gordon.

   Right behind Pineda Youniss was Cooper Eben, who took seventh in a time of 15:58.

   “Yesterday my lower calf was hurting so I was worried about that,” Even said. “So I ran in trainers today to give me more stability. They give you a little more support.”

   Eben was thrilled with his performance on Saturday.

   “I was able to run a very good race,” he said. “I didn’t want to be at the front to start, partly because of the injury and partly because I didn’t want to waste all my energy.

   “I did the first mile in 5:12 and was able to pass people in the second mile. I just kept seeing targets and tried to pass them.”

   By the end of the race, Eben was able to chase down a

   Wesley Laytham had a very nice race as well, running away with 11^th place (16:14).

   “The first mile I was right where I wanted to be,” Laytham said. “I ran a 5:10 split and I was with the leaders. The second mile I dropped back to the chase pack, which is where I normally run. I was hurting when I got to the two mile mark but I just tried to go as hard as I could the last mile.”

   Laytham would have liked to take the team title but he knows the Mustangs will have plenty of chances the rest of the season.

   “We don’t put too much weight to our team finish in this race,” Laytham said. “It’s a long season and we won’t let us get this down.”

   Rounding out the top five for Northside were Jiasong Yang (37^th, 17:18) and Fahad Sarvari (38^th, 17:19).

   “It was a bad race for me today because I wanted to break 17:00 and I ran 17:19,” Sarvari said. “I ran a 5:40 in the first mile but things fell apart in the second mile so I have to work on that.”

   One of the things that may have contributed to Sarvari’s rough week was a lack of sleep. School started last Tuesday and he’s been swamped with school work, leading to a lot of short nights.

   “I’ve been up until 2 a.m. every night,” Sarvari said. “I guess it’s just going to take a little bit of practice to get used to it.”

   Erik Zuehlke (45^th, 17:43) and Forrest Cortes (49^th, 18:11) also contributed for the Mustangs.

   Saturday did provide Northside with a chance to gain some experience at a course that they’ll see again later this season. The Mustangs will run in regionals at Horner Park.

   “The way our schedule is designed, the kids will get experience on the regional and sectional and state courses,” Gordon said. “So when they get to the state course (in November) we won’t be one of those teams looking around at the map. They’ll be able to visualize it before they race.”

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Northside nabs second

Wednesday, September 2, 2009