It was a Kenwood boys and Whitney Young full team attack at the city indoor championship
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CHICAGO- The Dr. Worrill Track & Field Center was rocking one final time during the 2023 season. The Chicago Public Schools hosted their second indoor championship inside the den known as "Gately Track Center" to most, hit rock concert-style vibes at times.
Boys-
Field events are an integral part of the sport regarding scoring. Before you know it, an unsuspecting team can roll up 30-40 points before the exciting track action takes place. Coming in, Kenwood was predicted as a substantial favorite over Lane Tech. As expected the Broncos picked up approximately 20 points via the shot put, long and triple jumps before the fans got comfortable in their seats.
Lane Tech would respond quickly in the scoring column by taking the 4x800 relay (8:08.62) and going 1-2 in the 3200m on the strength of
Hunter Whitney (Sr) and
Tommy Stecz (Sr) who clocked 9:44.27 and 9:45.00. All three marks are CPS championship records.
Kenwood won the 4x200 relay in a meet-record 1:30.88 and that seemed to bring more clarity to the scoring ledger. Though Lane was leading at that point, the Broncos went on a run by taking a very exciting 800m title courtesy of
Landan Gillespie (Sr) who nipped
Michael Polizzi (Sr., Taft) in the closest finish in meet history 1:54.46-1:54.47. Gillespie earned another meet record.
Kenwood continued to outpoint Lane by earning 10-point victories in the 60H (
Elijah Easley) 8.50, 60, and 400 by
Sidney Morris who clocked 7.12 and 49.92 respectively.
Lane's last hurrah would come from the 1600 from
Will Kozlowski (Jr) in 4:27.23.
Morris took the 200 in 22.29; the 4x400 was won by Kenwood in 3:31.14. The icing on the cake was
Julius Washington (Sr) and
Logic West (So) going 1-2 in the high jump with solid 6-3.50 clearances.
The final verdict was Kenwood winning with 129 points to Lane's 89. Whitney Young took third with 52 points.
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Girls-
Kenwood is the state's #1 Power rated squad but in a championship format, they would be almost evenly matched up against rival Whitney Young. There was no question that these are the two best teams in the city by a long stride.
Whitney Young got on the board first in the field with
Chidiogo Odeluga (Jr) winning the shot put with a heave of 34-8.25 and collecting an easy 10 points.
Kenwood struck back in the high jump with 10 points vs 8 points as Maylah Howard (Sr) had fewer misses than
Christina Jordan (Sr) who both cleared 4-11.75.
Jaliyah Shepherd (Sr) won the long jump for the Broncos (18-3.25) but was outpointed by the Dolphins who went 2-3 behind Simone Bernard (So) and Claudia Ouimet (Jr).
Lane Tech won the day's first event- the 4x800 relay in 10:21.78 but Whitney Young picked up eight points.
The Dolphins would pick up another 18 points one event later in the 3200m. Jade Lavallee (Sr) and Nikki Chopra (Sr) battled together for nearly 16 laps before Lavallee edged ahead for the win in 11:31.00.
Kenwood got their first win on the track in the 4x200 relay (1:44.89). The Broncos got it down without star Asia Thomas (Sr).
Thomas would have a tremendous day trying to carry her team's workload. She won the 60 (7.58) in a meet record. In her next event, she cruised to an easy win in the 400 over teammate Harmony Brown (Jr) 58.12-59.76. Later it was Thomas' win in the 200 that set a meet record with a time of 24.63. Thomas' teammate Shepherd who was disqualified in the 60 for unsportsmanlike conduct, placed second.
Hannah Diete (Jr., Taft) won the 800 with a PR 2:18.77. At the same time, the Dolphins picked up third place from Kori Henderson (Jr) and secured a valuable six points.
Lavallee copped her second win on the day in the 1600 with a time of 5:18.52.
Kenwood and Whitney Young closed out the championship by going 1-2 in the 4x400 relay. Kenwood on the strength of Thomas' strong anchor won in a meet record 4:06.12.
Whitney Young's depth proved too much for Kenwood as they produced just enough points to win 111-100.
