Kit Wrestlers Win Regional Crown

By Paul Harris-Hertel

Evanston's Angel Sierra is declared the victor in the 103-pound weight class championship at the Notre Dame Regional. The win was Sierra's 40th of the year.

The ETHS wrestling team needed a little help to clinch the regional championship at Notre Dame High School last Saturday.

They got it.

After Evanston's Marx Succes won the consolation finals at 189 pounds with a fall in the first period, the host Dons needed to win their last three matches via pins to overcome the deficit. Once Niles North's Steve Ehrlich pinned Notre Dame's Brendan McAleer in the 189-pound championship match, the Kits upset of the favored hosts was complete.

At last year's regional, Evanston held an early lead but watched as New Trier won its final four matches to capture the regional crown.

Though the Kits held on this year by winning seven of their ten matches in the final round, memories of last year had head coach Rudy Salinas holding his breath.

"I'm a young coach," said Salinas, in his fourth year at Evanston. "But I'm old enough to know it's not over till it's over."

Before the season, Salinas believed he had a possible rebuilding season on his hands. But after Saturday's matches, he reconsidered his pre-season assessment.

"We were rebuilding because we graduated a lot of seniors," Salinas explained. "Hindsight's 20/20, so I can say we reloaded.

"The credit goes to the kids," Salinas continued. "They went to camps over the summer, they've worked hard enough, and they've learned from [their experiences], so all the merits go to them."

As he did two weeks ago at the conference tournament, Evanston's Angel Sierra came in first in the 103-pound weight class, winning 7-3 in the championship match, and Gerard Harris won the 130-pound championship match 10-9 in overtime.

But Salinas pointed to some of his more unsung wrestlers as keys to the team's victory.

"We had four kids not seeded get to the medal round, and that was huge," said Salinas. "Our middleweights, our 135-, 140-, and 145- pounders, came up huge."

At 135 pounds, Ethan James placed second and Alex Pitner and Andy O'Callahan finished in third at 140 and 145 pounds, respectively.

Zach Burns took second place in the 171-pound weight class. The Kits got additional third-place finishes from Eddie Andrews at 112 pounds and Kyle Coulter at 119 pounds.

The win marks the Kits' second regional title under Salinas. The first one came in 2004, the coach's first year at the helm, and to hear him tell it, it didn't measure up to the most recent one.

"It is more satisfying than the first one, because I can see the progress we've made," said Salinas. "It just shows that we must be doing something right."

The nine Kit wrestlers who finished in the top three at the regional will move on to the sectional on Saturday at Glenbrook North. If the regional matches were any indication, nothing can be taken for granted.

"It's anybody's," Salinas said of the sectional. "As long as you qualify, you can win."

Warren Routs Wildkit Cagers

By Paul Harris-Hertel

The ETHS boys basketball team could not keep up with the visiting Warren Blue Devils, losing 68-41 Saturday night.

Warren, ranked in the Top 10 by both major Chicago papers, took control early, as the Kits mustered just 12 points on five field goals in the first half.

"They didn't do anything to make us miss shots," said Evanston head coach Robert Locke. "We missed shots because we weren't focused. In the first half, we were just sleepwalking.

"I thought we did some good things in practice, but we just came out flat," Locke added. "I was very disappointed in our effort."

After trailing by 15 at halftime and as many as 21 in the third quarter, the Wildkits cut the deficit to 12 early in the fourth, when senior center Nickcaro Golding's dunk off a feed from senior point guard Deon Thompson made the score 50-38 with 6:17 left to play.

But after a Warren timeout, the Blue Devils outscored Evanston 18-3 the rest of the way.

Senior guard Devrce Brown led the Kits with 13 points, nine of which came in the second half, and Golding added eight.

Senior guard Ceola Clark led Warren with 13 points, while senior guard Logan Derrick and senior center Julian Jones chipped in with 11 apiece.

The loss was especially frustrating for Locke because he had scheduled games with top-tier opponents early in the season to prepare his team for tough matchups as the season progressed.

"I explained to them (his players) this was a playoff atmosphere against a good team," Locke said. "I think what it comes down to is they're not playing relaxed. They were pressing."

Evanston's record fell to 15-8 with the loss. The Kits continued their season on Tuesday at St. Ignatius after the RoundTable went to press. Locke contended that playing Warren would help ready his team for Tuesday's game, and that playing St. Ignatius on the road would help refocus the Kits for the remainder of the season.

"They [St. Ignatius] are a similar opponent - very disciplined, fundamentally sound," the coach said. "This game will prepare us for [St. Ignatius] and get us back on track."

Team Evanston Boys 12 Blue Team Score

Saturday, Jan. 13: Team Evanston 2 Real FC 4

Goals: Sengupta, Kleschen

Goalies: Collins, E. Miller

Girls Gymnastics Takes Third in Conference, Regional

By Paul Harris-Hertel

ETHS girls gymnastics coach Chester Jones was hoping his team would place third at the CSL conference meet.

He got his wish and was almost rewarded with an even better finish when frontrunners New Trier and Glenbrook North struggled.

Senior Emma Katz won the conference championship with an all-around score of 34.975, edging out Glenbrook South's Kate Pryce by five tenths of a point. Katz's 8.925 score on uneven bars was also good for first place.

At the conference meet, Evanston's 124.725 team score put them within seven points of champion New Trier and less than six behind Glenbrook North.

"I was happy, but nevertheless I was quite surprised," Jones said of his team's finish. "Glenbrook North blew the bars and one of New Trier's girls was sick. It's hard to wish bad routines during a competition, but that's the sport. At the same time, you want to take care of your own."

At the Palatine Regional a week later, the Kits came in third yet again, just missing qualifying for sectionals as a team. Their score of 123.175 left them just short of the 125 points necessary to move on.

Three gymnasts qualified for the Niles North Sectional as individuals. Emma Katz was an automatic qualifier with top five finishes on the balance beam (7.65) and in all-around (34.05). She earned at-large berths in the three remaining events.

Naomi Katz, Emma's twin sister, was an at-large qualifier in all-around and on balance beam, and she narrowly missed qualifying on the vault.

"It was touch and go with Naomi until the final scores came out," said Jones. "I thought vault was her strongest event, but she just didn't stand it up. She was disappointed and everyone was disappointed for her."

Jones did add that senior Leora-Dona Guadalupe's at-large berth on vault was "a pleasant surprise."

With the sectional meet coming up on Saturday at 1 p.m., Jones hinted that the Kits would spend the week tweaking their routines and adding "new tricks" to their repertoires.

"It's going to be tough," Jones acknowledged when asked whether the three gymnasts could advance from the sectional to the state meet. "Emma has an outside chance. What she's done so far isn't going to get it done. She has to dig that extra little inch."