Varsity Third, Frosh-Soph Fourth at CPL Championships

The Eagles began their 2021 championship season in successful fashion on Saturday at Lane Stadium with a pair of top-five team finishes at the Chicago Public League Championships.  With a split day schedule, the varsity team started things off with strong performances in the morning session en route to their third place finish. The team placing was the best in program history at the varsity level, eclipsing their previous best of fourth place, which had been achieved multiple times.  

The Eagles were led by Andy Niser who took home both of Jones' individual titles as the senior completed the 'distance double' winning both the 3200m and 1600m runs to pick up twenty points for the team scoring.  Michael Rizk also contributed with a busy day of his own, leading the 1600m relay team to a fourth place All-City finish, as well as earning individual All-City honors in the 400m dash (5th place) and the 800m run (7th place).   Niser also joined Rizk on the relay team, alongside senior classmates Luke Benes and Ryan San Juan.

Both Benes and San Juan also contributed individually, as Benes helped secure the 3200m sweep with a runner-up finish, while San Juan anchored the 3200m relay team to a runner-up finish before coming back to secure the last All-City spot in the 800m run with an 8th place finish.  

Rounding out the 3200m relay team was junior Alexander Papadopoulos, senior Ned Wojcik and junior Alan Menninger.  

Senior Michael Sommese also earned a podium finish with third place honors in the 1600m run.

Continuing the day in the afternoon session, the frosh-soph team ran to a fourth place finish in a competitive team race.  At the younger level too the Eagles were also boosted by multiple event wins. 

Dev Dassani continued his stellar sophomore season with the only individual win on the day as he took home the gold in the 3200m run before following it up with a tight runner-up finish in the 1600m run.  Meanwhile the Eagles also bookended the meet with wins in the 3200m relay and 1600m relay, which were both anchored by freshman Andrew Nelson, who also earned individual runner-up honors in the 400m dash.  

Helping the winning efforts in the 3200m relay were freshmen Spencer Dixon and Sam Berlinghof along with sophomore Shammai Winitzer, while sophomores Daniel Leonard, Matthew DeSantis and Esteban Medina aided the victory in the 1600m relay.  All three sohomores also notched All-City honors in individual events and DeSantis and Leonard finished second and fourth in the 800m run, respectively, and Medina finished fourth in the 1600m run.  

As it was on the varsity level, Jones swept the 3200m with a '1-2' finish at the frosh-soph level as well, as sophomore Jayden Reyes followed up Dassani's win with a second place finish of his own.

2021 City Champions
-Andrew Niser, Varsity 3200m Run and Varsity 1600m Run
-Dev Dassani, Frosh-Soph 3200m Run & City Runner-up, 1600m Run!
-Frosh 3200m Relay: Shammai Winitzer, Sam Berlinghof, Spencer Dixon, Andrew Nelson
-Frosh 1600m Relay: Esteban Medina, Matthew DeSantis, Daniel Leonard, Andrew Nelson

2021 All-City Team Honorees:
-Luke Benes (2nd Place, Varsity 3200m Run)
-Jayden Reyes (2nd Place, Frosh 3200m Run)
-Matthew DeSantis (2nd Place, Frosh 800m Run)
-Andrew Nelson (2nd Place, Frosh 400m Dash)
-Varsity 3200m Relay, 2nd Place: Alan Menninger, Alexander Papadopoulos,  Ned Wojcik, Ryan San Juan
-Michael Sommese (3rd Place, 1600m Run)
-Daniel Leonard (4th Place, Frosh 800m Run)
-Varsity 1600m Relay, 4th Place (Luke Benes, Michael Rizk, Ryan San Juan, Andrew Niser)
-Michael Rizk (7th Place, Varsity 800m; 5th Place, 400m Dash)

-Ryan San Juan (8th Place, Varsity 800m Run)