Kris Dus named to All-State Soccer Team

By Johnny Stacewicz

He was usually the smallest on the field, he takes on defenders twice his size, and he is a known jokester by most at school, but when it comes to soccer he buckles down, and this year, Kris Dus, Div. 184, was selected as an All-State Soccer player.

The award was not something he saw coming. Dus missed a couple of games at the beginning of the season due to a minor knee injury, which made the award a complete surprise.

“At the beginning of the season I was feeling good about standing out,” said Dus. “I knew it would be hard to get any award, but I felt I was good enough to make all-City, but I didn’t expect an All-State award.”

Even after winning the prestigious award, Dus remained humble, which is the next thing his teammates will talk about, after attempting to explain how he breaks down defenders.

“He is so small and so tough,” said teammate Omar Orellana, Div. 182. “He was the best forward we had, but he never bragged or got cocky about it, even when he had every right to be.”

This past season was Dus’ third and final year on Lane’s varsity team. After playing limited minutes during his sophomore and junior seasons, Dus knew he would have to put in the work to standout as a senior. He credited an intense summer of training to helping him prepare for this season, and ultimately this award.

“My first two years on the varsity level were not so great. I did not play as much as I thought I would, and I only scored five goals in both years,” Dus said. “I used summer vacation to my advantage, playing scrimmage games with my friends almost everyday. This year was my best ever, scoring 14 goals with plenty of playing time. This award showed me that all the time I put into practicing was well worth it.”

Although his college plans are undecided as of now, Dus says that he would like to play at the collegiate level, either at Depaul or UIC if he could; anything that will help him take steps toward his dream.

“My ultimate dream would be to play professional soccer in England with my favorite team, Liverpool FC.”

Girls’ Swim Team out of pool, into City championship

By Jasmine Grullon & Jasmine O’Donnell

The alarm of a member of the Girls’ Swim Team goes off at 5:15am. She grabs her bag that she prepared the night before and heads out to Lane for a 6am practice. The whole team works out by running, weightlifting, and doing core building exercises. Once the 7:40 bell rings, the team takes quick showers and gets ready for the day. After school, the Varsity Team meets up at St. Patrick’s High School to use their pool for two hours. After practice, they hurry to finish their homework to get enough sleep for the next day.

The team met many challenges this year without a pool, but it did not stop them from winning the City Championship.

The pool closed at the end of July and has been ever since. CPS set aside money to update all CPS pools. At Lane, this money was used to replace the filtration system. The contract was not finalized in time, so the construction was delayed.

“I learned the true meaning of ‘you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone’,” said Sam Geschrey, Div. 150.

Throughout the season, the team was split into three groups and each went to California Park, Uplift, Lakeview, Amundsen, Lincoln Park, Northside, or St. Pat’s.

“Having our team split up took away the closeness,” said Hannah Viti, Div. 252.

“I found it challenging to handle,” said Geschrey, a swimmer who drove a carpool of swimmers to the different locations for practice. “The main challenges were getting to other locations and not fitting in the new location.”

The swimmers tried their best to stay united, even with the different practice locations. Like the Boys’ team, the Girls’ team have some unlikely traditions. One tradition they hold is not shaving their legs the whole season, until the night before City.

“Really, [it’s] a mental thing, grow a lot of hair to make weight and drag, shave off the weight to go faster,” said Viti.

“It’s a tradition,” said Cassidy O’Connell, Div. 263. “It helps the team bond.”

The team continued to train hard and do their annual rituals before City, even without the pool. The girls did miss out on home meets, but adjustments were made as Senior Night was held in Northside’s pool.

Viti lives far from St. Pat’s and going to practice after school would sometimes be a family sacrifice. She had to go home and borrow the car to drive an hour to St. Pat’s. This meant that her mom would sometimes have to take the bus to work. The distance turned a two hour practice into four. Getting home at 10pm or 10:30pm, she had to rush to finish her homework.

“I feel like every year there’s always that one week,” said Viti. “I don’t think I would ever quit, but it would be much easier.”

“I’m very proud of them,” said Mr. Rummelhoff, coach of the Girls’ and Boys’ Swim Team. “It shows how hard they worked.”

“It was a lot of stress, really different,” said O’Connell. “But in the end, it couldn’t have ended better.”

Ping Pong Club rallies back on to club scene at Lane

By Erik Brito &
Julia Kulon

Back and forth, back and forth the little white ball goes. The hitting is quick and intense.

A small crowd watches in anticipation to see which of the two players will get the point. Migs Durante, Div. 253, hits the ball towards Kyle Olvera, Div. 261. Olvera prepares to counter, but misses tragically.

Ping Pong Club has many opportunities for students to serve or to get served. However, that does not stop it from being enjoyable for its members.

“I felt good that I even got that far with Migs,” said Olvera, a close friend of Durante.

Durante, who is considered by some fellow members to be one of the best players, looks forward to getting to play every week.

“My dad had gotten a ping-pong table in 7th or 8th grade. I’ve been playing with my dad and brother ever since,” said Durante.

He loves the club for the different variety of people who attend the meeting.

For others it is the fairness of the club that attracts them: each member gets a chance to play, the relaxing and friendly environment, or simply, the chance to make some new friends. These qualities are what members William Concepeion, Div. 481 and Bear Madjeslt, Div. 367, said makes the club fun for them.

“It’s something else to do than go home,” said Charles Kucharzak, Div. 350. “It’s fun and I look forward to it.”

“I’ve never played ping-pong ball in my life. I wanted to try it,” said Pedro Munoz, Div. 358. “I come every week.”

On Tuesdays the club meets in room 143 where they begin the meeting by setting up their three ping-pong tables. Right away the games begin. Members stand around the table joking with one another and watching the games. The room is filled with laughs and cheers with the occasional grunts from players who are not having a good match.

The club also meets on Thursdays, but in a different part of the school. Though the games were usually held by staircase J, that area is now being used for Track conditioning. Ping-Pong Club is in the process of finding a new location.

Although some students may believe that Ping-Pong Club is new to Lane, it has actually existed for the last three years. The club was started by three seniors from the graduating class of 2008: Diego Loza, Paul Shultz, and Jimmy Scray. The club, however, did not return the following year. This year the club started again and it is now lead by three juniors: Ale Garcia, Div. 279, Dieu Do, Div. 260 and Durante – all original members of the 2008 club.

“I had so much fun freshman year,” said Garcia. “I made it my mission to bring it back this year.”

During Club Days in Sept., Ping-Pong Club had 262 students sign up, a lot more people than Garcia and Do had anticipated. Students that did show up were asked to pay a $5 club fee that would allow for the purchase of a new ping-pong table and 10 new paddles.

“One of our main goals was to get new equipment,” said Do.

The club is sponsored by three teachers: Mrs. Trine, Mr. Liatos, and Mr. Racic. Mrs. Trine was the first to be approached about the club by Dieu and it was by pure accident that they both realized they had something in common: ping-pong balls. It was a lecture about molecular models and Trine had decided to use ping-pong balls to recreate some of the different elements.

“Dieu got very excited the moment he saw the balls,” said Mrs. Trine.

Mrs. Trine is a ping-pong ball player herself and is very enthusiastic to see the club blossom. Before coming to Lane, she spent two years aboard in China where she was surprised to discover that ping-pong was an extremely popular sport among the Chinese.

The club plans to have in school tournaments throughout the year while members look forward to improving their ping-pong skills.

Puma Speed Search Challenge reveals Lane’s fastest runners

By Nicole Jacobs

On Oct. 13th, 2010, PUMA visited Lane in the hopes of finding the fastest girl and boy in the country. Matthew Rowe, Div. 278, and Meghan Ward, Div. 163, hold the title as the fastest boy and girl at Lane.

They participated in the Puma Speed Search Challenge, an event that took place throughout the nation. The Puma Speed Trap is composed of two cameras that start and stop the participants exact sprint speed in mph within 23 meters. Puma set up the cameras in the Lane Stadium on the track field.

Rowe had a time of 18.44mph and Ward had a time of 14.86mph.

This year, Puma was searching for the fastest boy and girl in 60 high schools throughout the U.S. Some of the other major cities they visited besides Chicago include Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Miami, and Austin.

“I was really shocked because there were a lot of good competitors,” said Ward. “It gave me a big burst of confidence and made me look forward to try and beat Whitney Young at city.

“I thought the puma speed challenge was a fun experience,” said Rowe. “It was cool to get back out on the track and see my speed in mph.”

Every student who participated in the Puma Speed Search Challenge received a prize. T-shirts were awarded to the fastest students at Lane. The other prize consisted of Usain Bolt’s, a Jamaican sprinter and a three-time World and Olympic gold medalist, new “Bolt Arms.” This is a pair of inflatable arms that mimics Bolt’s famous lightning bolt victory pose from the Beijing Olympic Games.

Most of the competitors were on Lane’s Track and Field or Cross Country teams.

“It was nerve-wracking because you didn’t know [how fast of a time] they were looking for,” said Imari Walker, Div. 277.

All the participants entered the stadium looking forward to being the fastest kid in Lane. However, in the end, Rowe and Ward were chosen as winners.

“Coming into this season as one of the top three in the city is definitely another positive outlook for this year,” said Rowe. “If I keep up the good work, I could come out on top.”