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Fall 2019
Payton Sports News
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Celebrating the accomplishments of all Payton teams
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Varsity Girls Tennis
The Payton Girls Tennis Team ended their season with senior night to honor seniors
Anagha Aneesh, Andie Berman, Gina Davis, Andra Giurgiu, Nina Mondero, Helen Wei and Emilia Wilke.
The Varsity team was highly seeded at the Oak Park River Forest sectional tournament. Unfortunately, due to the strike, the girls were unable to compete at the sectional and thus could not advance to the state tournament.
The team is excited to have won 2nd place at the City Championships and is looking forward to another successful season next year. The team is grateful for the dedication of Coach Jean Casserly and Coach Marco Berroya.
Grizzly football completed a historic season! Grizzly football completed a historic season! See full highlights below, and congrats also to Damien Goodman (Running Back) and Thomas Melecio (Kicker) who made the All-City Team!
Boys Soccer
Payton Boys Soccer Captures Conference Title and Windy City Championship; Rosenkranz All-State!!
The Payton Boys Varsity Soccer Team closed out an impressive 18-5 season by winning their conference and the Windy City Championship. On October 11, the Grizzlies completed their comeback run through the consolation bracket in the City Championships to defeat Lincoln Park 3-1 for the Windy City Championship on a bitterly cold, but sweet, night at Taft Academy.
On October 15, the boys defeated Deerfield 3-1 on the road to spoil the home team's Senior Night. Unfortunately, the Deerfield victory would be the last game of the season for the Grizzlies, as their state campaign was cut short by the CPS strike. Earlier action included an undefeated conference run, capped off by a resounding 6-0 road victory over Hubbard High. With the victory, Coach Paul Escobar's Grizzlies captured the Chicago Public First Division South title, finishing 7-0 in conference play. Non-conference action included avenging last year's state regional semi-final loss with an impressive 2-0 victory over Latin School of Chicago, a nail-biter against Lake Forest Academy, hiccups against perennial powerhouses Evanston Township and St. Ignatius, and end-of-the-season road wins against Niles North and Deerfield. And, in perhaps the sweetest victory of the season, the Grizzlies also took back the HYDRANT with a 4-2 victory over Northside College Prep at Lane Tech en route to the Windy City Championship.
Senior Captain Manny Rosenkranz lead the team and all conference players with 19 goals, followed by dynamic sophomore Lucas Cozuc with 10. Senior Captain Ethan Chung (season-high assists with 13), along with junior Kevin Juanacio, controlled the midfield and orchestrated several impressive set pieces, while senior Captain Brody Drake's versatility paid off defensively and in creating scoring opportunities up the pitch, including Drake's own last-second goal to seal Payton's win at Deerfield. In total, the Grizzlies tallied 75 goals on the season and outscored opponents 30 to 4 in conference play. Complimenting the Grizzlies' well-balanced scoring attack was a stingy defense, which recorded 9 shutouts.
These stellar accomplishments did not go unnoticed. Manny Rosenkranz was selected All-State First Team, only the second time in program history that a Grizzly has received this honor, to go along with his All-Conference nod. Ethan Chung also received All-Sectional Honorable Mention and All-Conference nods, and Chung and Brody Drake were named to the All-City Academic Team. Congratulations, Manny, Ethan, and Brody!
Not to be outdone by the success of the Varsity, the Junior Varsity Boys Soccer Team boasted an excellent 12-2-2 record and finished second only to Lane Tech in the JV City Championships. The future indeed is bright for Payton soccer!
Finally, many thanks to
Seniors Matt Czech, Shiv Medler, Ulises Triano, Adrian Sanchez, Anthony Dirico, Felipe Assumpcao, Ethan Chung, Manny Rosenkranz, and Brody Drake, as well as their families, for all they've given to the Payton soccer program these past four years. The boys had a wonderful run this season, and the underclassman will look to build on this year's accomplishments when they take the field in 2020. GO GRIZZLIES!
Seniors (left to right) are Adrian Sanchez, Anthony Dirico, Matt Czech, Shiv Medler, Ethan Chung, Manny Rosenkranz, Felipe Assumpcao, Brody Drake, and Ulises Triano. Captains are Chung, Rosenkranz, and Drake.
JV Boys Soccer had a stellar year as well with a 2nd place finish in the City Championship Tournament.
Boys Softball
The Payton Grizzlies Boys 16" Softball Team won the 2019 City Championship with a dramatic 12-7 win over Taft in extra innings. The championship game, as well as the semi-final, was played at the 16" Softball Hall of Fame in Forest Park.
After defeating Whitney Young in the semi-final game, Payton advanced to face Taft, the #1 seed, in the final. The Grizzlies broke open a tight game in the 3rd, scoring 6 runs to take a 7-1 lead. Taft battled back, and eventually scored 3 in the bottom of the 7th to tie the game at 7-7, leaving the bases loaded to force extra innings. Neither team scored in the 8th, but then Payton rallied and scored 5 runs in the top of the 9th to take a 12-7 lead. Good defense held Taft scoreless in the bottom half, and Payton claimed the win and the Championship. The game epitomized the way the team had played all season - very good defense and pitching, good timely hitting and good base running. This was a great end to the high school softball careers of seniors
Sam Essex, Jeremy Sitrin, Drew Heinig, Zach Gee and Evan Gray.
Payton/Jones Boys Golf Team
Payton golf had a strong year in 2019, winning the Argo Invitational, where seniors Amar Jerath and Luke LoSasso medaled. Payton also placed second in the CPS City Championship and advanced as a team to sectionals for the first time in four years. Charlie Kulwin and Luke LoSasso narrowly missed the cut to make the state tournament, shooting 78 and 80, above the cut of 76.
Girls Golf Team
This year, the varsity girls golf team had a near flawless record this season, winning all their CPS matches. They took the city championship title again, for the 12th year in a row, making their team the one with the most city titles at Payton (with 13 wins total).
Their captain, Raquel Simpson (Sr.) was the runner up for city as well as regionals, and is the only senior on the team.
Cross Country
Another Chance
The Payton Cross Country Girls and Boys Teams were able to compete in the first ever Dick Pond/NIKE sponsored CPS City/STATE Meet on November 7, 2019. Despite the frigid temperatures and dark evening, the meet located around the Montrose Track area was an opportunity for the student athletes to showcase their hard work and even break some personal records.
Media coverage showed the dedication, camaraderie and sportsmanship the sport of cross country requires, especially given the court battles and loss of opportunity for the teams to even qualify for states due to the teacher strike. It did not make up for those losses, but gave the seniors once last chance to compete with their high school team in a sport they truly love.
The generosity of volunteers, NIKE and Dick Pond to create the event gave the athletes encouragement to continue to compete and believe in the power of sports to transform lives.
Girls Cross Country
The Payton women's cross country season had a great finish, despite not being able to run at the IHSA Regional. In a last minute decision, the Grizzlies were allowed to run at the Fenton Sectionals.
Josephine Dziedzic ran an excellent race at the IHSA state meet at Detweiler Park. She raced the iconic 3 mile course in a super impressive time of 19:04-her fastest time ever.
The team also competed at the Nike City-State Meet on Thursday, November 7th, where they took 4th place. Lola Feurer, Hannah Bartels, Veronica Fuller, Caitlyn Fardy, Katharine Gillespie, Amber Cheng, and Isabella Chittaro led the Grizzlies on a fast course under the lights. The team had two Seniors this season, Lucia Roth and Natalia Ruich. Nice job!
Boys Cross Country
The Boys' Cross Country team closed out the year strong, and ran with grit and enthusiasm despite many uncertainties at the end of the season.
Zach Rose (Sr) proudly represented Payton at the State tournament on November 9 with a 15:57 for the three-mile race (a PR for Zach and the 2019 best team time).
Seventeen Payton runners competed in frigid temperatures in the Dick Ponds/Nike City/State meet on November 7 and had great results. Five students had PRs and the team came in 5th overall. Both seniors who ran in the City/State meet,
Matt Sullivan and Drake Gorecki, ended the season with their best times of the year. Sullivan came in 9th overall with a 16:05.
Simon Huffman-Gottschling (SR) was unfortunately injured and couldn't race, but cheered on the team as one of this year's captains and was critical to their success all season long.
photo: William Thakur (Jr.), George Woodson (So.), Simon Huffman-Gottschling (Sr.), Matt Sullivan (Sr.), Drake Gorecki (Sr.), Zach Rose (Sr.)
Other notable accomplishments from our seniors:
Ben Brown worked hard all season and contributed to team's success at the Niles Pat Savage race.
Anthony Ng had a PR this season in the 3 mile and a 1.5 minute improvement in the 2 mile.
Lane Vanderslice had a season best time in the 2 mile at the CPS Championships.
Franklyn Wu had season best times at DePaul in the 3 mile and Mather in the 2 mile.
photo: Elias Wilkin (So.,), Matt Sullivan (Sr), George Woodson (So.), Zach Rose (Sr.), Mark Zhu (So.), Olin Hemingway (Fr.), Ritvik Viniak (Fr.), Avery Bennett (Fr.), Drake Gorecki (Sr.), Koen Powell (So.), Simon Huffman-Gottschling (Sr.), William Thakur (Jr.)
Girls Volleyball
The Payton girl's volleyball season was cut short, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a successful one! Led by seniors
Bella Heltmach, Emmy Smith, Mary Ellis, Maya Llewellyn and Jenna Barac, Varsity advanced to the CPS Semi-Finals after beating Lane in the Quarters, one of the most exciting games of the season. JV was also able to advance to the Semi-Finals after beating Von Steuben. Sadly, both teams lost tough games in the Semis. With the strike, hopes of success in the State playoffs will have to wait until next year.
Girls Swim Team
The Jones/Payton girls's swim/dive team had its most successful season yet! The "Greagles" took down many teams we have never won against including powerhouses Lane & Whitney Young, broke records at almost every single meet, placed 2nd at City for the first time on the varsity level, won City on the frosh/soph level, and placed 5th in state sectionals. The team took home multiple medals at the JV conference meet, city champs, and sectionals.
On November 7, the team celebrated outgoing Payton seniors
Hannah Bentrem and Sarah Campbell.
Payton/Jones Girls Swim Team
Sailing
Varsity Sailing qualified for a berth at the Shepherd Championship regatta. It was held 11/9-11/10 in the chilly Monroe harbor and the team placed 5th. Seniors Asha Baddi, Aviva Kaplan, and Alessandra Torres wrapped up their final Fall sailing season but will be back in the Spring!
Picture of the team at the Shepherd Championship from left to right: Cecily Marden (Jr), Aviva Kaplan (Sr), Wyatt Harley (Jr), Asha Baddi (Sr), Rem Johannknecht (Soph), Alessandra Torres (Sr)
Payton Booster Association
Our next meeting and holiday social is Monday, Dec 16th in the school library at 6pm. All are welcome - if you are team parent, please make every effort to attend.
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Congratulations to all
on a great
2019 Fall season!
Go Grizzlies!
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Share Your News with the Payton Community
To share your news with Payton families, please contact FOP's newsletter editor.
Heather H. Bennett, FOP VP Communications &
Include your article as a Word attachment or type the text into the body of your email. Please keep articles shorter than 200 words and send photos as separate attachments under 4MP. Submissions are due the 25th of each month and subject to editor approval. Photos that are too large will not be used. To submit for the Winter or Spring Sports News, contact the Booster news reporter at
laura.g.anderson@gmail.com
before the end of each season, include the list of seniors for the sport as well.
Produced for Payton by Friends of Payton.
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