UIC and Loyola Battle It Out This Weekend at the Men and Women’s Track and Field Championships

As the school year comes to an end, things are revving up for the track and field teams at UIC and Loyola. Both schools will be competing at the Horizon League Championships this coming weekend as they meet at Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois. Last year the UIC men finished 4^th, while Loyola came in 6^th place out of 7 teams. The UIC and Loyola women both finished tied for 3^rd with 68 points.

UIC has been successful so far in the season. They have had a great number of contributions from underclassmen on both the men and women’s teams. On the men’s team, Anthony Hollingsworth has been the dominating force in the 100 and 200 meter runs this year. He is currently the favorite to win the 100 meter dash with a time of 10.61. Asked about his performance at meets up until now he said, “I am very happy about what I have been able to do this season. I lowered my personal best and although the weather has not been the best I feel as though I am running at my highest level.” Hollingsworth

Andy Wall High Jumping

is not alone atop the leader board in the Horizon League. Teammate Andy Wall, a red-shirt senior, is ranked in the top five for three events. Wall is currently ranked third in the high jump at 6’6, fourth in the javelin with a throw at 143′ 2″ and first in the triple jump at 47′ 10.5″.

The UIC distance squad will be looking to place three guys in the 800 meter run. Sophomore Matt Zaluckyj, junior Lewis Brown and senior Farrahadoon Durrani whom are all

Matt Zaluckyj Anchoring the 4x400 meter relay

ranked in the top 8. Junior Lewis Brown had this to say on his upcoming performance, “I’m looking forward to placing in the 800 again. Last year I ran a 1:52.29 which put me in third place.” Senior Nic Aubert placed last year in the 3000 meter steeplechase, a race that is very fun to watch. It includes seven and a half laps of hurdles and a treacherous water pit which one must jump over. The men’s 4×400 meter relay is always the most thrilling event. It concludes the meet as the last race of the day. Last year the Flames held off the University of Detroit-Mercy to claim third place.

UIC Sophomore Kellie Schuh

On the women’s team sophomore Kellie Schuh has been a leading contributor to the Flames’ success this season and leads the team into competition this weekend. Schuh is ranked third in the pole vault with a height of 11′ 5.75” and is in sixth place in the triple jump with a leap of 38′ 4.25″. The majority of the points to be scored on the women’s team for UIC will come from the throwers. There are three throwers ranked in the top 10 for the hammer throw for the Flames; seniors Monique Bostert and Kristen McMurray and junior Erin Clark. Senior Mary Brennan is looking to place in the 400 meter hurdles. Brennan is looking forward to this race after running the steeplechase last year. “After placing 4^th last year in the steeplechase, I am looking forward to the 400 hurdles. I ran it a lot in high school and am just really excited to run it.”

As the Flames brace for tough competition this weekend, city rival Loyola has had a stellar season themselves. The Ramblers have several runners in the 400 meter run with freshman Mike Wetzel sitting in fourth place with a 49.08. Senior Ricky Headrick isn’t far behind him with a 49.41 for sixth place. Freshman Declan Murray and sophomore Nolan Fine will compete against Zaluckyj, Brown and Durrani of the Flames in the 800 meter run. These five athletes make up five of the top eight runners in that event.

In the 110 meter hurdles the Ramblers have two sprinters ranked in the top seven in the Horizon League. Junior Ramunas Stanciauskas with a time of 16.29 and sophomore Jon Christ with a time of 16.34. These two guys will be looking to take down UIC’s Andy Wall in that event. Stanciauskas and Christ will be back in action running the 400 meter run along with teammate Tom Andreoni who is atop the leader board with a time of 55.11.

On the women’s team the Ramblers will look to the distance squad for some

Loyola Sophomore Jen Rock

major points. In the 5000 meter race senior Genevieve Binnie and Jen Rock are ranked in the top five with times of 17:35 and 17:36 respectively. Binnie will also be competing in the 10,000 meter run, a 6.2 mile race (which is 25 laps around an outdoor track). She is 30 seconds behind the leader with a time of 36:36.

The Flames and Ramblers will both be on their A-games this weekend as they look to conclude their seasons on a high note at the Horizon League Championships.

The men and women’s track and field Horizon League Championships will begin at 10am on Saturday and conclude at 10am on Sunday at Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois.

Article By Staff Writer:

Dan Cline

The Big Four’s Mascot Showdown: Who Will Be Standing Tall Next to the Skyscrapers of Chicago?

The Chicago Big Four have a rich tradition in how their sports names and mascots came about. However, does anyone know why there is a wolf howling for the Ramblers? Or why a dragon is fanning the Flames? Are The Blue Demons supposed to be scary? What about the Wildcats? How do all of these mascots represent their respective schools and student athletes? Whose mascot is worthy of being called Chicago’s best? This week Second City College Sports will take a look at how each of the four team’s names and mascots came to be. Second City will then crown Chicago’s best mascot after carefully analyzing each school’s history and relation to the City of Chicago.

The voting will be based on uniqueness, origins, and how representative they are to the great city of Chicago. The rating system is out of four Willis Towers.

Northwestern

Willie Dancing at a Game

Northwestern athletes went by the name “The Purple”, unofficially as the “Fighting Methodists”, until the name Wildcats came about in 1924. A Chicago Tribune reporter coined the name in an article about the men’s football team and how they came down from Evanston and looked more like wildcats than football players. Northwestern’s first mascot was a live bear cub from the Lincoln Park Zoo, named Furpaw. This little cub would be paraded around the field on game days to get the audience roaring. However, after a loosing season the team thought that Furpaw brought them bad luck and banished him from their campus. In 1947, Willie the Wildcat became the schools mascot and has been sinking his claws on the opponents ever since.

The Wildcat name is bland and universal. It’s like Springfield in a sense that every state has a city named Springfield. Sure the image of a Wildcat is terrifying but, when put together with the city of Chicago; it takes on more of an Alley Cat image. That’s not something that will strike fear in any opposing team. Although the name might have been creative in the 1920’s the Wildcats is a little too generic. However, Willie the Wildcat is good alliteration and he is worthy of some praise.

Rating:    Two and a half Willis Towers.

Loyola

Lu Pointing to the Camera

Prior to 1926, Loyola’s teams simply went by their school colors maroon and gold. That same year, Loyola’s football team travelled all across the country playing fearlessly against their opponents. This caught the medias attention and dubbed Loyola the Ramblers. Loyola’s mascot, Lu Wolf, was introduced to represent the school because the schools seal has two wolves eating over a caldron. The wolf also represents the schools Jesuit Catholic views.

A wolf in the seal and the storied history of the Rambler name gives Loyola a paw up in the contest. But when the word Rambler is mixed in with representing Chicago, a wolf is not what comes to mind. A hobo or a drifter comes to mind. Lu Wolf is a fine mascot for a team called the Wolves. However, Lu is representing a tradition that evokes images of traveling great distances and hard work. Chicago doesn’t have many wolves wandering about its streets.

Rating:   Two and a half Willis Towers.

DePaul

DIBS Pointing to the Crowd

DePaul’s team name started out as the D-Men in 1900 when their athletes wore the letter D on their jerseys. Naturally this evolved into the Demons. The introduction of the Blue came by way of a student body vote a year later. Billy was the name of the original mascot, but when the school updated its logo Billy was updated as well. The mascot currently goes by DIBS which stands for Demon In a Blue Suit.

The Blue Demons as a team name is terrifying. They haunt the opposing team’s nightmares. But when coupled with Chicago, a blue demon takes on a different meaning, the Blue and White of the Chicago Police Department, terrifying in and of itself. Also, DIBS are better known as an ice cream snack. Because of this relation, DePaul should be getting a cease and desist letter in the mail some time soon. The Blue Demon is a unique mascot, but shares the name with a delicious treat. This is not something athletes want to be thinking about come game time.

Rating:Three Willis Towers.

UIC

Sparky Throwing Up His Arms

UIC has a long history of different mascots. The original mascot for UIC was chief Chi-Illini, a spin-off of the Urbana’s Illini, when the school was located in Navy Pier. When the university was moved to its current location in 1965, on the near west side of Chicago, the school took on the name Chikas based on the Chickasaw tribe. However, chica is Spanish for girls and based on relentless taunting and politically incorrectness of naming a sports team after Native American tribe, the school was simply known as Circle. After having lost an athletic and school embodied image of spirit, the school took a student vote in 1982 to give the school a proper name. Choices included the Flames, the Skyscrapers, and the Clout. The Flames won out and has it has stuck ever since. That same year the school began to experiment with different mascots. The first was supposed to look like a flame. However the suit looked more like a tomato, so he was dubbed “Tommie the Tomato Head”. In 1986, the tomato was dropped in favor of a menacing looking dragon. Then in 1993, the name Sparky D. Dragon was given to the treacherous dragon.

UIC was worried about political correctness with the Chikas and its negative connotations. The word flame has even more negative connotations that can lead to incessant taunting. Sparky D. Dragon, a raging red dragon is a great mascot. What do dragons have? Fire! It all makes perfect sense. However put these two words together and what’s the first thing that comes to mind, Sparky the Flame. The history of the great Chicago Fire evokes pride for Chicagoans, how a city was rebuilt in the ashes of the old. However, don’t dragons start fires?

Rating: Three and a half Willis Towers.

Second City College Sports winning mascot: Sparky D. Dragon.

Sparky D. Dragon is a very unique mascot who represents more than the UIC athletes. He represents a city that was burned to the ground and then built into one of the worlds greatest cities. Sparky is a world class mascot. While the other three mascots are special in their own right, Sparky D. Dragon stands out as Chicago’s best mascot. He ignites the Flames burning passion for excellence, entertains crowds, and gets fans on their feet. Sparky is as representative for Chicago as deep-dish pizza is for Chicago.

Disagree? Vote in this weeks poll and voice your opinion on who you think is Chicago’s best mascot in the comments section.

-Article by Staff Writer: Theo Rodwan-Gordon

Loyola’s Men’s Volleyball Team Rambling into the Playoff’s

Mike Bunting in action versus Ohio State

It’s been cold here in Chicago, and not just because of the weather. It’s because none of the Chicago Big Four college teams have stood out since the Fall 2009 season. Be that as it may things are about to heat up for college sports in Chicago. The Loyola Men’s Volleyball team has emerged as a power house going undefeated this season.  Recently, the men’s Loyola team has earned its first ever American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I-II Coach’s poll ranking, entering the standings at No.12. This came after a huge win over the No.5 ranked Big Ten powerhouse Penn State.

Not only is Loyola’s Men’s Volleyball Team gaining national recognition by coach’s and institutions,  but some of the individual athletes are becoming well known. This past week, stand out player Kris Berzins earned, the American Volleyball Collegiate Association National Player of the Week and Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Offensive Player of the Week awards. This is just one example of the many awards received by players on the team. Teammate Mike Bunting also, repeated as MIVA Offensive Player of the Week in January. And it looks like more awards are yet to come in this electric season.

The key of the team’s success this season is a result of all the hours of hard work the team has put in  on and off the court. According to Assistant Coach Matt Martin, “We’ve worked hard to instill a ‘hard-work’ mentality into our team. Because we have spent so much time on being a team, we see great benefits physically in our lifting and training”. Martin also attributes their early success to the belief system of winning they have installed this year.

Kris Berzins going for a huge spike

Their success means a lot not only to Chicago college sports fans, but more so to Loyola’s student body. Men’s Volleyball is Loyola’ most popular sport and already there is some excitement brewing on campus and at the games for this improved team. According to Loyola junior Andy Kovalcik, , “a lot of students go to the games and I would have to say that there is a lot of support for their program”.  The team has received big turnouts from their fans for the games; with just recently exceeding over 2,000 fans for their recent upset win over Penn State.

Matt Martin is excited for the big turnouts for recent games, “We’re pleased with having some of the largest crowds for Men’s Volleyball in the country”. Yet, with these large numbers Loyola Men’s Volleyball has seen little to no media coverage. With this school’s program being so successful, one would expect at least the local Chicago media outlets would have some kind of  coverage. Nonetheless, the team will continue its winning ways and will show Chicago what it’s made of come playoff time.

Head Coach Mike Shane and Assistant Head Coach Matt Martin have to  keep the team focused on winning on a consistent basis. Martin point’s out that it is no easy task to win consistently but he points out that the team is focused and ready,  “We spend a lot of time watching and learning from our opponents. Every time we scout another team we are looking at what they do well and what we need to do in order to beat them. Our practices are designed to be familiar; they begin and end the same way. We try and throw in something a little different in the middle so we have to reach out of our comfort zone and still make plays.”

Loyola’s Men’s Volleyball team has a promising future and look to be in good position for their Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association conference championship tournament. Heading for California in March, the team will be facing some of the toughest competition to date. The UCLA Tournament is known for its high caliber of opponents and will take everything the Rambler’s have to win the tournament. They will be taking on Cal State Northridge, UCLA, and Long Beach who all rank in the top ten in the nation. This tournament will be a good test for these Loyola men as they head into the MIVA conference championship tournament.

With the huge response from the Loyola student body, other Chicagoans needs to match this enthusiasm and recognize  that there is a new powerhouse among Chicago College Sports teams. Avid fan and Loyola junior Colleen Dougherty is thrilled by the team’s success, “I think that having a Men’s Volleyball program adds to the school, people care about the sport, it’s awesome to have such a successful program”.

Article by staff writer:

Tyler Rayome