Vikings Sports Roundup: Boys Track Wins 7th Straight Conference Title

Boys Track: Niles North coach Paul Swanson wasn’t worried when his team lost the Central Suburban League (CSL) indoor championship to Deerfield in March, snapping a string of three consecutive titles.

That wasn’t when he wanted his team to peak. That wasn’t what they cared about.

Last weekend, Niles North claimed the prize it sought all season: the CSL North outdoor championship. The Vikings collected a school-record 208 points, beating out second-place Deerfield (172) and third-place Highland Park (72) for the school’s seventh straight outdoor title.

“We’ve been very happy with the progress of our guys, but really haven’t put all the pieces together until last week,” Swanson said. “We were very pleased with the performances of our guys in the track meet last Friday night.”

Although Friday didn’t give the Vikings the best conditions–it was cold, windy and rainy–Niles North got standout performances throughout its entire lineup.

“That’s the strength of our team, where we do have some standouts, but we scored in every single event,” Swanson said. “It was the depth also where we were scoring double points in most of the individual events.”

Senior Devonier Casey won the 400-meter (50.83 seconds) and 200-meter (22.58) while also anchoring the Vikings’ first-place 4x100-meter relay team. Senior Zheng Fang took home individual titles in three events: 100-meter high hurdles (14.83), 300-meter intermediate hurdles (40.52) and high jump (5 feet, 10 inches). Fang won both hurdle events last season as a junior as well.

Along with Casey and Fang, Swanson expects a number of Niles North athletes to qualify for the state championships at this week’s sectional meet on Thursday.

“We’re really high on two distance runners, Kosta [Papazoglou] and Aron [Sebhat],” Swanson said.

Papazoglou and Sebhat finished second and third in the 800-meter at the conference meet while Papazoglou captured the 1,600-meter title later that afternoon. Both of them qualified for the state meet last year.  

Girls Soccer: Niles North won its first conference title in three years, going 4-0-1 in the CSL North. The first-place finish could be considered surprising after the Vikings started the season 1-7-1.

Niles North will play Northside Prep on May 18 in the Niles North Regional to start the postseason.  

Tennis: The one bright spot for Niles North at the CSL North tennis championships was No. 1 singles player Dave Bacalla. He advanced to the semifinals before his defeat in a three-set match against Glenbrook North’s Brian Levitas 6-4, 1-6, 7-5. Bacalla was leading 5-1 in the third set before Levitas rallied back.

Softball: Niles North took second place in the Niles West Invitational last weekend. The Vikings lost to Niles West 10-5 in the championship game after they defeated Young and Montini in the tournament.

The Vikings also swept a double-header on May 7 against Resurrection, 6-1 and 10-4.     

SCOREBOARD WATCHING

Baseball:

Glenbrook South 10, Niles North 0 (6 innings) on May 14

Highland Park 8, Niles North 6 on May 12

Niles North 7, Highland Park 2 on May 10

Evanston 11, Niles North 1 (5 innings) on May 7

Boys Volleyball:

Niles North defeated Deerfield 25-9, 25-20 on May 10