Chess Team takes 21st in State, ends successful season

The RB Chess Team competed at the IHSA State Competition in Peoria, to much success. As a team, RB took 21^st in state out of the130 high schools that competed at the tournament. Unlike most other IHSA State competitions, there is only one division for Chess, meaning that all sizes of schools are competing at the same level. According to the ICA, the Illinois Coaches Association, which takes school size into consideration, RB placed second in the state.

These are the best results the Chess Team has had since 1980, when the team took second in the state. After losing five seniors from the 08-09 season, it is quite an accomplishment to have such a strong showing at the State level this year.

Chess Team Sponsor/Coach David Monti said, “This was supposed to be our rebuilding year after losing five starters from last year’s team that finished 28th in state.  This year we still went 16-5 overall and 5-2 at state so I guess we just reloaded.  We’re only losing one senior in the everyday starting lineup (1st Board/Captain Phil Willoughby) so we should be even better next year.”

The success at the State tournament sums up a successful year as a whole for the Chess Team. In the course of the 09-10 school year, the team boasted a 16-5 record, and had 3-1 records at the Glenbard South and Evanston tournaments, two of the biggest events during the season. Due to some tough pairing, two of the teams’ losses were against Niles North, the eventual undefeated State Champions.

Sophomore Jimmy Hamera and Junior Jake Dluhy had the highest individual rankings of the team. Hamera, 5-2, placed 20^th on fourth board, and Dluhy, 5-1-1, placed 16^th on second board.

When asked about the State Competition, Dluhy said, “I’m very happy with my preformance at the State tournament this year. I jumped up quite a few boards and was still able to have success. I have high hopes both personally and for the team for next year.”

Monti was very enthusiastic about the team’s season this year, adding, “This year was extremely successful. I am very happy with the outcome of the season.”

Chess is a unique sport in that it is both a team competition, and eight individual competitions at the High School level. Each player competes on their respective “board” and earns points for the team and themselves based on their individual wins and losses. Team points are determined by the board number, with one being the highest, and eight being the lowest, and whether the player won, lost, or drew the game. After points for all eight boards are tallied, the team with the most points wins that match.

Individual points are much simpler than team points. Players receive one point for a win, a half of a point for a draw, and no points for a loss. After the seven rounds at State, whoever has the most points wins. Based on who the team and players play, and how much the margin of victory is, “tiebreak points” are awarded, which are meant to decide outcomes when teams or players have the same numbers of points. This scoring system allows for individual players to still have success even if their team as a whole isn’t as strong.

RB’s Chess Team mainly functions as a club during the year, practicing two times a week, as well as optional extra time to play during lunch. Kids can be involved even if they aren’t competing. Many of the other teams that attend the State competition take their competitive chess to the next level, practicing every day and functioning much more as a sports team than anything else. This allows as many students as possible to participate, including those involved in music, drama, and sports.

Although the competitive season is over, the Chess Club still practices on Tuesday’s after school. No previous experience is necessary in order to join.

Wrestling expecting success this year

Wrestling is about ready to pick up where they left off after a very successful season last year. Although many of the state qualifiers have graduated, there are still a handful of wrestlers who have a chance to make this year a successful one.

Of the four state qualifiers last year, only Chris Russel returns this year. Seven of the sectional qualifiers (Sophomore Sam Weiss, Juniors Keegan Buttimer, John Schraidt, Eduardo Orihuela, and Nick Rohm, and Seniors Juan Gomez and Alberto Cotto) are returning this year as well.

New head coach Jason Rech is very hopeful to continue the success built from last year. And he’s not worried about there being any changes now that former head coach Neil Dughetti is no longer there. He says that things will be very similar.

“Our philosophies are very similar, although I will focus more on conditioning. And we got a new room dedicated to wrestling this year which is a huge plus for us,” Rech said. 

Senior John Schraidt thinks the team is very well rounded this year. 

“I think it’s going to be a great year because we have good leaders from last year returning and newcomers to round out the team. I think we’re really solid.”  said Schraidt. 

Another big addition to the team this year is new assistant coach Bill Kucinski. 

“He wrestled at the University of Iowa so we’re very excited about having him on the staff this year,” Rech said.    

The first 2009-2010 Wrestling season started with the first practice on Monday November 9^th.

Girls Cross Country – The race for state

This year the girls cross country team is determined to make it to state once again. The runners plan on giving it their all at the upcoming conference meet on Saturday, October 17^th and in hopes of going all the way to state.

The runners “Can’t wait to get back to state” says Senior Sam Oberholtzer. The team has formed a very strong bond because they run every day after school and see each other on the weekends for meets. The girls really need to be there for one another especially around this time when they need to start pushing each other to get to state. They don’t mind though because they are a “Big family” says Senior Sydney Oberholtzer.

Winning conference is the team’s first big step to going to state. They need to keep up their pace by winning regional’s and then going to sectionals and finally making it to state. Last year the team made it to state, however despite great effort, they didn’t win.

This year they plan on winning their first state championship even though new teams have been added to the conference. Assistant coach Ms. Sterling has high hopes of beating Illiana Christian and Lemont.

Their chances this year remain high going into conference. Hopefully the family atmosphere will help them to push each other to the top.

Hard to predict Cubs season

After all of the success the Chicago Cubs had the past two years, they appeared to be ready for a playoff run deep in to October. All the players and fans were geared for the season in the spring. With the addition of free agent Milton Bradley and a pitching staff that was predicted to be tops in all of baseball, 2009 could finally be the year to end the long drought without a World Series title. 

It is now September, going on October, and all the optimism is gone. The Milton Bradley experience went worse than expected, and that is an understatement. Bradley had a .257 batting average with only twelve home runs before being suspended for the rest of the year by Cubs manager Jim Hendry for publicly criticizing the Cubs. His stability was also a big question because of the many minor injuries he sustained throughout the year. This is not the kind of production the Cubs expected from a player making seven million dollars a year. 

Bradley was not the only disappointment in the Cubs lineup. Three all-stars from the previous year were hitting under .255 as of September 22. Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome, and Geovany Soto all came off All-Star seasons with huge slumps. Fukudome’s defense is one reason his year has not been a complete disaster, but the same can not be said for Soriano. His many miscues teamed with a lack of hustle showed by Soriano combined for one big problem in left field. His bat was not much better than Soto’s, who was hitting below .200 for the early months of the season. 

A few bright spots in the Cubs lineup leave hope for next year. Rookie Jake Fox has been a force in the Cubs lineup since about July. He was hitting over .285 with 11 home runs in under 200 at bats as of September 22. In other words, he put up better power numbers than Bradley despite 200 fewer at bats. The always dependable Derrek Lee had another great year with 35 plus home runs and 100 plus RBI’s, while maintaining a .300 batting average. Aramis Ramirez was very productive when in the lineup, but a back injury kept him out of the lineup for over a month during the middle of the season. 

The pitching staff was average, but did not live up to expectations. Ted Lilly emerged as the lone Cubs all-star and staff ace. The previous holder of that position, Carlos Zambrano, had a down year that combined injuries and the lack of hard work put in. Ryan Dempster and Rich Harden were merely average, despite having been solid the previous year. 

The brightest spot in this rotation was rookie Randy Wells. His 10-9 record is misleading, but his ERA hovering around 3.00 is not. Wells had little run support and several sure wins that were blown by the inconsistent bullpen. Look for the 27 year old to have more solid years ahead of him. 

Of course, there will be the same high expectations for next year’s club. The pressure to end their World Series drought will be as high as ever. With many players returning next year, the Cubs should be in the thick of things come October. But then again, should be does not always mean they will be.

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