Vol 32 issue 17

Volume 32, Issue 17 May 10,1996

South wordS

Maine South H.S. Park Ridge. IL

Goldberg team builds a better mousetrap

by Paul Berko On Friday, Apr. 19, Maine South's Rube Goldberg Team made history as it won the first ever Argonne National Laboratory Rube Goldberg Competition at the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier.

The constest is named after early 20th century cartoonist Reuben "Rube" Goldberg.

Goldberg drew designs for complicated machines which performed simple tasks. This year's goal for the Argonne Contest was to plant a seed.

The Maine South team consisted of the most demented physics minds in the school.

Seniors Greg "Here comes the fist" Reuhs, Chris "Ooh that bums" Ryan, Tim "I'll be there in spirit" Paschke, Paul "It's supposed to have a hole in it" Berko, Paul "Does it bum?"

Pawola, and junior Steve "Is it sharp enough?" Vassos, were led through the two tiers of competition by team captains Jon "Shut up, Jon!" Dudlak and Dustin "Track practice?" Puckett.

The first tier of competition was at the school level. This consisted of three teams vying for one spot at the Argonne competition.

M.iS Cardullo Hawk Rubers clown around after winning competition After hours of intense deliberation, Mr. win. I'm glad we did. I really wanted a shot at Jack Marino, the project sponsor, announced the Argonne Contest." the decision of the judging panel to take After overcoming the first hurdle, the "Officer Wheelhead's Surrealistic World of Hawk Rubers set out to fix up their contrapFound Art" to the Argonne Competition. tion. Argonne provided $100 for the team to Of the decision, Puckett said, "I wanted to Goldberg continued on page 6

A.P. Hawks storm Washington

by Jon Dudlak and Kara Wipf "The Oval Office is a lot smaller in real life."

While three schoolsfiromacross the United States placed higher than Maine South in the "We the People...The Citizen and the Constitution" competition national finals, none can truthfully makethe above statement based upon their Washington D.C. experience. None, that is, except for Illinois's Maine South, which, while capturing fourth place out of 50 states in this year's national competition, received an exclusive tour of the White House, including a photo session with the illustrious Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The team endured three days of competition, returning to the hotel only for late night review and truncated slumber. After five days of comp>eting and touring, a weary Maine South team returned to Park Ridge with a poA.P. Hawks continued on page 6

Commentary

difors

by Cyrus Wilson "Ah, the end of your senior year? So, you're probably coasting right through it" I hear this comment often during this time of year, but actually, I'm not coasting at all.

The fourth quarter usually ushers in a condition known as senioritis. Its symptoms include an unwillingness to do homework and an attitude that classes are unimportant. How ever, seniors do not suffer this because they have been accepted to college and have nothing left to do in high school. Many suffer because they have too much to do.

It is true that most seniors who have chosen to attend college now feel the security of having been accepted to and chosen one Still, many seniors are insecure about college costs. These last few months of high school must be spent applying for scholarships and financial aid. Since merit-based sources have been incredibly selective this year because of the huge number of people applying, and many Park Ridge residents are not eligible for much need-based aid, many seniors will be spending time during this last quarter of high school working, sacrificing schoolwork.

In addition to worrying about paying for college, seniors must worry about their placement next year. This week and next, seniors will prove their knowledge on Advanced Placement Exams. Some colleges also give their own placement tests towards the end of the senior year. Many seniors will have to sac rifice small unimportant assignments in order to study for the incredibly important AP tests.

Finally, extracurricular activities can get very demanding towards the end of the year.

The spring play is a big commitment for a large part of the school, and interscholastic teams are finishing up their seasons with regionals, etc. Devoted students will keep commitments through the end of the year.

It is true that many people can be seen falling asleep in classes, missing homework, lacking motivation to work, or showing other symptoms of senioritis. However, this is not necessarily because of laziness. Many Maine South students are extremely involved in academics, extracurricular activities, and sports. When those commitments are combined with time-consuming AP tests, scholarship applications, and jobs, some sacrifices are necessary. Several seniors are unable to work because they must do so much work; they must secure their future, keep commitments, and tend to their health.

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Stuff you should know

by Brian O'Neill It is the mid-May, in the year of our Lord Nineteen Hundred and Ninety Six. Maine South is preparing for graduation and summer break. Some students are preparing for summer and some are all set for college. However, in the real world, where seasons like summer and winter blend into one, the whole of America is bracing for the presidential campaigns. Normally you would say that people are getting ready. Not this time. You better brace yourself, bubba. It's gonna get ugly.

Sure, you say, it's ugly every election year.

Why is Uiis year going to get exceptionally ugly? After all, we only have two legitimate candidates. (Don't talk to me about Ross Perot. He's bedrock lunatic. Watch out for him.) If there are only two candidates, shouldn't it only be two-thirds as dirty as last time? Mathematically, yes. Unfortunately, neither math nor logic have a place in the affairs of pohtics. It all depends on the candidates.

This year, as many of you probably know, the Republican nominee is Bob Dole, the current Senate majority leader; and the Democratic choice is the incumbent president Bill Clinton. Oh-ho-ho. Bob and Bill. Two career politicians. If you were to look up the word politician in the dictionary, the grinning mugs of Bill Clinton and Bob Dole would be staring up at you. All their hves these men have been clawing and biting and scraping for a chance to be president. The one who is 30 years younger than the other has already achieved that Now that he has had the taste of power, he'll do anything he can to hang on to it.

Anything. He's not only a shark who has smelled the blood; he has caught up to it. And it is the biggest, fattest fish that anyone has ever seen. And he wants to feast on that for another four years.

Bob Dole has smelled it. He's spent all his life smelhng it He has come tantalizingly close to getting it several times in the past. His main foil has been New Hampshire, the state whose primary he's bombed every time he has run. (Including this year, when it went to Pat Buchanan. Even though he rebounded and clinched the nomination, Bobby has a burning hatred for the Granite State. If you live there, and he wins, I suggest moving to another state.

Or perhaps another country altogether. Bob Dole is an angry, possessed, man, and he holds grudges.) Bob Dole has spent 70 years hoping to be president, and he is now closer than he has ever been before. God pity the man who gets in his way.

And God pity the man who gets in Bill Clinton's way. And not just when he is jogging. These two greedy, power-hungry men

are in each other's way and as summer gets on they will collide in an explosion of drool and hubris. But not issues. The issues will not be an issue, at least not two feet below the surface. These two care very little about the issues. Because they will do anything to stay in or to get into the Oval Office; they will say whatever America wants to hear.

Neither one of them has any integrity when it comes to this. (They do have redeeming qualities in other aspects. For instance.

Bob Dole is a stoic war vet who lost his arm for his country. I admire him for not bringing that up, and for not making an issue out of something that would get him some votes but which has no logic in a race. It is an example of someting that rarely happens is pohtics. And Bill Clinton. Well, he's a big football fan, and he has a big smile. But besides that, I can't think of one good thing. He is inseciu^e and power-hungry, a most dangerous combination. He needs your love. He needs everybody's love. That explains his [supposed] extra-marital affairs. He needs more love than Hillary and Chelsea can give him.

He is not—as some have suggested-a sexfiend. He is a love-fiend. And he needs the love of over 250 million of you.) Because o ^ ^ their lack of political principles, they w i l l ^ ^ agree on plenty and argue plenty about every niggling difference. And character. That will be 80% of the debate. It will get nasty.

But I'm not trying to tell you to not pay attention. You really should. Even if it is ugly and corrupted, it is far and away the best system we have. Far and away. Communisim is a paper philosophy. Facism is terrible.

Monarchy is what we fought to get away from.

Democracy is great. If you have a better idea, all of you Rage Against the Machine freaks who have determined that our system sucks so much and you drop away from it, then tell me what it is. If it were was so bad and oppressive, you wouldn't be able to say it was. So really, those who can, please vote. I won't tell you who to vote for, because I don't know. I'm only here to tell you some truths (?) and maybe turn you on to politics a little bit. It is important to get involved. If you hate our government, use the system to destroy it.

In this country, you can do whatever you want with a good knowledge of the system and a maniac-like desire to get what you want acomplished. Don't drop out. Stay in. You can't bring this country back to where it started, as a haven for freedom and rights, if, you don' t work for it There is a golden core to' this country that has been tarnished by politics and bureaucracy, but it is there. And it is beautiful. Work and you canfindit and bring it out.

Do nothing, and it will be hidden forever.

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^Commentary

South witnesses crash simulation

by Kate Rowland and Laura Batt On Saturday, May l l , a t 2:10 a.m., Maine South senior Jenny Chrzanowski was killed in a drunk driving crash simulation at the comer of Dee and Talcott Chrzanowski was riding in a car driven by senior Joe Pindelski that struck a car driven by Bill Pretzer of Niles. Passengers in the car were Pretzer's wife, Dara Pretzer, and sevenyear-old son, Michael Pretzer. Chrzanowski was pronounced Dead On Arrival by Park Ridge paramedics. Dara Pretzer sustained severe injuries and had to be airlifted to Lutheran General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 6:27 a.m.

After he failed several field intoxication tests, Park Ridge police charged Pindelski with a count of aggravated Driving Under the Influence as well as two counts of reckless homicide in the deaths of Chrzanowski and Dara Pretzer.

Maine South juniors Katie English and Frank Merle, both passengers in Pindelski's car, were taken to Lutheran General for treatment of multiple injuries. English sustained a major spinal injury and had to be removed from the car using the Jaws of Life. She is in serious but stable conditition. Merle received superficial injuries and was in shock when paramedics arrived. He remained overnight for observation.

"We don't call these accidents; we call them crashes," said a Park Ridge police officer.

Bill Pretzer and Michael Pretzer were also taken to Lutheran General Hospital, where both remain in critical condition.

"It makes me very sick, having to tell parents that their children will not be coming

home, having the disgusting job, and knowing it shouldn't happen," Park Ridge Director of Public Safety Robert Colangelo said after the crash.

"We don't call these accidents; we call them crashes," said a Park Ridge police officer. "Drinking and driving is not an accident; it is a choice."

Bond for Pindelski was set at SI million.

He faces up to 31 years in the state penitentiary.

Funeral services for Chrzanowski will be held at Town of Maine Cemetary on Tuesday, May 7, at 10:00 a.m. Services for Dara Pretzer will be on Wednesday at the Park Ridge Community Church, at 10:30 a.m.

Colangelo said that the simulation was to "give kids the memories in a realistic way, but not in a real way."

Southwords exhorts you to think before getting in a car with a drunk driver.

1

I

Southwards Application 1996-1997 _, class of , wish to become a Southwords staff/core staff member for the 1996-1997 school year| L. n submitting this application, I agree to abide by all the rules stated on the red Maine South folders.

My cummulative grade point average is . My most recent semester GPA is.

Grades:

10

11

Extracurriculars: Years: 9 9 9 9

English Art/Photo Social Science.

Language

I am interested in the following staff/core staff positions: (Please number 1-2-3 order prefergi^.ff

Core Staff Editor-in Chief News Editor Commentary Editor Features Editor Sports Editor Production Editor Photographer Artist/Cartoonist

_Reporter/writer Sports News Features Commentary .Photographer .Artist/Cartoonist

Cut on dotted line or take entire page and return to V-131, Mr. Kerth, or a Southwords editor. Applications with further explanation of positions are availI able in the cafeteria, Ijbrary^ and writing ]ab^eturn_bx.5Zi?i

10 10 10 10

11 12 11 12 11 12 11 12

I will fulfill the following requirements: 1.1 will submit the names of three teachers who know me well and can speak for my qualifications: English teacher Counselor Other teacher (Use art or photo if applying for art or photo.)

2.1 will maintain a "C" average in all my academic course work.

3.1 will read and follow the staff manual.

Signature

Date

FW"

JFeatures[

May 10,1 W g

Focus on student excellence...

TTie Features Staff would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge all of the "Focus on Student Excellence " nominees which previously could not be included due to time and space constraints. These students are deserving and worthy recipients of this recognition due to their activities and academic responsibilities at Maine South.

Brian Albin: "Brian is truly a good person. He is hard-working, courteous and caring. However, this does not include his drive and determination to succeed. An 'A' student with exceptional work, a three sport athlete (football, wrestling, and track), a community volunteer, a giver and a winner, Brian Albin is a super representative of South." —Mr. Fallico Paul Berko: "Paul is bright, talented, caring, and has a great sense of humor. He is wellrounded, articulate, and generally has wellreasoned reactions to the work around him.

He is very supportive of his peers in the band and has the best intent of others in mind. It has been a pleasure working with Paul and watching him grow over the past four years." —Mr. Pressler Adam Cartwright: "Adam is a gifted and expressive musician. He is an extremely conscientious student who strives for excellence and excepts both constructive criticism and praise as positives to his performance.

Adam is an extraordinary high school musician with excellent character, high personal goals, and unequaled leadership ability." — Mr. Danckwart Meghan Corkill: "Along with participating in extra-curricular events, Meghan is an excellent student. Her ability to stand out in a crowd of so many other talented students is a credit to her character: her strong motivation and commitment to success. She truly exemDlifies excellence." —Mr. Male

Taylor Duncan: "Taylor is a leader among his peers. His moral, mature approach to tasks and his interaction with his peers makes him generally respected. As a student, Taylor is a conscientious student and frequently seeks out opportunities to 'go the extra mile' to find success." —Mr. Claypool Pete Gluzerman: "Pete has worked in the Health Office faithfully for four years. He is a caring and creative individual. In an emergency situation he is extremely dependable, resourceful and takes the initiative. He also has a very good sense of humor." —Mrs. Mizwicki Anne Hildebrandt: "Anne's ability to initiate and follow through on work with the Ecology Club is amazing. She is an environmental activist from the heart and it shows."

—Ms. Godwin Colin Johnson: "Cohn is one of the most accomplished and diversified student-athletes I have ever known. Not only is he one of the top students in his class, but he is also a three sport athlete and a member of the marching band. Yet, above all that, Colin is an outstanding young man with unquestionable character." —Mr. Claypool Bridget Kufner: "As Student Council President, Bridget has worked quietly and consistently on every project. She not only leads, but she is a model of volunteerism. She is selfless in her work with [Student] Council." —Mr. Feichter Lisa LaCerra: "Lisa is a leader by example. Her positive attitude and enthusiasm in class and on the basketball team is infectious. She always gives her best effort and is a pleasure to have in class. Outside of class, she is friendly and shows interest in everyone she meets. She is a quality individual and someone who all at Maine South should be aware of" —Mr. Andrews

Franco LaMarca: "Excellent students who continually challenges himself with deJ manding classes and a dedicated involvement in all arts and fine arts at Maine South-a leader by example, attitude and work ethic."

—Mr. McCann Pat Maigler: "As a Park Ridge Youth Commissioner, Pat has led the effort to get the Park District to install lights at the Hinckley sand volleyball courts. Pat represents youth in our town with quiet dignity and uncompromising intelligence." —Mrs. Deines Brian O'Neill: "Brian's maturity, leadership and mentoring capacity in law class and on the Mock Trial Team has always been outstanding. He instills confidence in other students and puts in extra effort to create an excellent product in class and in courtroom competition. Brian was instrumental in steering an inexperienced team past regionals and all the way to the state finals." —Mr. Rosenberg Ethan Smith: "Ethan provides leadership by example; and through his artwork he has encouraged and inspired the younger art students as well as his peers." —Mr. Cobb Kathren Swarzynska: "Kathren is a real self-motivator and an independent thinker who does not need constant affirmation fromi others. She takes great pride in her work and' in her learning; above all, she is a tremendous role model." —Mrs. Klusendorf Ines Tin: "Ines is truly an excellent student. She demonstrates strong subject acumen, is highly self-motivated and always reaches to help others. We can all be proud of her exemplary attitude." —Mr. Fallico Martin Wojewoda: "Martin has pursued his art with quiet intensity and persistent desire to do his best at all times. He is a leader through his example and his commitment to excellence." —Mr. Cobb

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Features[

More stuff I bet you didn't know

by Kate Rowland Passing periods are five minutes, right?

The distance between A303 and the Southwords office is a hellishly long walk going firom first period to homeroom. "Hellishly long" can be interpretted to mean some 457 meters, as measured by Laura Huber, a 30 meter tape measure, and me. At a leisurely pace under ideal conditions (no backpacks, halls empty,) it took the two of us four minutes and 50 seconds to walk that distance inside.

However, during a regular passing period, it took me six minutes, 18 seconds, and four "excuse me"'s.

If, however, you were a world-class male runner, say, Steven Scott, who holds the United States record in the mile, you could make it from first period to homeroom in a minute and four seconds.

If you decided that bipedding it would not be the ideal method of transportation, you could crawl. The scientifically measured rate of crawl of an average Maine South student— here I am thinking in particular of Commentary Editor Alison Milnamow—is five feet per second in an empty hallway. With the halls clear and disregarding stairs and comers, one could conceivably crawl the 1500 feet in exactly five minutes. But I bet a backpack would weight you down, huh?

You could take the space shuttle for a quick trip to homeroom. With an average speed of 16,000 miles per hour, it would take your space shuttle and you 15.64 seconds. Or, to make the distance in the quickest way possible, you could travel as light and be in Southwords in just under .0015 seconds.

Let's say you were in the mood to go picnicking and decided to hike out a light year to get some peace and quiet. To walk the STUPENT PERSONNEL

OFFICE

12,500,000,000,000,000 feet, it would take you about 7,610,350 years to get there. Better get a move on.

Okay, back to the matter at hand. To get from A303 to VI31 in the most practical fashion, you could flood the entire school and simply float between classes. Of course, that'd take quite a bit of water, to the tune of 9,500,000 cubic feet, or 71,064,935.06 gallons. This water is equivalant to 568 and a half Maine South pools. If you were to put all these pools side by side, they would take up an area the size of 1,534,950 square feet, about 58 football fields.

If you were looking for other things to do with this volume of water, you could drink three and a half gallons of it. Do it in an hour, and you'll drown yourself Speaking of water, the Great Lakes contain 6,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of water. So you could give each of the 5 billion people on the Earth 12,000,000 gallons of water. Or, with the same volume of water, you could cover the contiguous 48 states with ten feet of water.

Continuing on with the water theme, a couple thousand years ago, Archimedes delivered a fascinating principle about buoyancy. If you fiddle with the principle (for the better part of two hours), you can determine that the bouyant force of the Earth is 1.06 *10^^ Newtons. And if you fiddle with that, you can determine that it would take 220,000,000,000,000,000 Maine South swimming pools in order for the Earth to float.

And that was the extent of my patience with really big numbers.

I realize that putting the sun in the Maine South pool is a Uttle bit ridiculous, so let's go on to something a little more useful. The surface area of the world is some 126,396,027,594 acres, and the surface area of Maine South is 64 acres, making Maine South about .0000000498% of the worid's area.

Also, based on factual figures from the United States Census Bureau, Maine South accounts for .000038% of the world population. The population of Park Ridge (36,000 people) contains .00014% of the world. And that was the extent of my patience with really small numbers.

If that population of Park Ridge turned into books, there would be just enough books to fill the shelves of the Maine South library, with about 1000 left over for classroom sets. And in order to clear the shelves, each of the students would have to check out 18 books, and the teachers would have to check out ten apiece.

The average Maine South student can read about a page and two thirds in a minute, or finish an entire 200 page book in about two hours. Of course, if you were to read the world's most boring book, which contains nothing but pi figured to several hundred places, you would probably take longer.

Speaking of time, your average Timex watch costs about $40, and it comes with a five-year repair/replace guarantee. During that five years, the second hand will tick some 157,766,400 times. And each tick will cost you $0.00000025. So don't just sit there.

You've probably already spent $0.0000013 on this article.

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#CTMI^ 3.4^ ex ^ r ^ •

Newsl

Science Olympiad finisfies seventhi Despite the lack of key members due to the Washington D.C. trip, 17 members of the Science Olympiad team, coached by Mr. Marino and Ms. Godwin, went to UrbanaChampaign to perform in the state meet on Saturday, Apr. 27.

Taking tests, building structures, and doing labs, the team ended up in seventh place out of the 24 teams participating.

Dustin Puckett pulled in the most medals, one in each of the three events in which he participated: Metric Mastery, Physics Lab, and It's About Time. Other medal winners included Mike Delance, Ken Lai, Ben Lai, and Tum Tunthatakus.

"I think that if the Science Olympiad team had the people from the AP Hawks with us, we could have gotten second," Puckett reflected, "[We] had one of those not good and not bad days."

Goldberg^ spend on the machine. Many dollars were spent buying httle objects Uke stick-on eyes and hot-glue sticks, but most of the money was used to improve the strength of the structure.

After many hours of late-night work and about a 100 water balloons later, "Officer Wheelhead's Surrealistic World of Found Art" was ready for the Argonne Competition.

The day of the Navy Pier trip. Coach Marino left the team with some words of encouragement, "I hope we have a perfect run. Don't embarrass me," which left the team members laughing until their sides hurt.

The competition required that the machine run twice, using a manual reset in between the runs. The machines had to have a minimum of 20 steps. Maine South's had 35.

After all 12 of the teams ran their machines at the competition, Maine South's was the only one to work perfectly twice without re-

A.P. Hawks

MaylO, IVWT continued from paae 1 starting. The Hawk Rubers were decisiv^ winners.

To this, Mr. Marino could only reply, "I didn't think they had achance. I'mso proud of these guys."

Chris Ryan limited his conmients to, "We won! I can't believe we won!"

Prizes for first place were Argonne National Laboratory 50th Anniversary T-shirts, a commemorative coin, and a tour of the Argonne Lab that includes lunch with scientists.

The title of "Officer Wheelhead's..."stems fi'om the use of objects found in team member's homes to create freaky surrealistic art out of the machine. Some points were given for themes and creativity/originality.

The Hawk machine was the only one to combine true art with pure science, partially contributing to the victory. Officer Wheelhead is a Lego officer with a wheel head who stood guard over the entire project.

continued from page 1

sition just under the top three teams in the Chnton's personal secretary. They also met country. with the First Lady for pictures and ended the The competition was divided into two tour with a visit to the Oval Office. parts: the general hearings held on Saturday Traipsing through heavy rain, the Hawks and Sunday, and the hearings for the top ten met Senators Carol Mosley-Braun and Paul teams in the nation on Monday. The Hawks Simon on Tuesday. Some of the luckier team performed extraordinarily on the first two members chanced upon Senator John Glenn days, finishing first in the nation by a huge outside a Senators-only elevator where they margin of close to 20 points. just happened to be waiting, and also spied Unfortunately for Maine South, however, Senator Edward Kennedy in the rain. after the top ten cut, the scores for the first two The team also met with Congressman days are thrown out, and each team begins Hyde, and team members Wes Crampton, anew. Illinois finished a mere seven points Dayton, Dudlak, Kate Rowland, Brian away from the national championship.

Shields, and Laurie Strotman appeared with In addition. Unit 1, made up of Laura Batt, him on his TV show, "The Hyde Report," to Bryan Dayton, Antoine Mickiewicz, Walter close the last couple of hours in Washington.

Walczak, and Cyrus Wilson; and Unit 6, made All of the team members had the experiof Jon Dudlak, Tom Falk, Graham Fisher, ence of a Ufetime. They kept the hotel awake Denise Knipp, and Kara Wipf, both achieved with the blaring bass of Coolio, played fetch the highest scores in the nation for their re- with a Frisbee on the expressway, met new spective units. pals from Kansas, California, and elsewhere, Aside from having the opportunity to watched Mr. Feichter eat paper, waved to compete in the room in which the Clarence camera-happy tourists from the White House Thomas/Anita Hill hearings were held, the porch, mixed it up on the dance floor with Hawks saw parts of Washington D.C. others Mrs. Canova, cheered and danced sillily with can only dream of, thanks to special arrange- joy upon hearing "The great state of Illinois!," ments made by Alice Horstman, Congress- suffered from extreme sleep deprivation, exman Henry Hyde's aide. perienced true team (and family) bonding, Along with visiting various museums of and learned an immensely valuable amount of the Smithsonian complex, the Capitol, and all knowledge, of course. the major monuments, the team placed a As Jeni Aris felt, "Chairman Feichter is wreath at the Vietnam Memorial, as Dayton better than our parents." recited a moving poem he had prepared espeThe only mishap of the trip (aside from a cially for the occasion. few sicknesses, tears, and screaming bouts) On Monday, the team was given an exclu- was that the team mascot, Mr. Zinjanthropus sive tour of the White House by Mrs. himself, was left behind in one of the hotel

rooms. Fortunately, housekeeping picked him up, and the Crystal City Hyatt is mailing the plaster head promptly.

"Never in my wildest dreams could I havei imagined a tour like this," Coach Feichter mused in regard to the trip, "No matter how next year's team places, it'll be hard to top what [these kids] have seen and done."

South wordS Southwards is the student-produced newspaper of Maine Smith High School, 1111 S. Dee Rd., Park Ridge, IL (60068). Letters to the edUor should be delivered to room V-131 or given to a member of the editorial staff. Southwards reserves the right to edit material for clarity and brevity and to reject obscene or h'belous submissions.

Editors-ia-Chief..

^aura Batt Cyrus Wilson News editors~~„„__. -—-Natalie Mazzuca Kara Wipf Commentary editors— .-.Alison Milnamow Brian O'Neill Features editors___™ — Sean Andrews Kate Rowland Sports editors -.—-.-.-.Chris Ryan Katie Rybak Production editor„ Ion Dudlak Photographers.. .JPaul Berko Tobey Scfamidt Artist~._ .-Mag^e Sadowicz Adviser.T. R. Kerth

: Sports

iSottttiworfls^

Track ends decade of frustration

by Paul Pawola After eight consecutive second place finishes to long time champion Morton, the boys' track team finally accomplished its goal of winning the Morton Invitational. The invite crown capped a very successful week in which the Hawks faced a total of 19 opposing teams, losing only to state contender York.

At Morton, the Hawks had many outstanding individual f)erformances. On the track, George Gardiakos sped to a second place in the 100 meter dash. Third place finishers were Paul Berke in the mile and Ben Wilson in the 200 meter run. Paul Pawola (two mile).

George Hartman (half mile), and Scott Bosy (400 meter dash) all claimed fourth place finishes. Other top finishes include Pat Maigler (110 meter high hurdles), Tim Zei (half mile) Tom Swidnicki (300 meter intermediate hurdles, 110 high hurdles), and Thomas Buszydlo (200 meter dash).

The Hawks were successful in the field events, with senior Dave Darling leading the way with a first in the discus and a fifth place in the shotput. Brian Marvucic finished third in the shotput and Brian Albin claimed fourth in the discus. Maigler and John Hilyard went third and fourth in the pole vault. Ben Wilson

and Eric Kuever claimed fifth and sixth in the long jump, and J.P. Veron finished eighth in the triple jump. The 400 meter relay team of Veron, Wilson, Kuever, and G. Gardiakos and the 800 meter relay team of Veron, Wilson, Buszydlo, and G. Gardiakos both claimed victories.

The previous evening the Hawks finished second only to York at the Glenbrook North Spartan Invite.

All in all Coach Drennan was happy with his team's performance over the week, "It was an outstanding week. We met 19 tough schools, and beat 18 of them"

Gymnastics moves three on to Sectionals

by Adam Megacz The Maine South gymnastics team as a whole ended its season during the last two weeks, at the Cress Invite, the conference meet on Apr. 26, and the Regional meet on the 29th. At these meets, a few individuals stood out from the rest. At the Cress Invitational, senior Steve Madura took sixth on floor, junior Brad Galvin scored seventh in the all around and fifth on vault, and senior Adam Megacz took seventh on pommel horse. In the conference meet, Galvin took fifth on floor, third on vault, and received a medal in the all-

around competition. Madura took seventh on floor, while the team scored a satisfactory 110.55. Finally, at the IHSA Regional competition, the team had three Sectional qualifiers: Steve Madura, Brad Galvin, and Adam Megacz. Madura qualified on floor with an 8.25, while Megacz qualified on pommel horse with a 6.2. Junior Brad Galvin enjoyed great successes when he medaled and qualified on two events (Vault: 8.75, and all around average: 7.1) while qualifying at-large on floor and rings. These three gymnasts advanced to the IHSA Sectional on May 2 and

hopefully the Illinois state competition on May 10.

In addition to these outstanding individual achievements, the team had made progress over the course of the season. The MSG Hawks finished the season with more wins than the team has had during any of the last four years, and proved to be the best gymnastics team Maine South had had in five years when they scord a 119.5 against Evanston.

The team thanks its new coaches Al Hirsch and Cindy Kawalek, and wishes the best of luck to its sectional and state qualifiers.

Volleyball successful at Rolling Meadows

by Jason Fechner "Ouch!" This word has slowly become the 1996 Maine South volleyball team motto.

After starting off with a 2-2 record, the Hawks took a mental vacation and hit a dry spell.

Lately, South's spikers have come back strong. Flying through the Rolling Meadows tournament, the Hawks took a high fourth place. On April 29, the varsity team took out Maine West, dragging them to a third game.

Phil Butera, Andy Vlahos, and Nick Colic put up strong numbers. Jason Fechner provided strong, smart hitting while John Hammersmith struggled through his tipping problem. The"eight foot tall" Mike Leonard also used his uncanny ability to help the Hawks.

The junior varsity, led by southpaw Brian Phillips, and the freshman teams have been having incredible seasons.

The bump-set-spike'n Hawks have games every Monday and Wednesday for the last three weeks of their season around 6:00 p.m.

Come on out—you won't be disappointed.

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nuwiv tii^^tin^i&t3 5/10 Badminton Baseball Gymnastics Soccer

SoftbaU

5/11

5/13

Niles West F/V 10:30 IHSA State V Libertyville V 12:00

5/14

Deerfield F/V 4:30

Niles West F/J/V 4:30

Maine West Elk Gr./WiIIbrk V 10:00 F/J/V 4:30

Regina F/J/V 4:30

CSL Meet VTBA CSL Meet F/STBA

Boys' Track

Volleyball

5/12

IHSA State V

Tennis

Girls' Track

mome contest

Fenton V4:30 lidgewood Inv F/S 4:30 ?Jdgewood Inv F/S 4:30

IHSA Sectional VTBA Glenbrook No. F/J/V 5:00

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Sports

May 10.1996-

Badminton struts

by Megan Manning As the badminton season winds to a close, the team is showing its winning colors.

Against Maine West, the varsity members showed their stuff and won 9-6. Important victories came from Sandy Anselmini, Georgia Giannakopoulos, Ursula SzczeUna and Chris Biala. The JV team also beat West by a score of 8-7.

Against crosstown rival Maine East the varsity annihilated the Blue Demons by a score of 11-4. Carolyn Weritz, Lania Ho, Kathy Korytkowski and Rubina Funteas each played hard games and contributed to the team's success. The JV team lost 7-8 but received key victories from Vanessa Winlow-

ski, Judy Kim, Kerry McGuire and Paulina Pozchoca.

In conference action, the team finished lied for fourth with Glenbrook South. Individual winners included Anselmini at second in first singles, Giannakopoulos at fifth in second singles, Szczelina at third in third singles and Chris Biala at fifth place in seventh singles. In doubles, Szczelina and Kim Schwartz won third place in second doubles.

The team worked extremely hard the whole weekend to achieve itsfinish,one place higher than last year. With the state meet coming up, look for the Hawks to strut their stuff and make the school proud.

Paulina Pozchoca goes for the birdie. | photo coutesy o/Eyrie

driving in lead runs.

Although Heather Kura hit the first home run of the year for the team against Niles North, Kori Biesczcad hit the second one against Maine East. In this game Karin Beaumont had 6 RBI's, hitting two doubles and a triple.

Among the glory ofthe wins came a heartbreaking loss to Resurrection. In the nine inning game, Maine South ended up losing 54.

As for individual players, Gina Anichini has been at catcher for the last six games.

According to Coach Kerr she has, "demonstrated real athletic gumption as catcher."

Also, Kori Biesczcad had, "consistently fine performances at center, first base, and shortstop." Renee Schaul and LaCerra have been "driving the ball with more consistent authority." And JoAnna Pulice has "more than tripled her offense from last season," this with the team only being in the middle of the season. Claire Pawlowski has been hitting clean-up lately and has been driving in key runs. And senior Christine Battista has "repeatedly been moving runners.'

by Elizabeth Gibbons The girls' track season is drawing to a close. As May begins the team looks to the conference meet and the state series, which begins today, with hopes of success. Many outstanding performances suggest that dreams of victory will be fulfilled.

At the CSL frosh meet, Maine South took an outstanding second place, competing against teams such as Evanston and New Trier. Nicole Wright once again led the team with a third place finish in the 100 meter dash, a second in the 200 meter, and a first in the long jump. Other top performances were

turned in by the 400 meter relay team of Wright, Amanda Wolf, Katie Dwyer and Katie Thompson and the mile relay team of Emily Smythe, Wolf, Anne Hezing and Marie Papeck.

Saturday Apr. 21 the Hawks competed at the Elk Grove Invitational. The team placed fifth out of 12 competitive teams. All members turned in great times and distances and competed strongly. Medalists included Deirdre Larsen in the discus, Wright in the long jump and 200 meter, the sprint medley of Laurie Evanshank, Ines Tiu, Sheree Baccay, and Wolf, the 3200 meter relay of Mary

Hoekstra, Julie Foltz, Gina Kremer and Angela Janik, the 400 meter relay of Tiu, Baccay, Wright, and Katie Rybak, Elizabeth Gibbons in the 3200 meter, the 800 meter relay of Rybak, Thompson, Tiu and Baccay, Evanshank and Katie Dupont in the 300 meter low hurdles, and Johanna Zumer in the 1600 meter.

As the Maine South track team heads into the final meets ofthe season, it is seeing all of its hard work pay off. The girls look to seniors Stephanie Chen and Sandy Mulligan to lead them to a brilliant finish in the sectional and hopefully state meet.

by Jennie Palermo Despite the unusal and unpredictable weather, girls' soccer has been able to overcome these setbacks.

Due to dangerous lightning the varsity ended early with a 1 -0 win over Buffalo Grove where Jackie Korus had the outstanding goal.

Following the Buffalo Grove game, all

three levels easily defeated Waukegan. However, the team's 8-0 winning streak ended with a 3-1 loss to the defending state champs Palatine.

Another tough game against Evanston ended with a 1-1 tie on the varsity level.

Yet the Hawks proved they were very capable of winning in their victory over Niles

North. The game ended with a 1-0 score. Erica Smith scored the lone goal with 3:09 left in the first half.

The season is not over yet. Please come and show your support tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. when the Hawks face another powerhouse: Libertyville.

Hawks winning in the close games

by Michelle Dulski The varsity girls' Softball team has had many exceptional wins. Against Maine West they came out on top, beating the Warriors 152. Jeanette Stanke started the game off right in the first inning, hitting a two run double with two outs. This eventually lead to five more runs. In just the first inning, the team team racked up 11 runs.

The team also won against Glenbrook South (8-3) and Maine East (15-4). In the fourth inning ofthe GBS game, Lisa LaCerra singled with two outs. She had two RBIs

Girls' track team shoots by the competition

Soccer is headed for bigger and better wins