CSLV: Saying Goodbye To The Newsletter

A final fall sports update and so long from the CSLV Newsletter.

OF NOTE

As you may have read in the last newsletter or on X/Twitter, this will be the final edition of The CSL Varsity Newsletter. 

Anyone who wishes to get a prorated refund based on the assumption they were paying for a full calendar year the last time they renewed their subscription, I will honor that if they send me a message. I issued one prorated refund to a subscriber already to test how it would work, so if that’s you, again, thank you for your support.

I have changed subscription types to ensure no one is charged for the newsletter going forward. If you are charged due to my mistake, please please please message me. None of the newsletter’s posts have been behind a paywall for quite a while now.

You can email me at kalebcarter4256@gmail.com or shoot me a message at X/Twitter at @Kaleb_M_Carter for a prorated refund or if I mess up and you are charged again at any point for the newsletter.

For more info on why I’m closing the book on the newsletter, please see the bottom of this edition. 

TREVIANS RUNNERS-UP IN POOL

New Trier’s 272 team points were second only to state champs Rosary’s 290 as the Trevians had a litany of superstar performers from their athletes in the pool. 

Top placing Trevians:

STATE CHAMPS 

200 Medley - Tierney Lenahan, Riley McNeal, Zara Bolton, Maeve O’Donnell, 1:40.65

100 Back - Tierney Lenahan, 53.20

2nd Place

100 Fly - Zara Bolton, 54.25

100 Free - Tierney Lenahan, 48.79

200 Free Relay - Marin Shimkus, Zara Bolton, Maeve O’Donnell, Olivia Safarikova, 1:32.52

100 Back - Marin Shimkus, 54.96

3rd Place 

400 Free Relay - Zara Bolton, Olivia Safarikova, Marin Shimkus, Tierney Lenahan, 3:20.85

4th Place

200 Free - Olivia Safarikova, 1:49.82

100 breast - Riley McNeal, 1:03.07

5th Place

50 Free - Marin Shimkus, 23.25

8th Place

50 Free - Maeve O’Donnell, 23.44

100 Fly - Maeve O’Donnell, 57.17

Other top finishes

Maine South finished 12th as a team, led by Sarah Juiris’ 2nd place finish in the 50 free (22.95) and 8th-place finish in the 100 free (50.37). Juiris and the Hawks also placed 8th in the 200 Free Relay in a time of 1:36.02. She was joined by teammates Gaby Szymanski, Kendall Bai and Maeve Przekota. 

Deerfield’s Erika Ilkiu took 3rd (1:02.17) in the 100 breaststroke.

Glenbrook South’s Lila Su was the top diver at state from the CSL, posting a 457.70 for 5th. 

DID YOU SEE? 

IHSSCA awards (academic, all-state, all-sectional, etc)

Glenbrook South’s Reggie Lara was IHSSCA Section 4 Coach of The Year.

All-state boys soccer honorees:

Cole Driscoll, New Trier, MF

TJ Phillips, Glenbrook South, D

Joseph Sargent, Evanston, F

Orlando Tobin, Evanston, D

Chris Vazquez, Glenbrook South, MF

Thomas Terry, New Trier, GK

Highland Park girls soccer’s Audrey Alberts signed a letter of intent to play women’s soccer for Northwestern. 

Glenbrook North’s 2004-2005 boys basketball team celebrated the 20th anniversary of its state championship team in Durham, North Carolina alongside hosting teammate Jon Scheyer, the head men’s basketball coach at Duke University. See those pictures here.

Maine South football’s season came to an end in an 8A state quarterfinal loss at Loyola Academy. Read Joe Coughlin’s coverage for The Record North Shore. The Record North Shore does a phenomenal job covering CSL teams New Trier and Highland Park.

Ethan Bass of Glenbrook North baseball, previously an Illinois baseball verbal commit, has new committed to Wake Forest.

Niles North’s Reid Olson committed to Purdue-Northwest for men’s basketball. 

Niles West’s Christian Guzman committed to Sauk Valley Community College for baseball. 

Maine South football’s Tyler Fortis made the IHSFCA 8A all-state first team for his defensive line play. New Trier’s Nikla Dugandzic (K) made the 1st team as well and Glenbrook South’s Wehbe Wehbe (TE/DL) was honorable mention. Maine South’s Michael Dellumo also earned honorable mention.

Maine West football’s Maksym Makota earned 7A all-state honorable mention recognition for the IHSFCA as well. Deerfield’s Nate Margulis was an honorable mention pick for 6A.

For FULL ALL-STATE TEAMS click here.

Lake County’s boys all-area soccer team is here.

Deerfield fall signing day signees:

Glenbrook North fall signing day signees.

New Trier had a whopping 54 athletes sign on signing day.

Evanston’s athletics department detailed thoroughly their athletes’ signing day destinations.

SIGN OFF AND THANK YOU

For a little while I’ve known that it wasn’t going to work out in the long term for this newsletter. As soon as I agreed to become the Girls Varsity Wrestling coach at Highland Park last November, bringing me to 3 consecutive seasons of coaching, my free time was limited. I haven’t been able to put into a newsletter of this nature what its readers deserve.

I’m not naive enough to suggest readers didn’t appreciate the coverage. I received compliments when I was out and about more frequently covering things in-person. There were pleasant comments from X/Twitter and in my email last week when I announced the newsletter was concluding.

At its peak, about 40 people were paying for the newsletter and around 300 people were opening each newsletter. Views were in the thousands every month. There was and is an audience for this.

What people showed the most interest in was the photos: that was clear from data I collected from Substack. But doing short recaps, Senior Spotlights for a brief time, things of that nature were fun while they lasted.

To the coaches, ADS, parents and athletes who supported what I did here, a gigantic THANK YOU. It has been fun learning more about the CSL, a collection of schools with wonderful people that I will obviously continue to be in community with.

To guys like Dion Martorano, Alex Alvarado, Carter Eckl and other buddies who helped me workshop ideas for the newsletter 2 years ago and helped me think through stuff over time, I appreciate you.

Expect that the X/Twitter account will be around for the time being, and I may even be plenty active with it for a bit. I don’t anticipate running it for a long time. We’ll see how that goes. Maybe that changes.

I may try my hand at some other writing ventures, but that’s TBD. I’ve been a writer for over a decade, and don’t intend to just up and stop. A break from it sounds nice.

Not that the grind stops of course.

Next steps are under consideration. I’ve already decided that I need to further my education to better my chances of moving up in the world and expect to go back to school to climb the ladder to some degree in education. Physical education is the target, but I have not officially decided that it won’t be some other path. Any encouraging words or advice on the matter are welcome.

I will be around.

Appreciate you all.

Peace out.