Sports

Spring sport teams find success in post-season play

Junior Sid Shah competes against Lake Forest Academy on April 27. The boys tennis team advanced to state, sending two singles and two doubles teams.

Meena Lee, Sports Editor
June 8, 2021

Even as the school year comes to close, U-High athletes continue to compete in post-season events. Boys tennis and girls track teams are sending players to state and baseball lost at regionals.

Boys tennis:

On June 4, the boys tennis team won the IHSA Sectional Championship, and all six players qualified for state June 10-12. In both singles and doubles play, U-High finished first and second. Junior Sid Shah beat teammate Justin Lim to win singles, and seniors Freddie Tang and Danny Han beat sophomore teammates Yaseen Qureshi and Ameya Deo in doubles.

Sid said he was really excited once he learned he was going to state.

“I was happy that I get to play at state because I know the competition is really good,” Sid said. “I get to compete with a large range of kids from different types of schools.”

— Adrianna Nehme contributed additional reporting

Girls track and field:

The girls track and field team placed fifth of 13 teams at the IHSA 2A Sectional meet on June 4. Ninth grader Poppy Beiser qualified for state in two events by winning the 400m and placing second in the 200m.

Poppy did not expect to compete as well as she did because the competition had reported fast practice times.

“It was hard to express,” Poppy said. “I was so surprised, especially since we had seen the times beforehand, but it felt really good.

Poppy will run June 11 in the state championship meet.

Baseball:

On June 7, the baseball team lost 1-3 against DePaul College Prep in the IHSA 2A Regional Championship game. They had advanced to regionals after defeating Holy Trinity High School 15-5 in five innings, where junior Colin Leslie struck out nine players.

Despite the loss, sophomore Sohrab Rezaei said the team played a great game.

“It was high intensity. I really feel like we played the best we could and it just didn’t go our way,” Sohrab said. “We had our huddle at the end, the sad conversations with the seniors. A lot of them mentioned our team chemistry, and I think that’s the reason we why we came so far.”