Seth Mendoza was flying high two days after completing the Boston Marathon.
Literally.
The Mount Carmel senior and four-time state wrestling champion finished in the top half of the 30,219-runner field at the iconic race on April 21.
Two days later Mendoza, who earned his pilot’s license in early December, took his grandmother, Karen Hart, on a plane trip.
So, let’s get this all straight. In a little over five months, Mendoza had earned a pilot’s license, became the IHSA’s 16th four-time wrestling champion and completed the Boston Marathon.
His father, Mike, is a marathon runner who was injured but managed to get his bib transferred to Seth for the Boston race. Seth had never run a marathon before. A 2016 half-marathon in Oak Brook had been the longest race in his life.
Yet in Boston, he finished 11,983rd with a time of 3 hours, 25 minutes, 43 seconds after setting 3:30 as a target time.
Mendoza was able to get his training in while still maintaining a heavy wrestling schedule.
“December is the heart of wrestling season,” he said. “But I was able to make some time to get some work in. I ran around a lot in the mornings before practice and before school even when I wasn’t training.
“It wasn’t anything super new, but it was a little bit extra — especially on the weekends. I made time for it.”
While he said he may want to try Boston again, it will wait for a while. He plans on wrestling for Missouri the next four years and has his eyes on international competition.
Meanwhile, other runners from the area took part in the historic race.
Oak Lawn’s Jose Macias had a strong run and finished 2,377th with a time of 2:50.37. Also from Oak Lawn, Saul Garcia ran a 3:01.37 and Michelle Dvorak completed the course in 4:34.33.
Other local finishers included Palos Heights’ Matt Wagner (3,380th, 2:55.36) and John Belcik (3:52.03); Orland Park’s Lama Abusharif (4:34.45); Palos Park’s Joe Styrna (3:11.53); Palos Hills’ Krsysztof Antos (3:15.21) and Dariusz Lisowski (3:27.53); Evergreen Park’s Keara Allen (4:15.51); Worth’s Calista Stefaniak, a former runner at Moraine Valley and St. Xavier (3:14.27); Hickory Hills’s Zbigniew Lizak (3:34.26) and Dorota Lizak (3:46.59); and Brookfield’s Maria Dominguez (3:59.03).
Aiming for national title
St. Xavier’s men’s volleyball team opened play in the NAIA National Tournament in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on April 29 as the No. 2 seed.
The Cougars (28-0) have been ranked No. 2 by the coaches all season behind The Master’s of California (23-0).
The four pool champs square off in the semifinals on May 2 with the championship taking place May 3.
Cougars senior outside hitter Matt Pennala of Long Beach, California, was named the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year.
Marist wins Smack Attack
Marist’s boys volleyball team, ranked second in the nation in the latest USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, won the 24-team Brother Rice Smack attack April 26 with a 25-21, 25-19 victory over No. 25 Brother Rice.
St. Laurence finished eighth, Argo 10th, Richards 23rd and St. Rita 24th.
Marist’s Christian Teresi was named MVP and joined teammates Griffin McElroy and Rorey Donnelly on the all-tournament team. The all-tournament team also included Brother Rice’s Ryne Collins, John Mikrut and Vaughn Goberville; Argo’s Sebastian Pardol and St. Laurence’s Elijah Landeros.
Rough weekend for pro teams
The Chicago Stars, the Fire, Fire II and Chicago Hounds all lost last weekend.
The Stars (1-5-0) dropped a 3-0 NWSL match to visiting San Diego on April 26.
The Stars visit Gotham FC at noon May 4.
The Fire (3-4-3) lost 7-2 to host Nashville in MLS as Hugo Cuypers scored his seventh goal of the season and Philip Zinckernagel scored his third.
The Fire host Orlando on May 3 at 7:30 at Soldier Field and four days later host Detroit in the U.S. Open Cup at 7 p.m. at SeatGeek Stadium.
The Fire II continued to slide with a 2-0 road loss to Toronto FC II in an MLS NEXT Pro game.
The Fire II (2-4-0) take on Orlando City B at 7 pm. May 2 at SeatGeek Stadium in their first home match since March 13.
The Chicago Hounds (7-3) trailed 12-0, led 31-12 but ultimately lost 41-31 on the road to Utah April 26 in a Major League Rugby game.
The Hounds host the Miami Sharks at 3 p.m. May 4 at SeatGeek Stadium.
Fano to head Naz hoops
Joe Fano is the new boys basketball coach at Nazareth.
He is coming off a stint as head coach at Division III St. Mary’s of Minnesota, and also has college experience as an assistant at North Park and Benedictine.
Fano also played at Fenwick from 1992-1995.
Stealing bases
On April 24, St. Xavier’s baseball team beat Trinity Christian 9-0 in the second game of a doubleheader and in the process set some base-stealing records.
The team had 18 swipes, a program record. Travis Hammond had five steals, another program best.
And the team had 168 swipes for the season, breaking a record dating back to 1981.