Daily Archives: April 20, 2022

Trustees say playground improvements at Hubbard Woods, Greeley schools can play on

Plans to upgrade equipment in and improve accessibility to two Winnetka elementary school playgrounds moved closer to reality when Winnetka trustees approved two ordinances related to the projects.

The Village Council voted 6-0 at its regular meeting on Tuesday, April 19, to approve a request to amend the special use permit and variations for the playground improvements at Hubbard Woods Elementary School and Greeley Elementary School, both in Winnetka Public Schools District 36.

The ordinances call for replacing playground equipment and replacing the woodchips at both playgrounds with a “rubberized play surface,” according to Brian Norkus, the village’s assistant director of community development.

Norkus said the schools want to replace the woodchips to make the playgrounds more accessible to children with mobility challenges, such as those using wheelchairs or crutches.

While the Greeley ordinance passed without much discussion, trustees spent time talking about the Hubbard Woods Elementary playground, particularly with concerns about drainage.

Tom Brown, who told the board he used to live adjacent to Hubbard Woods, said in the past, rainstorms have caused the playground’s woodchips to clog nearby drains, causing what he referred to as a “waterfall” flooding of the street. He asked the board, with the increase in impervious surface, if that would impact flooding.

Kathryn Talty, the landscape architect for the project, said that since all the woodchips are being removed, street flooding will not be an issue in the future. Additionally, she said the school has plans to deal with drainage concerns, saying that “all of the stormwater will be managed on site.”

“Everything is graded to run off into the field or into the existing catch basins that are adjacent to the play area,” she said. “There are two catch basins just to the northeast of the play equipment. That’s where the majority of the stormwater will run. Everything else will run toward the field.”

The improvements at Greeley (above) and Hubbard Woods will include a rubber surface and new equipment.

Additionally, Norkus said the plans still need to undergo a review by both the community development and engineering departments.

“The plans will be reviewed for compliance with the village’s engineering principles, including looking at the proposed grading and drainage profiles of this plan,” he said, “essentially to make sure that the plan, as installed, is designed in a way that doesn’t generate additional runoff, either towards the street or towards, I think more importantly, to adjoining residential properties.”

If all the plans are approved, Talty said the project will be completed over the summer.

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Brewer among track stars helping the Trevians chase a state trophy

Nearly 200 boys participate in the New Trier boys track and field program. 

The chilly, breezy conditions on Tuesday, April 19, in Winnetka offered a chance for a great number of Trevians to prove their mettle, offering meaningful, high-level competition to many underclassmen and athletes who are not always in the varsity lineup.

“We’ve got (fully automatic) timing here so having 185 boys on the team, you can’t physically see who’s improving (all the time),” New Trier coach Andrew Schmitt said. “With automatic timing, we can run everyone in the 100, 200, 400 (meters) and really gauge how they’re improving, especially when you have freshmen and sophomores running. They’ll be able to look back at these stats and know where they were when they were freshmen and sophomores.”

Loyola Academy had the same chances, as many of its varsity runners were missing with the Ramblers on spring break. The Trevians also hosted Highland Park, Evanston and Taft. 

Trevians senior Jack Brewer, a sprinter who has great hopes for his final season, finds himself gunning for several goals.

“I just love running on this track,” Brewer said. “The 100 was tough because of the wind, running into it, I’m pretty happy about my time.”

Brewer won the 100 dash against the wind in a time of 11.98 seconds. He and teammate Alexander Lesperance were the lone sub-12-second runners at the meet. 

Brewer said he wants to see the Trevians sprint relay units — Brewer was in the winning 4-by-200 relay on Tuesday — find the right pieces for a state run, and he is eyeing a sub-22-second 200 time.

Already planning on attending Indiana University this coming fall, Brewer is hopeful to walk-on to the Hoosiers track and field team. 

“In the 200 I’m trying to get to 21.75 because I want to walk-on at Indiana,” Brewer said. “Right now, I ran a 22.9 last week, but I made some changes to my block starts … so hopefully I can do that in warmer weather.”

Though he did not run Tuesday, senior Ronan O’Neill is another runner to keep an eye on, Schmitt said. O’Neill has excelled in the 400 and is also an important relay cog for the Trevians.

Leading the way in New Trier’s vaunted pack of long distance runners is Duke commit Nick Falk, who was named the state’s Gatorade cross-country runner of the year in the fall. The senior ran the 3,200 in 8 minutes 53.11 seconds at the Arcadia Invitational on April 9. 

“Long distance is the strength,” Schmitt said. “You’ve got Nick Falk who ran 8:53 out in California the other week and George Cahill. They are the seniors who are the top. You can see our sprinters are coming around. The goal is they’re at the state meet. Historically New Trier has always had distance runners at the state meet, and then it’s my job to get 4-by-100, 4-by-200, someone in the (200), a hurdler in the state meet, and then we could be right in it. It takes 40 points to trophy at the state meet.”

The Trevians racked up victories Tuesday in the 4-by-100 (44.33 seconds), 110 hurdles (Connor Koy, 17.26 seconds), 800 (Schuyler Cox, 2:06.38), 4-by-200 (1:35.54) and shot put (John McGregor, 12.91 meters, or 42 feet, 4 and 1/2 inches).

New Trier’s Keoni Osborne, Seth Snower and Wyatt Wellehan each recorded 9 foot pole vault leaps to tie for first.

“The relays were good,” Brewer said. “Our handoffs were way better than last week and the week before that in the 4-by-100. Our 4-by-200, we were missing one of our best runners … but it was still pretty good.”

Loyola Academy’s Max Makowski recorded a discus throw of 38.41 meters (126 feet) to win his event. Makowski also took second in the shot put with his toss of 12.78 meters (41 feet, 11 and 1/4 inches).