After an up-and-down season with athletes performing at high levels at certain times, Chicago (0–4) is looking to compete more consistently for the remainder of its season.
Having last wrestled November 23, the team has some time before its next meet, with the Triton College Art Kraft Memorial Tournament originally planned for December 14 canceled due to scheduling issues. The team is in the midst of preparing for a series of meets and other tournaments in December. The first meet is scheduled to begin December 17 with the North Central College duals. The priority for these competitions is maintaining the high level of performance that the team has seen from certain wrestlers throughout the season.
“The strong competition we have seen this year has been important for the development of our team—in the coaching staff’s view, we can be very competitive in every weight class,” head coach Leo Kocher (M.B.A. '87) said. “We have a large number of athletes who at some point have stepped up and performed at a high level. The job before us is to deliver that kind [of] performance every time. That will be our focus through the remainder of the season.”
“We have a very young team, with five starting first-years. We haven’t been performing to our full potential so far in the season, but we’ve been working very hard in the wrestling room to succeed in competitions,” first-year Paul Papoutsis said.
The first-years on the team have all been consistently improving, which was seen at the Concordia Open last weekend. All five first-years wrestled in the tournament, with first-years Charlie Banaszak and Henry Powell placing in the top six of their weight categories. All three placers for Chicago were either first-years or second-years, attesting to the potential the team has to grow. Fourth-year Jeff Tyburski has also been a consistent factor for Chicago, notching wins at the Northwestern-Stevens Tech dual and Wheaton College dual in the heavyweight class.
The team as a whole has been working hard to improve its level of performance, especially with the high level of competition surrounding Chicago, with the Midwest region notoriously known for its difficulty both in the high school and collegiate level.
“Last year, the teams finishing second, third, and fourth in the nation all came out of our regional tournament. I think there will be a little falloff but I still expect it [to] repeat as the toughest region in the nation,” Kocher said.
The next two meets will both be in the Midwest region. The Nashville duals on December 21 will follow the North Central College duals. Last year, the Maroons performed exceptionally well at the North Central duals, winning eight straight matches to beat North Central 34–7. Shortly after Christmas, the South Siders will head to Northwestern to participate in the Midlands Championships, a two-day tournament. Forty-eight teams competed in the Midlands last year, known as one of the most grueling tournaments of the season. The team, however, is looking forward to each tournament until the end of December.
“I’m excited for our upcoming meets and [have] been working hard for the set of duals,” Papoutsis said.
As chef at the White House, Kass did more than cook for the First Family. He played an integral part in Let's Move!, the national healthy eating campaign; planted a vegetable garden on the White House’s South Lawn; and served as senior policy adviser on nutrition. He continues to advocate for healthy food choices as the senior food analyst at NBC News.
Organic Theater is performing Caligula in rotating repertory with The Emigrants (1974), a bleak and often bitterly funny play by the Polish dramatist Slawomir Mrozek. It's not an obvious pairing, but it's an ingenious one. Both plays explore themes of power and freedom from the perspective of characters who have found that "men die; and they are not happy." The difference is that while Caligula enjoys the view from the penthouse, Mrozek's pair of penniless emigres are stuck in the basement. Their unnamed country of origin is some godforsaken place controlled by a brutal regime that rules by fear, suspicion, and sham justice. Known only as AA and XX, the two men now find themselves living in a shabby underground apartment in a large, ostensibly free capital of commerce like New York or London. Terrence McClellan's concrete-walled set is lined with clanking sewage and heating pipes, reinforcing AA's assertion that the anonymous duo are like microbes in the bowels of the metropolis. Continue reading >>
No need to be interested in camping to fall in love with this collared number. This soft and silky shirt has roll sleeves with tabs and buttoned chest pockets.
Dr. Hoppe is a senior clinician and scientist in the Division and one of the leaders of the Hemoglobinopathy Center and Director of the Hemoglobinopathy Reference Laboratory (HRL). The laboratory is a clinical and research national referral site. The laboratory program is the diagnostic center for the state of California Newborn Screening Program and supports 17 other states. The HRL program is also the national lab for international cord blood banks. The program has a strong interest in new diagnostic technology and genomic testing. As medical director of the Hemoglobinopathy Reference Laboratory at UCSF BCHO, Dr. Hoppe has interests in public health research and is involved in several CDC- sponsored projects to build diagnostic laboratory capacity for universal newborn screening and improved surveillance of hemoglobin disorders internationally.
Dr. Hoppe’s research interests have focused on clinical and translational studies in sickle cell disease (SCD). Supported by American Society of Hematology (ASH) Fellow Scholar Award and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) Clinical Scientist Development Award, her research career started by investigating genetic modifiers of stroke using samples from children enrolled in the multi-institutional Cooperative Study of Sickle Cell Disease (CSSCD) and the Stroke Prevention Trial for Sickle Cell Anemia (STOP). She has applied novel genotyping assays to identify potential risk-conferring genes in SCD. She collaborated on several projects using high-density genotyping and genome sequencing to identify genetic determinants of disease severity and Hb F response to hydroxyurea. As part of the NHLBI REDS-III project, she is identifying molecular determinants of alloimmunization and response to transfusion.
Dr. Hoppe is actively involved in both investigator-initiated and industry-sponsored clinical trials in SCD. In a phase 1/ 2 trial, she is investigating the potential clinical efficacy of simvastatin in SCD, and is the lead PI on a global phase 3 clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of the platelet inhibitor, prasugrel, in preventing vaso-occlusive pain events in children with sickle cell disease.
Fox News Health published a story [READ] about 10-year-old Gavin Pierson’s journey overcoming a brain tumor with the help of Dr. Joseph Petronio, director of pediatric neurosurgery and co-director of the neuroscience program at Children’s Minnesota, and his team.
In April 2012, physicians at Children’s Minnesota found a golf-ball-sized tumor known as a teratoma growing in Gavin’s brain. Then only 6 years old, Gavin was ready to fight his tumor, which he nicknamed “Joe Bully.” He underwent chemotherapy, several brain surgeries and the use of an advanced drug, but nothing was completely successful in eliminating the tumor.
Dr. Petronio suggested a new option – laser ablation therapy, a minimally invasive surgery that destroys harmful brain tissue with a laser fiber through a 1-millimeter hole. Beginning in October 2013, Gavin underwent six rounds of ablation every six months. Little by little, the laser began to shrink the tumor.
On June 2, 2016, Gavin underwent his last ablation surgery and beat Joe Bully. For the first time in four years, he is in remission. Today, Gavin can participate in normal activities, like reading, running, riding his bike and doing karate – his favorite sport.
Dr. Petronio is optimistic about the future of laser therapy and is studying how lasers can help treat more common pediatric brain tumors. The Children’s Minnesota neurosurgery team is in constant pursuit of new technology and techniques like laser ablation that can improve outcomes for the patients we serve.