CHS received a special coaches’ honor

Monday, February 16, 2009 10:21 PM CST

CHS is named division winner at state chess tournament
By DAVE FOPAY, Staff Writer
Journal Gazette and Times-Courier – Charleston, IL, USA

PEORIA — The Charleston High School chess team received a special coaches’ honor Saturday at the Illinois High School Association state tournament.

While CHS finished 36th overall in the IHSA State Chess Tournament, the Illinois Chess Coaches Association voted the Charleston team the top in its division, based on school enrollment.

CHS head coach Patrick Coulton said the distinction is similar to a state championship, if the IHSA awarded different division championships.

“It’s very hard to do,” Coulton said. “I don’t know if we had any better team.”

The IHSA awards only one state championship in chess and puts all schools together for the tournament, regardless of their enrollment.

The state championship went to University High School of Urbana; Mattoon High School, the only other area school that participated in the tournament, finished 111th.

CHS team member Kurtis Waldron-Young, a sophomore, won seven games during the tournament to go undefeated on Board 8 and earn an IHSA medal. Teammate Jared Switzer received a coaches’ medal for second place in one round of the competition. He placed eighth overall on Board 4.

As a team, CHS won four of the seven matches it played

Coulton said CHS had narrow losses to teams that finished more than 10 places higher than did CHS, and one of its wins was over Chicago Lincoln Park, which finished ahead of Charleston in 30th place. In all, 122 teams competed in the tournament, and Coulton said CHS played several teams with larger enrollments.

Other CHS team members who competed at the state tournament were Kenneth Banyai, Seth Goeckner, Nathan Fritz, Anthony Teuber, Nick Yamamoto, Jentri Eubank and Levi Slaughter, and alternates were Ross Mattingly and James Melton.