Oak Park-River Forest

Oak Park-River Forest
Location: Oak Park, Illinois
Coaches	Ginger Brent & Richard Mertz
State Championships	none
National Championships	none
National Appearances	HSNCT: 2009-10, 2013-14, 2014-15 PACE: 2016-17
Program Status	Active-ish
School Size	3226
NAQT Page	link

Oak Park River Forest is a public high school in Oak Park, Illinois. It currently competes in the West Suburban Conference in the greater Chicago area and in Class AA of the IHSA State Championship Series.

History

2016-2017

OPRF started the year with the loss of most of its starting roster (Arjun Rawal, Ethan Mertz, and Noah Banholzer), but gained sophomore generalist Kevin Kodama in addition to senior specialists Cole Tamondong, Jon Niewijk, and Jon Panton. After starting the season with a promising win over conference rivals Hinsdale Central, OPRF proceeded to lose the next 5 matches against HC, including a subsequent championship match at Fenwick Kickoff. At Ultima, OPRF finished 3rd in the Uber division after defeating a shorthanded IMSA and a full Fremd team before losing to both Stevenson A and Hinsdale Central (twice). OPRF's lack of tournaments afterwards prevented them from facing stronger competition, but they finished 2nd at Fenton Masonic Sectionals to Hinsdale Central and took the conference championship home after finally defeating Hinsdale Central. In the IHSA State series, OPRF won a tight regional match against York and ended up winning the subsequent sectional over Hinsdale Central. At IHSA State, OPRF defeated Carbondale before losing to both Auburn and University (Normal), finishing T-5th.

2017-2018

In 2018, OPRF placed 5th in a competitive Loyola Ultima field. OPRF advanced to Masonic State and placed T-5th, but failed to advance to IHSA State after a close loss to Latin.

All-Sectional and All-State selections

• 2007: John Binder was All-Sectional and second team All-State
• 2008, 2009: Charlie Carbery was All-Sectional
• 2010: Ben Carbery was All-Sectional
• 2017: Anishka Bandara was All-Sectional

Playing for Team Illinois

• Ben Carbery (2010-2011)
• Anishka Bandara (2017)
• Kevin Kodama (2017)

Notable Tournament Performances

• 1993: IHSA 4th place
• 2006, 2008, 2009: IHSA Regional champion
• 2009: 2nd place at Naperville Central varsity tournament, 2nd place at Wheaton North frosh/soph tournament
• 2010: Ben Carbery was a finalist at Scobol Solo; team placed 4th at Wheaton North's IHSSBCA Kickoff site, 3rd at New Trier Varsity, 3rd at NAQT Illinois State Tournament
• 2015: 3rd place at IHSSBCA Kickoff at Fenwick, 1st place in standard division at Loyola Ultima XVII (as Pine Garden Stream Woods), 1st place at Masonic Sectionals at Fenwick.
• 2016: 3rd place at IHSSBCA Kickoff at Fenwick, 3rd place in Uber division at Loyola Ultima XVIII, 4th place at ATROPHY.
• 2017: Kevin Kodama finished 2nd place at Scobol Solo.
• 2018: Kevin Kodama finished 1st place at Scobol Solo.

Current Roster

A Team

• Kevin Kodama (junior, captain)
• Christian Steinhofer (senior)
• Casey Ford (junior)
• Ari Schwartz (junior)
• Emma Lofgren (junior)

B Team

• Gordon Anderson (junior)
• Cullen McAndrews (senior)
• Eamon McAndrews (junior)
• Gia (freshman)
• PJ (senior)

Alumni

• John Binder (2007)
• Ben Carbery (2009-2011)
• Arjun Rawal (2012-2016)
• Ethan Mertz (2012-2016)
• Noah Banholzer (2012-2016)
• Anishka Bandara (2013-2017)
• Sanjeev Venkatesan (2013-2017)
• Cole Tamondong (2016-2017)
• Jon Niewijk (2012-2017)
• Warren Scales-Burgos (2014-2017)
• Jon Panton (2013-2014, 2016-2017)