The Times of Northwest Indiana

12 photos
HARVEY | There are home meets, and then there are HOME meets. Nobody was more at home at Saturday's Thornton Classic than Thornton senior Maurice Buchanan. The long-jumper, high-jumper and jack-of-all trades sprinter lives in the blue house bordering the south end of Thornton's football stadium, so close that the Wildcats' locker room is farther from the finish line than his own bedroom. "He's about as Harvey as can be," Thornton track coach Vince McAuliffe said. "He's true-blue Thornton. He bleeds purple, and growing up in that house, he's been listening to me yell at people for 12 years." Buchanan, a state qualifier in the long jump last year and a member of Thornton's Class 3A third-place finishers as a sophomore, is rarely McAuliffe's target. Saturday, as Thornton (129 points) finished second to Evanston (167) at the seven-team classic, Buchanan won the long jump in a season-best 22 feet, 7 inches, finished second in the high jump (6-0) and ran in the finals of the 100 meters and the third leg of the Wildcats' winning 1,600-meter relay. When the state series begins, he'll likely compete in the two jumps, the 400 relay and the 800 relay.
5/4/2013
Album ID: 1649237
Photos by John Smierciak

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SOUTH HOLLAND | Sometimes a close game will wake up a team like a bucket of cold water in the face. That is what No. 2 seed Bloom Township is hoping as it got a wake-up call Tuesday in one semifinal of the Class 4A Thornwood Regional. The Blazing Trojans got it together in the fourth quarter for a 51-36 win against upset-minded Thornwood and play in Friday's title game against the winner of tonight's Lincoln-Way North-Minooka game.
2/26/2013
Album ID: 1617505
Photos by John Smierciak

12 photos
The 2012/2013 Thornwood High School boys cross country practice at the school in South Holland on Wednesday, October 24, 2012.
10/24/2012
Album ID: 1555898
Photos by Jonathan Miano

13 photos
Thornwood boys basketball team beat Andrew 57-55 in Tinley Park, Il. Johnte Shannon hit the game winner with 11.5 seconds left in the game.
2/21/2012
Album ID: 1420886
Photos by John Smierciak