Regardless of how many trophies in the trophy cases or plaques on the walls, Jones teams have expressed just how competitive they can get. Unlike other schools who unite against one rival, Jones’ sports teams all have their own rivals and their own reasons for wanting to beat those rivals.

“Simeon is our biggest rival,” said baseball player Will Oppenheim ‘17. “When we play them we start screwing up and they beat us by very little.”

Oppenheim expresses that aside from playing very close, competitive games against Simeon, their coach is also a “jerk” which fires them up more.

Boys cross country have a friendly rivalry against St. Ignatius. The winning team of the St Ignatius vs. Jones College Prep meet takes home a wooden Sears Tower traveling trophy.

“It’s for bragging rights,” said cross country coach Andrew Adelmann. “This rivalry is more of a public vs. private battle and more of a healthy rivalry.”

The girls cross country team has a rivalry with Whitney Young, one that is fueled with the proximity, and similar skill level between the schools.

“We pinpoint Whitney girls in races,” said Emma Wilson ‘17. “And try to pick them off and get ahead of them.”

When they are racing with girls from Whitney, there is a competitive fire that is sparked in the girls so that they run harder, and faster.

The Varsity girls soccer team has slowly gained a reputation for being one of the better teams in the public school league’s highest division, the Premier Division. Before, Whitney Young was known as the top team, and now the Jones girls have started to give the Dolphins a fight.

“We went from losing 4-2 my freshman year to almost tying them, but lost 2-1 last year.” said goalkeeper Carly Klein ‘17.

Despite not having beaten them yet, Klein feels that this could be the year. As the games have become closer and more intense, a rivalry has started to brew between the two schools.

The varsity girls softball team also has a feud with Washington. The Lady Eagles are always competing against Washington, and occasionally Ag Science, for the top place in the conference. The games against Washington have been super close, but Jones has only been able to win two games against them in the past three years. The softball team has added new players and they look to beat Washington this year.

“We are expecting to play harder teams more often,” said Nicole Zapotoczny ‘17. “We are going to be prepared to fight in a game against Washington.”

The team has good chemistry, so they give pep talks that mentally prepare each other for the games.

“There is more of an incentive when we play Washington,” said Vanessa Gonzalez ‘17. “It builds up our morale, and it helps us bond with each other, and as a team.”

The softball team is looking forward to a game against their rivals, as they feel that they will be able to compete and beat them.

Girls water polo has an intense rivalry with Whitney Young. In 2016, Young brought the girls water polo team to tears as they beat them in a nail biting city championship game. Holly Beith-Mangrum ‘18 said everyone on the team was crying and they were all really upset. The water polo team now works extremely hard to make sure they get to the city championship this year and beat Whitney Young in a rematch.

“Now our entire season is centered around winning city,” said Beith-Mangrum.

Nassim Oulhadj ’18 also expressed that days before games against Lane Tech are different for the team.

The boys water polo team has a feuding rivalry with Lane Tech and the teams go head to head intensely in every match.  “The day before, we would work on team specific things such as better positioning if we know a team’s strengths and weaknesses.”

Oulhadj also said that nights before their games against Lane Tech, they try to sleep well and eat right. On game days, the team tries to focus and get into a serious mindset.

Whitney Young is a common rival for a lot of Jones teams. The golf team has been competing with Whitney for the city championship for a long time now. Jones won the city championship in 2015 however, Whitney Young won in 2016.

“Our coaches are close so we know how to approach them and how to play them best,” said Patrick Mattar ‘19.

Boys volleyball is also rivals with Whitney Young. Boys volleyball captain, Michael Diaz ‘17, explained that when he first started at Jones his freshman year, the program was not as strong as it is now. More recently, the boys volleyball team has been able to compete with Whitney and are fueled by the idea of being able to knock a team like Whitney out of the running for the City championships.

“When we beat Whitney in city playoffs last year, we couldn’t stop talking about how we beat them despite being ranked several seeds below them” said Diaz.

Boys tennis is combating with Lincoln Park, and they would consider them their rival. When the team is playing Lincoln Park, they always want to play harder so that they can beat them.

“When we play Lincoln Park we are actually mentally weaker,” said Ethan Greenberg ’17. “This means that we are going to have to play harder.”