Libertyville’s Buesing prepares to head (farther) north

When he leaves work each day, Libertyville cross country coach Mark Buesing crosses the state border to his home in Bristol, Wis.

In three months, the science teacher will really be crossing the border.

Buesing is traveling to Greenland for two weeks in April to participate in NASA’s Operation IceBridge, a six-year mission to map polar ice in unprecedented detail to better understand processes that connect the polar regions with the global climate system.

Operation IceBridge utilizes a highly-specialized fleet of research aircraft and the most sophisticated suite of innovative science instruments ever assembled.

The mission is to characterize annual changes in the sea ice, glaciers and ice sheets.

In addition, IceBridge collects critical data used to predict the response of the earth’s polar ice to climate change and resulting sea level rise.

IceBridge also helps bridge the gap in polar observations between NASA’s satellite missions.

Buesing applied to be part of the research team through PolarTREC, which pairs K-12 teachers with polar researchers.

Their mission is education outreach and polar science education. “PolarTREC and I share many of the same goals, chief among them is to get students interested in science, technology, math, and science (STEM) careers,” Buesing said in a Libertyville High School release.

He was alerted to the program by a former student who is now an oceanographer with the US Antarctic Program.

Buesing is one of only 15 teachers chosen from an applicant pool of about 300 to participate in polar projects around the globe.

They operate out of the former US Airbase at Kangerlussuaq (Sondrestrom).

Kangerlussuaq is also home to Greenland’s most diverse fauna, including muskox, caribou, and falcons.

Buesing, who is also an avid runner, said he plans on running every day, but added, “Wikipedia said that you should never pass above a muskox, as they take that as a threat. I plan on keeping that in mind while out running,” he said with a smile.

In 2000, Volkswagen built a 19-mile long gravel road in Kangerlussuaq between the ocean and the ice sheet to be used as a test track.

The project was abandoned in 2006.

“It’s the only place in the world that a road takes you right to the ice sheet,” Buesing said. “It should be a good run, too, although I might have to hire a taxi to get back.”

Much of Buesing’s day will be spent in a P-3B Orion, flying over Greenland’s ice sheet and glaciers mapping the ice with laser altimeters, ice-penetrating radar, magnetometers, and gravimeters, to mention a few.

The rest of his day is spent blogging, video journaling, updating social media sites, and connecting with his classroom.

Buesing will also connect to his own children’s elementary school.

“If any teachers want to participate, they should contact me,” he said. “I hope to make this experience valuable to as many students as possible.”

Women’s basketball

Concordia-Wisconsin senior Tiffany Hendrickson (Carmel) scored her 1,000th career point and the Falcons earned the 500th win in program history with a 70-46 victory over Dominican.

Hendrickson, who came into the game with 990 points, scored 4 points in the first half and scored her 1,000th point 2:30 into the second half.

She finished the game with 12 points and 3 rebounds.

Women’s hockey

Minnesota senior Megan Bozek is among 11 nominees for the 2013 BNY Mellon Hockey Humanitarian Award.

Bozek, a 2009 graduate of Stevenson High School, is tied for 10th nationally in scoring and third on Minnesota’s team which is ranked No. 1 in the nation with a 24-0-0 record.

For the 18th consecutive year, the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation is honoring college players whose efforts have helped their communities.

Finalists for the award will be announced in February, and the 2013 recipient will be recognized in a ceremony on Friday April 12th as part of the 2013 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four in Pittsburgh, PA.

As a sophomore Bozek ranked second in the nation in points by a defenseman with 42 points (first among players to play at defenseman all season).

She was a first-team All-American and finished her junior campaign ranked fourth in the Minnesota record book for career points (89) and fourth in career goals (27).

Bozek was a member of the U.S. Under-18 Team that won the gold medal in 2009.

Lacrosse

Libertyville senior Madison Stoneman will continue her education and lacrosse career at Augustana. She will join coach Sara Tisdale’s Vikings in the spring of 2014.

The 5-foot-4 center and midfielder enters her senior season having already earned two varsity letters in coach Katie Lettinga’s Libertyville program.

As a junior, she was an All-North Suburban Conference selection after scoring 35 goals and dishing out 5 assists for the 10-7 Wildcats.

She controlled 42 draws, collected 28 ground balls and had 5 interceptions.

Lettinga describes Stoneman as “hardworking, resilient, driven, flexible and coachable.”

The Libertyville coach adds, “She has grown exponentially” and “has become an ambidextrous player capable of shooting under pressure with nearly unmatched finesse in the 8-meter.”

As a sophomore, Stoneman had 14 ground balls, eight caused turnovers and three draw controls for a Libertyville club that went 11-8 and finished fourth in the 2011 Illinois state tournament. She competes at the club level for Wildcat Elite.

An honor roll student, Stoneman is a four-year student council member, serving as Vice President this year. She’s involved in numerous charitable organizations, including Habitat for Humanity, Lake County Soup Kitchen and Make-A-Wish Foundation, for whom she served as a project coordinator. She plans on pursuing a major in communication studies or business administration at Augustana.

Stoneman joins a Viking program that completed its first season of intercollegiate competition in 2012. Augustana finished with a 15-3 record and led the nation in both scoring offense and scoring margin.

After competing as an independent last year, the Vikings will join the Midwest Women’s Lacrosse Conference for the 2013 season.

Men’s track and field

Augustana tied for first place in the eight-team Olivet Nazarene Invitational, which featured four schools from the scholarship NAIA and four from the non-scholarship NCAA Division III.

Augustana’s Kyle Williams (Lake Zurich) took sixth with 3722 points in the heptathlon.

The Vikings’ Andrew Lulis (Lake Zurich) and Will Lardner (Mundelein) tied for sixth in the pole vault by clearing 13 feet, 11¼ inches.

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