Antioch's DeJong earns scholar-athlete acclaim
Former Antioch standout Paul DeJong has excelled in the classroom and on the diamond during his collegiate career in Normal.
His efforts have hardly gone unrecognized, as the Illinois State redshirt sophomore second baseman was the lone unanimous selection on the 2014 Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Scholar-Athlete First Team.
DeJong, who also received the MVC Elite 18 Award after the Redbirds won their way into the championship game of the 2014 MVC Tournament, has amassed a 3.79 cumulative grade-point average in bio-chemistry while starting 54 of ISU's 55 games.
He led the Redbirds with a .349 batting average, a .596 slugging percentage and a .430 on-base percentage, including a team-best 48 RBI, 44 runs scored and 76 hits.
DeJong also led ISU in doubles (21) and home runs (9) while matching a team-high with 3 triples.
At second base, he earned a .960 fielding percentage.
Baseball
Anthony Orlando (Lake Zurich) finished his season with the Illinois State University Club baseball team by hitting .535 with 12 doubles, 2 homers and 31 RBI.
He was selected as one of 16 players across the country to compete in the DeMarini Longball Challenge which is a home run derby competition over Memorial Day Weekend at the University of Tampa, the site of the National Club Baseball Association World Series.
Orlando was also named to the Great Lakes All-Region first team as an outfielder.
Women's lacrosse
Augustana's Emily Handrahan (Lake Zurich) earned second-team all-conference honors for the Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference.
In its third season of competition, Augustana turned in its best campaign finishing 19-1 with the lone loss coming against defending national champion, Salisbury, in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III national tournament. Augustana is 51-8 after three seasons of competition.
Dunne named All-American
Davenport junior shortstop KC Dunne (Buffalo Grove) was named to the NFCA NAIA all-American team, marking the second straight season a Panther made the top team selected by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
Dunne, who was named the WHAC Player of the Year, set single season school records for batting average (. 483) and triples (6) while posting stellar marks in slugging (. 801) and on-base percentage (. 533). She finished with 18 doubles to go along with six home runs and a team leading 47 RBI.
Dunne earned her spot as an at-large representative.
Closing bell
Thanks for reading Sports Notes this past school year.
We will be back next fall to check up on our local collegiate athletes for the 2014-15 school year.
Have a nice summer!
• Please email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com.