So much to catch up on from summer gone by

It feels so good to be back here. We're going to play a little thing called, stuff that happened this summer.

Brainiac spikers

In August, Batavia girls volleyball coach Lori Trippi-Payne alerted us that the American Volleyball Coaches Association cited the Bulldogs among 228 girls programs nationwide to receive the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2013-14 season. Registering a cumulative 3.97 grade-point average, it is the 20th time Batavia has earned this honor in the 22 years the AVCA has awarded it.

The Bulldogs were not alone. St. Charles North's boys team also made the grade, one of 27 nationwide. All had to have compiled a cumulative team grade-point average of 3.3 on a 4-point scale or 4.1 on a 5-point scale.

Audrey the magnificent

We wrote last spring about one of those Batavia volleyball players, Audrey Faulhaber, who won the Amateur Athletic Union's High School Sullivan Award honoring athleticism, character, leadership and all those other student-athlete qualities. Among her deeds was setting up an event called Athletes Against Hunger that in the summer of 2013 collected more than 1,200 food items for the Batavia Interfaith Food Pantry.

Faulhaber, a setter, graduated and is now playing at St. Olaf College. Before she left, though, she upped the ante with Athletes Against Hunger. This summer she recruited volleyball, girls soccer and girls tennis players to go door to door with donation bags provided by two local stores and set up a table in front of the high school for donations. She also staked out a farmers market, gaining $290 in cash donations.

Trippi-Payne said they were still counting the goods when the initial shipment was delivered to the food pantry, but by that time Athletes Against Hunger donated 2,436 food items.

All-star Spartans

It was a big summer of impressive international performances for St. Francis volleyball players past and present.

Junior outside hitter Molly Haggerty made the United States Junior Women's National Team, for which St. Francis 2001 graduate Erin Virtue served as an assistant coach. At the NORCECA Under-20 Continental Championship in Guatemala the Americans took gold to qualify them into the 2015 World Championship in Turkey.

Jeff Jendryk, a 2014 St. Francis grad now playing for defending Division I champion Loyola, made the U.S. Men's Junior National Team. From July 28-Aug. 5 the men competed at the NORCECA U-21 Continental Championship in El Salvador and took home the bronze after defeating Puerto Rico. Jendryk, a middle blocker on the U.S. squad, hasn't been playing the sport for much more than three years.

Usual suspect Kelsay Robinson, a 2010 St. Francis graduate, started at outside hitter for the U.S. Women's National Team at the FIVB World Grand Prix, held in three locations: Turkey, Brazil and Thailand. The Americans finished 5-4 and in fifth in the conclusion of the preliminary round, but they enter the FIVB World Championship ranked second in the world behind Brazil. Robinson is on the 22-player preliminary roster for that event, aiming to be among the 14 women chosen.

Cool in the pool

A little before the start of classes a missive came in from Evanston High School, where Wildkits swim and water polo coach Kevin Auger compiled his girls swimming preseason rankings for teams and individuals.

Auger rated Rosary behind only Loyola. He put St. Charles East at No. 10 in his top 25, and Rob Rooney's St. Charles North team among the "best of the rest."

The Rosary assessment jibes with that of Daily Herald correspondent Darryl Mellema, who in Friday's swimming preview quoted Beads coach Bill Schalz saying that after last year's ninth-place finish, with the team's newcomers and its summer performances Rosary has a shot at the state title.

Auger cited several local swimmers among the best in their events: senior Erin Hart, junior Annie Gosselin and sophomore Alexis Yager of Rosary; and St. Charles East junior Jordan Morling. Darryl has a huge batch of them.

Cream of the crop

Goalkeeper Stephanie Rodriguez of Batavia and midfielder Marissa Bosco of St. Charles North helped their club soccer team, Eclipse Select Under-17, win the championship of the Elite Clubs National League in July in Richmond, Va. Both were selected to Top Drawer Soccer's ECNL Best XI of the tournament.

Big Butts no joke

West Aurora held its 16th annual Battle of the Big Butts lineman challenge on July 17 at the school, and it gained a measure of national attention. Sports Illustrated magazine wrote a brief on it for its Scorecard section of the July 28 edition.

The article mentioned and quoted the event's co-founder, West Aurora offensive line coach Mike Powers: "It all starts up front," he said.

The bit also quoted Batavia coach Dennis Piron, noting the Bulldogs won the Class 6A title last fall after his linemen won the Big Butts in the summer.

"Some coaches think the linemen stuff is a joke," SI quoted Piron, "but I think it's pretty important. If you dominate in the 7-on-7s, and your linemen kick butt in their challenges, you've got a good thing going."

Movin' on up

Last we wrote about Aurora Christian graduate Alec Eickert, he was kicking for Taylor University. In August his father, Chuck, informed us Alec achieved one of his main goals when he transferred to a Division I program, Oregon.

Alec must sit out this year but he'll have eligibility in both 2015 and 2016. As his father noted, he has three years to train at one of the country's top facilities before attempting to clinch another huge goal of his, that of an NFL job.

Glove love

This last item doesn't necessarily pertain to high school athletes, but it could.

The Bulls/Sox Academy, headquartered in Lisle with other outlets in Glen Ellyn and LaGrange, is operating its fifth annual "Gift of Glove" campaign through Sept. 21. New and used baseball gloves will be donated to the Inner City Youth Baseball League in Chicago.

Each participant who donates a glove gets a voucher for 15 minutes of free hitting at one of the Bulls/Sox Academy locations. The individual who donates the most gloves, at each of the three locations, will win four tickets to the final White Sox regular season game on Sept. 28. Those lucky souls will also get to meet Sox center fielder Adam Eaton, provided he didn't just crash into an outfield wall, and receive an autographed bat.

Glove donors can check BullsSoxAcademy.com for glove drop-off hours and directions to each training facility

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

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