Kaneland's 2-sport standout Jurcenko honored for academics

Madi Jurcenko captured the spirit of the winter awards season.

"It was an honor to be nominated," said the humble Kaneland senior.

An all-state doubles tennis player and already a three-year starter on the varsity girls soccer team, Madison "Madi" Jurcenko earned honorable mention selection to the Illinois High School Association All-State Academic Team presented by Caterpillar. Recipients were announced Feb. 17.

(Incidentally, Caterpillar's CEO is Doug Oberhelman, believed to be unrelated to this writer except for the occasional mistakenly received mail. But enough about that; suffice to say no dividends were claimed in the mailing of this correspondence.)

The All-State Academic Team consists of 26 student-athletes, 13 girls and 13 boys, taken from a pool of nominees solicited from all IHSA-member schools. In addition to demonstrating "outstanding citizenship," the IHSA announcement stated, nominees needed to have at least a 3.50 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale and to have participated in two IHSA activities each of the last two years of high school. Nominations were evaluated by a committee of IHSA principals, athletic directors and activities directors.

Honorable Mention Team members like Jurcenko were taken from the pool of nominees outside of the 26 First Team selections.

"I'm glad that I made honorable mention," she said. "That was rewarding enough."

Hey, you can't be No. 1 in every class, a distinction Jurcenko said her 4.167 GPA claims among Kaneland High classmates. Her run to valedictorian, dependent upon a continued stream of A-grades these last few months, is tenuous despite Madi's obvious smarts; she said her closest competitor for the honor is just one-one thousandth of a point behind her.

Jurcenko said she was nominated by Kaneland athletic director Peter Goff and counselor Erin Shore. Kaneland's boys nominee was track and cross country runner Andrew Lesak.

Jurcenko said she inherited the ability to retain information from her father, Steve. From her mother, Michelle, among other things Madi receives ... Espanol. Michelle Jurcenko is Kaneland's sole advanced-placement Spanish teacher and, well, Madi needed AP Spanish.

"I didn't even know this (award) existed," Madi said. "My mom, I saw her one day in school and she said, 'Hey, you got nominated for this.' I didn't even know."

Her qualifications spoke for themselves.

She's qualified for the state tennis tournament all four years, the last three with doubles partner Angelica Emmanouil. Sectional doubles champions at St. Charles East last fall, the senior duo won its first four matches in the front draw then lost to eventual champions Vinaya Rao and Katherine Harvey of Stevenson. The Jurcenko-Emmanouil ticket finished in the top 12.

Jurcenko's older sister, Lindsey, and Amelia Napiorkowski were the first Kaneland players to qualify for the girls state tournament, in 2010, also in doubles. As a freshman, Madi qualified with Napiorkowski.

This spring Jurcenko said she will vie for a fourth straight Northern Illinois Big XII all-conference soccer honor at midfield.

"Tryouts start Monday," said Jurcenko, who was born in Ohio, moved to Savannah, Georgia, and then to Copenhagen, Denmark, due to her father's job transfers. The family arrived in Elburn when Madi started fourth grade.

Tennis and soccer satisfied the All-State Academic Team's requirements for participation. Jurcenko clinched the nomination with a wealth of activities outside of sports.

At Kaneland she said she's part of the school's Mathlete Team, participates in the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering club and Ski Club, and has been a member of the National Honor Society the last two academic years.

She plays in the handbell choir at Hosanna! Lutheran Church in St. Charles every week, and for the past two years has volunteered weekly at Marklund in Geneva, which serves people with developmental disabilities and special needs.

"Me and a couple other volunteers take one of the residents out to Target, sometimes the movies, Meijer's, to a community outing," she said. "We go walk around, watch a movie or whatever, so they get out of the house for a couple hours."

Volunteering with profoundly disabled people isn't for everyone. Jurcenko admitted it took some getting use to.

"But you realize they're just like you," she said, "they just need a little more help."

That realization rubbed off in her college and career choices, it sounds like, and along with some influence by sister's college curriculum.

Lindsay Jurcenko is a senior in the pharmacy program at University of Findlay in Ohio. Madi has been accepted into Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. She'll embark in the physician's assistant program, graduating with a master's degree.

A small college like Findlay, Gannon has no women's or men's tennis teams and if Madi plays soccer it'll be on an intramural basis. That is just fine with her.

"I have a plan," she said.

She'll get out of school in five years with the ability, she said, "to do everything a doctor can except open my own practice."

For this brainiac, that's a no-brainer.

"It'll be really nice," Jurcenko said, "and less stressful."

On the same page

Once competitors, Loyola juniors Jake Mazanke (St. Charles East) and Peter Archibald (Geneva) now run on the same men's track team.

The twosome enter this weekend's Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track & Field Championship at Northern Iowa ranked Nos. 1-3 in the conference in the 800-meter run. Both earned their top times at the Meyo Invitational on Feb. 6 at Notre Dame - Mazanke at 1 minute, 48.57 seconds, Archibald at 1:49.53. A couple weeks later they helped the Ramblers' distance relay secure the Valley's top time thus far, 9:34.14.

There's actually fair local representation at the MVC meet, including Southern Illinois freshman Kyle Carter (Kaneland) - also in that men's 800 - plus Illinois State freshman David Curnock (Batavia), Loyola junior Sydney Stuenkel (St. Charles North), Illinois State junior Kelly McShea (St. Francis) and more. Check out the heat sheets here.

Meanwhile, in Division III, Augustana's men hold the top time in the country in the 1,600-meter relay. Anchoring that time of an even 3:16, run Feb. 20, in Dubuque is the oft-decorated, oft-cited Batavia graduate David Voland, now a senior. Voland also currently ranks eighth in the 400 dash (49.16).

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

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