St. Mary of Huntley Knights name local champions for soccer challenge

On Sept. 13, the St. Mary of Huntley Knights of Columbus Council held the annual Soccer Challenge at Deicke Park in Huntley for youth, age 9-14.

This event was free to all participants, allowing them to demonstrate their soccer goal kicking skills.

This event is sponsored annually, with winners progressing through local, district and state competitions. International champions are announced by the Knights of Columbus international headquarters based in New Haven, Conn., on scores from state level competitions. All contestants on the local level were recognized for their participation.

The boy's champions were Lake in the Hills resident Javan Wipperfurth for 9-year-olds; Algonquin resident Carter Swim for the 10-year-olds; Lake in the Hills resident Patrick Kumm for the 11-year-olds; and Huntley resident Joshua Johansen was the champion for the 12-year-olds.

For the girls, Huntley resident Gina Cutrona was the 9-year-old champion while Lake in the Hills resident Kyra Swartz was the champion for the 12-year-olds with Huntley resident Amanda Guerra as the 12-year-old champion and Huntley resident Avery Fitzgerald, the champion for the 13-year-old girls.

The Knights of Columbus is an international Catholic family fraternal service organization with nearly 1.8 million members in over 14,000 local councils. Last year, Knights donated 70 million volunteer hours and $167 million in charitable and benevolent causes, sponsoring projects to benefit their church, councils, communities, families and youth.