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Marmion welcomes DeGeeter back, says goodbye to Chivari

Ed DeGeeter isn't the type to seek attention. Nearly one year ago to this day he got all he ever could have wanted.

It's a good thing he doesn't remember much about it.

Marmion Academy's shot put and discus coach, last May 23 DeGeeter was helping run the shot put competition at the Class 3A Bartlett boys track sectional, which was held at Elgin High School. During warm-up throws he was standing to the right of the throwing sector talking with another coach and checking marks on his clipboard, a good eight feet from the foul line. An errant shot - a 12-pound metal sphere - struck DeGeeter on the left side of his forehead, around the hairline.

After a 20-minute delay to minister to the fallen coach, bloodied but conscious he left the field in an ambulance despite his protests.

It was a good thing he went. Initially listed in critical condition, at Elgin's Presence St. Joseph Hospital it was discovered he'd suffered a fractured skull. He was placed in intensive care and remained there two days before moving to a regular floor.

Six days after the accident DeGeeter returned to his Naperville home to continue recuperating.

The story quickly broke nationally. Also a coach for the Aurora Flyers, a youth squad that competes on the Amateur Athletic Union and United States Track and Field circuits, DeGeeter had friends and contacts from Champaign to Baltimore to Louisiana.

Once he was well enough to speak from his hospital bed he faced cameras and reporters seeking comment about an accident that, in other cases, has killed people.

Before the Kane County boys meet this May at Geneva, he was asked if he thought about that day.

"No, not really. As I kind of said, I don't really remember much," he said.

"I'm probably a little bit more safety conscious of everybody, not just me - spectators, and I (coach) youth kids, too, younger than high school. So I'm making everybody more aware of the area and stuff like that. But I'm usually pretty good at doing that anyway ..."

Reflecting back a year, he recalled his pleasure at Marmion thrower Luke Juriga's 2014 state qualification in shot put, and said he slowly got back to coaching with the Flyers and then with Marmion's football team as an assistant.

A big man with a quiet manner, the accident seems to have rolled off DeGeeter's broad back. At the Suburban Christian Conference boys track meet May 12 at Marmion he was again officiating the shot put. He stood to the right of the sector, head up, quick to admonish Cadets shot putters when they were not focused on the event.

"People like to get up close and watch," he said. "You always get the occasional newspaper cameraman, or parents are filming; because you're filming you're not focused on the implement. And I've seen some close calls even with officials working the event, and myself included. And we're paying attention."

Say it ain't so

The man who accompanied DeGeeter to the hospital that day last May, Joe Chivari, is calling it a career as Marmion's athletic director. He bowed out at the SCC boys track meet, which ended with the Cadets closing the book on the soon-disbanded conference with their 11th straight championship.

Chivari is returning to the history classroom after 15 years as Marmion's athletic director. He will be succeeded as athletic director by current director of Student Affairs Andy Damato.

"I met a lot of great athletes, parents and coaches who made the job enjoyable," said Chivari, who started full-time at Marmion in the 1983-84 academic year.

"For me, the satisfaction I experienced came from helping Marmion athletics continue its history of success," he said. "Winning numerous conference championships and taking home seven IHSA trophies in 15 years is a pretty good run. Most important and satisfying was helping Marmion athletes grow into confident and successful men."

Typically offering a wide grin and firm handshake and lending a fun and relaxed air to the Marmion press box, Chivari will be missed.

All for one

Speaking for Rosary's Maddie Saloga, St. Charles East sisters Allison and Elizabeth Chmelik and track relay runners everywhere, Batavia senior Audrey Yonke said that to go along you've got to get along.

"We all get along, we're all there to help and support each other no matter what happens, in school or out of school," Batavia's sprint captain said of herself and relay mates Tori Ortiz, Catie Ross and Hannah Schlaman, headed to Charleston for this weekend's Class 3A girls state meet in Charleston. They qualified as a unit in the 400- and 800-meter relays.

"I think it helps that we're all friends, we all genuinely like each other. It makes the PRs (personal records) in the relay that much better," she said Wednesday before attending Batavia's graduation ceremony at Northern Illinois University's Convocation Center in DeKalb.

This support and connection, or the intuition of the Saints' Chmelik twins, can't be underestimated when attempting to do the simplest yet most important function of a relay - getting that baton around the track within the rules and without it dropping. All things equal, the smoothest exchanges win the race.

"Half the battle is getting the baton within that zone, between the triangles," said Yonke, who only has to deal with the baton exchange once, running the leadoff leg on each of her two relays.

Communication is the key, and to hone a more perfect union Yonke said they work on relay exchanges twice a week to unfurl the kinks. Part of what helped Batavia get those relays downstate - the Bulldogs also qualified their 1,600 relay while winning their first sectional title in history last week - is inherent familiarity. Three of the four relay mates returned from last year, with freshman phenom Tori Ortiz succeeding the graduated Taylor Stieve.

Batavia coach Justin Allison called Yonke one of the most improved athletes on the team. That's to be expected considering as a freshman she had six stress fractures in her left foot. Can't do much with that. Since a healthy return to the active roster starting her sophomore year, she'll run anywhere from the 100 to the 400 depending on Allison's lineup.

"We do what we're asked to do and try to do our best," said Yonke, who looks to run with a club or in intramurals at the University of Minnesota.

While the girls Class 1A preliminaries already started Thursday morning, the Class 2A and 3A teams trickled into Charleston, checked into their rooms and then headed to O'Brien Stadium for some practice run-throughs before they compete Friday.

The big blue oval will contrast nicely with the sight of four Batavia teammates working as one.

"Being on a relay is like being on a small team within your team," Yonke said. "You have to work together to get the points for your team, it's not just you getting the points yourself."

Taking their talents North

Inspired by other high school football programs - and an idea from the St. Charles North football program's own book club! - North Stars head varsity coach Rob Pomazak presided over the program's first incoming freshman signing day Thursday night.

Pomazak took what could be the usual preseason meeting in which parents can learn about the program, get the calendar and order stuff and added a twist to welcome the youngest charges.

"It's the first time we've done it and we wanted to do it since I got the program," said Pomazak, who on Thursday kicks off his third season heading the North Stars, who last year scored their first playoff appearance since 2009.

"It's probably one of the best things we've ever done."

In addition to crossing all the preseason Ts and dotting the Is, the plan was to gather incoming freshmen football players at a table in the school's small gym for a mock signing to St. Charles North, "welcoming them into our program," Pomazak said.

The idea was launched by seniors among the approximately 25 players who met Fridays during the off season to discuss chapters from Bruce Brown's "Captains - 7 Ways to Lead Your Team."

Pomazak said while looking at social media feeds from other coaches he followed, other football programs had taken the freshman signing day tact as well to make the boys feel part of the school, they and their parents part of the greater community.

To "make them feel special," Pomazak said.

"We're going to ask them to dedicate four years of their lives to our program," he said. "It's a big commitment and we want our kids to feel pretty good about it."

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

Follow Dave on Twitter @doberhelman1

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