Wheaton North's first is its second

Wheaton North's DuPage Valley Conference title in girls volleyball amounted to a double bonus.

"We had always thought we never won one," said 19-year coach Carole Kristensen.

The Falcons' three-game win over DVC title contender Waubonsie Valley actually was Wheaton North's second conference title, its first a share of the lead in 1985. The Oct. 22 match, however, gave Wheaton North its first outright conference title at 7-1.

"It's surreal. The girls worked really hard for it," said Kristensen, who in 1985 was playing at Northern Illinois University. Her roommate, incidentally, was Gina Graf, who went on to marry current Geneva football coach Rob Wicinski.

"It's a work in progress," Kristensen said. "It goes from especially last year's (25-9) team that really concentrated on work ethic and working together as a team. Even more so this year with the addition of the new (District 204) teams."

In beating one of them, Waubonsie Valley, the Falcons got the usual 1-2 punch of the Tiesman twins, Abby and Gracie, 21 assists from Elle Holland and 11 kills from Haley Horner among a long list of contributors.

Abby Tiesman missed five weeks this season with shin splints. She and libero Allie Maloney missed the Falcons' sole DVC loss to Naperville North.

Wheaton North (21-13) continued its success Tuesday with a two-game win over West Aurora at the Class 4A St. Francis regional. For their efforts on Thursday the Falcons get the top-seeded Spartans, who seek their fourth straight state championship and 12th overall.

Along with a confidence-raising win over Naperville North at the Mizuno Cup, Kristensen credited the Falcons' form to the addition of the D204 schools and a nonconference schedule that included Benet, Batavia, Sandburg and St. Charles East.

"We have a very tough schedule, and we needed to in order to prepare these girls," she said. "We wanted them to be competitive and going into the playoffs we needed to have them in those situations."

Making the jump

Changes are afoot in the Lake Park boys and girls track and field programs.

Brian Hesik has resigned his position as girls coach for personal reasons, Lake Park athletic director Pete Schauer said.

Tom Kaberna, a 2013 Pasquini Award honoree by the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Assocation as one of the state's top assistant coaches, will take over the girls program.

A horizontal jumps specialist for Lancers boys coach Jay Ivory, Kaberna coached state champions Zach Ziemek, Scott Filip, Marcus Jegede and Shawn Koch during Lake Park's state championship reign from 2010-13.

Other staff positions may change but details won't be available until the District 108 Board meeting on Nov. 23.

Goal achieved

Before the golf season began St. Francis boys coach Greg Baresel had the goal of competing for a state trophy. Not to set them up, but at this rate the biggest prize is all that's left.

Moving from eighth place in Class 2A in 2013 to fifth last season, the Spartans' second-place Class 2A finish Oct. 17 at Weibring Golf Club in Normal continued the climb for a program that prior to this run hadn't gone downstate since 1994.

"This was our third trip down in the last three years, so I feel our experience really helped us finish in second place. It is something the kids will never forget," Baresel said.

As Baresel hinted, this experience is something sophomores like Luke Armbrust and Ryan Keefe and junior Kevin Doherty will put in their memory bank for future seasons.

Armbrust, tied for 18th individually, was just four strokes off all-state senior Jonathan Nocek's two-day round of 150, which tied for seventh. Seniors Conor Reinke and Connor Buckley, a co-captain with Nocek, completed the downstate team.

St. Francis' ascent seems to be less a coincidence and more the confluence of Baresel with boys who love the sport. A Gilberts resident and 2003 Dundee-Crown graduate, Baresel is a teaching professional at Wheaton's Cantigny Golf Club. Golf Digest has rated the Spartans' fourth-year coach on its list of best golf teachers in Illinois. Entry-level competitors are his biggest clientele.

Baresel's online information notes his use of physics in his methods, but swing visualization and psychology also has its place whether filling out a team or simply never giving up.

"To have a good team you (need) a team environment in an individual sport," Baresel said.

He gets a kick out of the fact that over the past three seasons only Nocek seeks to play golf in college; he's uncommitted.

"I've been very privileged to have such great kids on this team that really want to play and compete at a high level at high school golf," Baresel said. "That's very special about our team. They are literally doing this for fun and playing it in high school. I think that's pretty cool, it's all for fun for them."

New color scheme

One Wednesday the Metro Suburban Conference Board of Control approved a changes effective for the 2016-17 schools year.

In all sports but football, St. Edward will shift to the East Division, which will henceforth be called the "Red." Illiana Christian will move to the West or "Blue" Division. For football, St. Edward will move to the Blue and Aurora Central Catholic will move to the Red.

This arrangement holds for two academic years, after which "criteria and a formula" will be developed for further changes as necessary, said Glenbard South athletic director Tim Carlson.

Phasing out the geographical identifiers makes sense when St. Edward is the westernmost of the 14 Metro Suburban schools and Illiana the farthest to the east.

"The ultimate goal at the end of the day is to make sure each division is competitive and each team has an opportunity to play competitive games within the conference, whether it's crossovers or divisional opponents," Carlson said.

Rally scoring

One wouldn't necessarily know it by reading the news section but good things are happening at College of DuPage.

The women's volleyball team, for instance. The Chaparrals were 12-10 entering Wednesday's match against Joliet Junior College, a marked improvement over last season. Mainly because there was no last season.

There were seven or eight players at the start, first-year coach and COD alumnus Tolis Koskinaris recalled, but due to quick attrition the team disbanded. Now, thanks in large part to IC Catholic graduate Rory Mannion and high school contacts - Koskinaris also is West Aurora's boys volleyball coach - COD is back in business.

"Nobody was expecting us to be this good right away," he said.

A member of IC's 2013 Class 2A championship team, Mannion attended Florida Atlantic and redshirted. She decided to return home and upon arrival left a phone message at COD inquiring about an opportunity. That got the ball rolling.

"She basically recruited half the team," Koskinaris said.

Koskinaris sent a mass email to his coaching pals. This produced players like Brooke Clossét and Kaleigh Walsh from Wheaton Warrenville South, Lucy Diaz from West Chicago and Asia Sandridge from Downers Grove South. The program gained three transfers from Division I and II programs.

"That's how I couldn't get any luckier," Koskinaris said.

On Saturday College of DuPage hosts National Junior College Athletic Association Division III regional semifinals and the regional final. The Chaparrals are seeded fourth behind Harper, Rock Valley and two-time defending national champion Madison College. COD plays Madison at 10 a.m. with the final match at 2 p.m. to decide who advances to the national tournament.

Quietly rebuilding a program, Koskinaris looked to the modern, sprawling school's strengths to sell itself.

"All I had to do was walk these kids through the building one time. That's it, it was done," he said.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

Follow Dave on Twitter @doberhelman1