Streamwood grad Tomczak having productive senior season at Truman State

Streamwood girls basketball alum Michalina Tomczak had one very specific reason for choosing to continue her career at Division II Truman State University in Kirksville. Mo.

"One of the reasons I chose Truman was because I knew it was a school where I was going to have to work for my position and not have it handed to me," she said. "I knew I needed a lot of development and I took that challenge on and worked to be the best player I can be."

During her time at Truman, Tomczak has evolved each year, culminating as a senior currently leading the Bulldogs in scoring (11.1 points per game), rebounding (6.0 per game) and blocked shots (44 blocks). She also was shooting .481 from the field and .761 from the free-throw line through the team's first 21 games (14-7 record).

"Each year has been a gradual progression starting with my redshirt freshman season and continuing now with the role I have," she said.

Tomczak has taken on a larger scoring role in her final season and has been more than up to the task.

"They look to me to get the ball into the basket," she said. "I've been working on my touch a lot around the basket. For a post player it's all about the touch. I've also worked on my outside shot to further expand my game."

Tomczak continues to enjoy the rough and tumble nature of the post position. "I like the physicality of it," she said. "I like being down on the block. I play against a lot of tall girls. It's fun banging around and fighting for position and protecting the house."

Tomczak credits Truman State's two coaching staffs she's played under in helping her take her game to the next level.

"We had a coaching change roughly three years ago," she said. "The first year I was here the coach pushed me and helped me with my mental toughness. It was tough going from a starter and one of the best players on the high school team to having to work your way up from the bottom in college. Our current coaches are very positive and always have faith in me. They have helped me develop as a player and as a person. I feel like I've grown a lot as a leader. I'm more mature and I've accepted a lot more responsibility. Going from high school to college was a challenge. It's a huge time commitment. It pretty much feels like a job. It's year-round. It's helped me with time management and being responsible. Our coaches hold us to high integrity standards and I think I've improved in those aspects as well."

Tomczak has a bright future ahead of her on and off the court. She is a pre-med major with a 3.76 grade-point average. She is thinking about going into the obstetrics-gynecology field.

"It's something I've always wanted to do since high school," she said. "I really like the idea of helping people. The gift of life is the most precious thing on the planet and I think it would be interesting and rewarding to help provide that gift."

But before she heads to medical school, Tomczak wants to see what her basketball future holds after graduation this spring.

"I plan on taking one or two years off," she said. "This is the best I'm going to be in basketball and I want to see if there is an opportunity to go experience something not a lot of people have a chance to - playing overseas. Medical school will always be there and I am going to return to that, but basketball won't always be there. I want to see how I will do overseas."

Tomczak said she'll cross the overseas path once she finishes this Truman State season and graduates in the spring.

"I want to focus on this season and finish on a good note," she said. "But in the future I want to play in a different place outside my comfort zone and play with people who don't have the same background as I do. I'm excited about what the future will bring."

Lappin nominated for award: Geneva alumni Nick Lappin is now a senior on the Brown University men's hockey team. Lappin recently was nominated for the ECAC player of the month award.

Siler wins two titles: West Aurora product Hunter Siler, a freshman on the Lewis University track and field team, recently took home a pair of individual titles to lead the No. 15 Flyers to the Lewis Open championship.

Siler took first in the shot put with a throw of 46-3 ¼ and then won the weight throw with a toss of 48-5 ¼.

Smith at Loyola: South Elgin alum Becca Smith was averaging 1.8 points and 2.4 rebounds in an average of 16.7 minutes of action for the Loyola-Chicago women's basketball team. Smith also had 22 assists to start the week. She was also recently named to the college arts and sciences dean's list.

Palmer at Whitewater: Bartlett product Lisa Palmer is part of a Wisconsin-Whitewater team that was ranked No. 15 in the country to start the week with a 16-3 record. In 18 starts, Palmer was averaging 5.9 points and was second on the team in rebounding at 5.2 per game. She also was shooting .425 from the field.

Mike Miazga has been writing about Fox Valley sports for more than two decades. Email him at mjm890@gmail.com.