Neuqua Valley's Horn garners state honor

When Neuqua Valley senior Connor Horn tries to simultaneously run and think deep thoughts, he succeeds only in tiring himself out. So he compartmentalizes.

“When I'm running with friends we have fun conversations and it really helps to pass the time well,” Horn said. “But when I'm running by myself I let my mind shut down.”

It's worked quite well for Horn, who on Feb. 16 was one of 26 student-athletes named to the 2016 Illinois High School Association All-State Academic Team. Horn joins former Neuqua track and cross country athletes Nick Bushelle, Chris Derrick and Zac Espinosa to have earned the honor.

(It's interesting to note that Wildcats boys track coach Mike Kennedy, a decorated physics teacher out of the University of Chicago, earned an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship and spent the 2010-11 school year working with the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C.)

Many of the athletes listed on the annual IHSA-Caterpillar Academic Team lists are runners. So are the two DuPage County athletes named among this year's honorable mentions, York's Elizabeth Hagstrom and Robert Tomaska.

“I would like to say self-discipline and hard work is valued a lot in the sport and academically, so the two correlate really well,” Horn said.

In addition to carrying a 4.53 grade-point average on Neuqua's 4-point scale and scoring a 33 on his ACT, the Cornell-bound Horn has won two individual conference indoor events, two individual outdoor events, a conference cross country title and ran the first leg of Neuqua's Class 3A champion 3,200 relay as a sophomore in 2014.

“I'd like to thank my family and coaches and friends a lot for encouraging me for four years, making me work as hard as I could on both school and running. I couldn't have done this without them,” Horn said.

Obviously, not every All-State Academic selection is a track or cross country athlete. Westmont's Adam Doll is on this year's team. He's been a varsity starter on the Sentinels soccer and basketball teams each of the last three years and figures to do the same in baseball this spring.

Meanwhile, he scored a 35 out of a possible 36 on his ACT. He's still uncommitted for college, waiting for the cream of the crop to get back to him.

“It was a nice honor,” Doll said after Westmont's final basketball game on Monday. “That's probably the best honor I've received in my high school career, just because it shows a combination of athletics and academics.”

Winnin' cousins

On Feb. 18, Southern Illinois University sophomore Hanna Netisingha, a West Chicago graduate and the 2012 DuPage Valley Conference girls golfer of the year, was named the Missouri Valley Conference women's golfer of the week.

Over three days at the Florida Gulf Coast University Eagle Invitational, she moved from ninth to third among 83 golfers.

On Feb. 19 Peter Netisingha — a former Hinsdale Central volleyball star like his sister, Jamie — was named an assistant coach of Illinois State's women's volleyball team. Peter Netisingha came to the Redbirds after serving as a graduate assistant for 2015 national champion Nebraska.

They share more than news releases sent one day apart. Hanna's father, Dan, is the brother of Peter's father, Vasun.

In non-Netisingha news, Purdue football will enter the 2016 season with a new quarterbacks coach, former Wheaton Warrenville South and Western Michigan star Tim Lester.

More recently, Naperville North graduate Brian Plotkin was hired as an assistant men's soccer coach at Dartmouth. A former Chicago Fire player, Plotkin reaped a bunch of awards at Naperville North and Indiana, where he was runner-up for the 2005 Hermann Trophy and helped the Hoosiers win the 2003 and 2004 Division I titles.

Plotkin comes to Dartmouth after three years as an assistant at Loyola-Chicago, part of the MVC's coaching staff of the year for 2014. Last season Loyola allowed 8 goals, tied for fewest in Division I, and its 0.39 goals-against average led the nation.

Great mentor

On Tuesday Wheaton Academy issued the news that nine-year girls basketball coach Beth Mitchell was stepping down. It's not something she wanted to do, but needed to “for my health and well-being,” she said.

Mitchell said she's dealt with degenerative disc disease for about 12 years. Between putting in a full day as a Wheaton Academy counselor, then on her feet for practice or games, plus travel, it got to be too much.

“Part of the struggle is I have to be off my feet a little more to pamper my spine,” said Mitchell, a Downers Grove resident who came to Wheaton Academy after coaching at College of DuPage from 1992-2007.

As an associate coach at COD, she helped Earl Reed's Chaparrals win the 2000 women's National Junior College Athletic Association title. She did the same as coach in 2002.

“Beth is absolutely outstanding,” said Wheaton Academy athletic director Dave Underwood. “We're just so grateful for the nine years that she gave to Wheaton Academy. She is the consummate professional and her impact on Wheaton Academy extends far beyond the girls basketball program.”

“We kind of came around together,” said Brad Byrne, who over nine years at Wheaton Academy has coached multiple sports and is the Warriors baseball coach. “I was coaching basketball at the time so I was always watching her practices. It doesn't matter, boys or girls, you always want to watch great coaches.”

The past couple seasons Mitchell knew her time was short coaching on her feet, but withheld from the players the severity of her condition and her plans until an emotional meeting the day after their last game.

“I didn't want the focus to be on me. I coached the game for the focus to be on the kids,” she said.

Mitchell looks forward to being a “supporter from the stands,” she said, while she continues to work in the student services department.

She led the Warriors to a 28-2 record and regional title in 2007-08, but that wasn't her personal highlight. This was: “I think just being able to pour into young people's lives and help them grow and mature and just use the game of basketball to be able to do that.”

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

Follow Dave on Twitter @doberhelman1