Catching up from the summer

Join us, if you will, on a trip to the recent past with a rundown of summer achievements, events and announcements.

A Bowden No-No

On June 30 Waubonsie Valley graduate Michael Bowden pitched a no-hitter for the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization.

Beating NC Dino 4-0 in Seoul, the former Red Sox and Cubs right-handed pitcher threw 139 pitches and struck out nine, according to the Fan Interference website.

It was the 13th no-hitter in KBO history, the third by a foreigner. The KBO lists the 26-year-old Bowden with a 14-7 record and a 4.34 earned-run average in 24 games.

Wheels and blades

"I like to see myself as a skater moving to inline," Jeffrey Swider-Peltz said. Then he moves back again.

Swider-Peltz, who in speedskating at the 2016 U.S. Championships placed second in the 5000 meters and third in the 1,500, uses inline skating competitions to train for the ice.

"Those make summer training interesting. You sort of have a goal to go for instead of just training," he said.

On June 18 Swider-Peltz won the Apostle Island inline marathon - yes, 26.2 miles - in LaPointe, Wisconsin. He followed that with another win in Chicago on July 23. At the Minnesota Half Marathon in St. Paul he took second by .1 second - "by like a couple feet," he said.

Swider-Peltz is angling for a spot at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Korea. His sister, Nancy Swider-Peltz Jr., was a 2010 Olympic speedskater. His mother, Nancy, was a four-time Olympian and world record-setter.

Jeffrey looks forward to an inline marathon Sept. 17 in Duluth, Minnesota. He's also back on ice, training for the U.S. World Cup Trials for speedskating Oct. 14-16 in Milwaukee.

"Inlining, that's my bread and butter training for speedskating right now," he said.

Volleyball smarts

The American Volleyball Coaches Association released its recipients for 2015-16 AVCA Team Academic Awards. Teams have to maintain a 3.30 cumulative grade-point average on a 4-point scale, or 4.10 on a 5-point scale.

The IC Catholic Prep girls were honored for the 23rd time in the award's 24 years. Wheaton Warrenville South's girls and boys teams both made the cut. York's boys were award winners and, proving its brains-and-brawn mettle, so was boys state champion Glenbard West.

Lutzie 43

On Aug. 6 the second annual Lutzie 43 Road Race went off in Marietta, Georgia, ... and in Michigan, Miami, Indianapolis and Wheaton.

The event is named in memory of Philip Lutzenkirchen, a star tight end for Lassiter High School in Marietta and Auburn University, the Tigers' career touchdowns leader at tight end with 14.

In June 2014 he died at 23 in an automobile accident. Soon afterward his parents - Wheaton Central graduates Mike and Mary Lutzenkirchen - established the Lutzie 43 Foundation, which aims to continue Philip's legacy of service, leadership and character. The foundation offers the 43 Lessons to Legacy curriculum to schools. Its board includes Bo Jackson.

In Marietta - where Lassiter High's football facility is now Lutzie Field at Frank Fillmann Stadium - 960 people of all ages participated in the 5-kilometer run/walk, up from 680 in the 2015 debut.

Additionally, 170 people participated in "virtual" Lutzie 43 events. Naperville Central athletic director Andy Lutzenkirchen, Mike's brother, was part of one in Wheaton. One of Mike's Coe College basketball teammates spearheaded one in Indianapolis. University of Miami women's basketball coach Katie Meier, Mary Lutzenkirchen's sister, led one in Michigan. There was a Lutzie 43 event at Miami itself.

"It turned out to be a great turnout," Mike Lutzenkirchen said.

Mark this date

On Aug. 15 the lineup was announced for the 20th High School Hoops Showdown boys basketball exhibition, at Robert Morris University in Arlington Heights on Jan. 21, 2017.

A loaded Downers Grove South team draws Kenwood in the 6 p.m. opener of the doubleheader, a first-time meeting. It's Fenwick against Marian Catholic in the 8 p.m. nightcap.

Fast learner

Montini's Taylor Minauskas started playing lacrosse as a freshman. Fast forward to this summer and the attacker earned all-star status at the Brine National Lacrosse Classic July 19-22 in Richmond, Virginia.

A senior, Minauskas had to survive regional cuts to get there. Activities in Richmond included practices, regional team playoffs, a championship, the naming of all-star teams for boys and girls and, then, all-star games.

Minauskas made that cut, too, as did Waubonsie Valley junior Raegan Woolwine and on the boys side, senior Alexander Seal.

"This whole experience was amazing, meeting girls from New Jersey, New England and all over the nation," Minauskas said. "If I could go back and stay a couple more days just to play and have the experience again, I would in a heartbeat."

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

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