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Football: Wheeler set to join Augustana's Hall of Fame

Six former Augustana athletes will be inducted into the Tribe of Vikings Hall of Fame on Saturday, Oct. 1.

Among the group is Carmel Catholic graduate Joe Wheeler, who played football at Augustana and graduated with the class of 1985.

The other inductees are Dave Lingner (1981, track and field), Patti Wenig Miller (1991, track and field), Corey Christenson (1997, football, wrestling and track and field), Sarah Ainsworth (1998, tennis) and Joe Schmulbach (2000, football).

As a senior in 1984, Wheeler earned College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Defensive Player of the Year honors and was a team captain for an Augustana football team that won the school's second straight NCAA Division III national championship that year.

He also was named All-America by Pizza Hut and Football News.

The youngest of four brothers who played football, Wheeler completed a nearly uninterrupted 15-year string of Wheelers donning the blue and gold for Augustana.

He first became aware of Augustana at the age of seven in 1970, when Coach Ben Newcomb visited Wayne and Bernadette's home, while recruiting Joe's brother Phil.

The eldest of the Wheeler boys chose Augustana, and John (1972-75) and Jim (1976-79) followed suit.

So did Joe, arriving on campus in the fall of 1981 after earning all-conference, all-county and all-area honors as a linebacker and fullback at Carmel.

There are 10 members of the Hall of Fame committee, nine voting and one administrative.

Plans are already under way for the next class. Next year's class will once again be an “open” period, meaning that any athlete in Augustana history is eligible.

This year six inductees will be honored at the Vikings' homecoming on Saturday. Tickets for the event are $35 and can be obtained by calling Dave Wrath, associate director of athletics/media and alumni relations at (309) 794-7265 or davewrath@augustana.edu.

Women's volleyball

Carthage opened its College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin season with a four-set, 3-1 win over Augustana.

“It's great to get a conference win on the road against a good Augustana team to open the conference season,” said women's coach and former Stevenson High School girls volleyball coach Leane Ulmer on the school's athletics web site. “We got off to a really slow start and freshmen Shannon Kebsiek and Megan Behrendt (Lakes) helped us pull even to take the first set. We had a good lead in the third set with a number of chances to finish the match but Augie hung tough and was able to take the set.”

Behrendt led the Lady Reds with 15 kills as she hitting .389.

Defensively, Carthage had five different Lady Reds with at least ten digs, including Behrendt with 13.

Luci Krenzke collected 21 to give her 1,371 and move into a tie for sixth on the Lady Reds career digs list with former Mundelein standout Karen Chin.

• Rhode Island senior Layne Self (Lake Zurich) put down 10 kills and had 8 block assists as the Rams (5-7) dominated the fourth and fifth sets to secure a 23-25, 25-16, 18-25, 25-16, 15-8 win over Howard (10-7) on the final day of the Penn State Invitational.

Women's cross country

Carthage junior Elena Kelsh (Antioch) was clocked in 24:56.2 as the Lady Reds finished in 13th place out of 24 teams for 333 points in the women's blue race at the Augustana College Brissman-Lundeen Invite.

Kelsh was part of a pack of four teammates who finished within five seconds of each other.

Mundelein feeder

The Mundelein High School Feeder basketball tryouts for boys and girls residing within the high school district 120 boundaries are set for Wednesday, Nov. 2 and Friday, Nov. 4, at Mundelein High School.

Fifth and sixth graders will be from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. while seventh and eighth graders are from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Fourth grade girls can also try out and be considered if space is available. You should bring a basketball to the try out.

There will be a parent meeting at 8 p.m. for all age levels.

Attendance at both tryouts is recommended. Tryouts are free, but you should register online. Please visit www.kesselstraining.com and click on the Mundelein Feeder tab.

The program is also seeking one additional girls coach.

• Please email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com

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