Gerber headed to Hope, Anzelmo to Rockhurst

Whenever Mallory Gerber has been on the volleyball or basketball court, she gives her Schaumburg's varsity teams plenty of hope of winning those contests.

In college, Gerber will be trying to win for Hope.

The Saxons senior has made a verbal commitment to play basketball at Hope College in Holland, Mich., where she plans to study biology or kinesiology.

Hope will get a 1,000-point scorer from Schaumburg. Gerber hit that milestone at Wheaton North's Bill Neibch Falcon Classic in December.

Gerber's achievement was announced during a timeout.

"I was so focused that I didn't even realize it," she said. "I've played with some great players. They open up shot opportunities and they open lanes for you. You realize that you can't accomplish something like this without them."

Gerber hopes to accomplish some more success with her Saxons girls basketball team the next few weeks before turning her sights to playing at the collegiate level.

"I started out looking at mid-sized Division I universities in the Midwest that had a strong program for a physician assistant," she said. "We visited a lot of colleges and met a lot of coaches. One of my concerns was the ability to make the grades and be able to play basketball."

Coach Brian Morehead at Hope reached out to Gerber.

"Coach Morehouse believes his players should focus on academics first and he truly wants the best for his players," Gerber said of the Flying Dutch coach, who has two national championships and currently has her team at 18-2.

The Flying Dutch roster currently has only one player from Illinois, senior Mandy Traversa, who played at Wheaton North.

Anzelmo to Rockhurst

Schaumburg all-state lacrosse midfielder Michael Anzelmo has committed to Division I Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo.

Anzelmo broke the school's lacrosse scoring record with 80 goals last season when the Saxons went 15-3. He led the state in goals and assists and was named all-conference and all-state for midfielders.

Meadows to state

The Rolling Meadows varsity cheerleading team has qualified for the IHSA state cheerleading competition (Feb. 3 and 4) by finishing first place in the large division of its sectional. It marks the ninth straight year Meadows will head to to Bloomington to compete against the top teams Illinois.

The Mustangs won the Mid-Suburban League conference for the large varsity division on Jan. 12 and captured the Grayslake North Invite on Jan. 14.

"All these accomplishments did not come easy, they had to work harder then they have ever worked before," said Meadows coach Megan Marciniec. "They started off preparing for their competitive season in the summer by practicing and attending summer camps and clinics."

Marciniec is proud of her girls' dedication.

"These girls put in a great amount of time to a sport they love so much," she said. "Leading up to their competitive season they faced a lot of struggles but overcame every single one of them. This is not an easy journey for the athletes and coaches in the cheer world. This talented group of athletes has something very special about them. They are all very different, however work together as one."

Men's track and field

Prospect senior Anthony Kies has committed to the University of Chicago in Hyde Park. Kies had a time of 10.87 in the 100-meter dash at the high school state meet last June.

He earned a 33 on his ACT and has a cumulative GPA of 5.4 on a 5.0 scale.

• North Central junior Adam Poklop (Palatine) was named an athlete of the week in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin men's indoor track and field.

Poklop cleared a personal best height of 6 feet, 9½ inches to win the high jump at the Cardinal Opener.

• Augustana junior Josh Yamamoto (Fremd) was second in the 400-meter (50.67) and freshman teammate Teddy Eckhardt (Prospect) took second in the 600-meter (1:28.89) in Monmouth's Midwest Invitational. The Vikings won six events, placed second in 12 and had multiple place-winners in 15 of 16 individual events contested.

Augustana junior Evan Murphy (Buffalo Grove) was second in the triple jump (44-3½) and third in the long jump (20-9).

Back at Grace

Former Arlington High School basketball star Todd Wolfe, who started his career as a Cardinal for coach George Zigman and finished at Prospect under coach Ron Ashley, returns to the area tonight. In fact, he returns to the gym where he played his first varsity game.

Wolfe is the assistant coach for the Aurora Christian boys basketball team, which visits Christian Liberty at Arlington's old Grace Gymnasium in Arlington Heights.

Two of the key players for Aurora Christian (12-8, 5-2) are Wolfe's sons, junior Jake (6-foot-3) and freshman Will (6-5). Jake, who is closing in on 1,000 points for his career, had a team-high 29 points in Friday's 86-72 loss to Harvest Christian (18-4, 9-0), which is in first place in the Northeastern Athletic Conference.

"I am looking forward to watching them play (Jake and Will) in the old gym that created so many of my basketball memories," said 6-foot-6 Todd Wolfe, who played in Champaign when the Cardinals advanced to the Elite Eight and fell to 1982 AA state champion East St. Louis Lincoln in the quarterfinals.

"It was fun to go in and play at the end of that game," Wolfe said. "There aren`t many players who get to play in Champaign."

Todd also went on to play at Michigan State, where he was team captain in 1988-1989, a three-year recipient of the Spartan Sportsmanship Award and currently ranks fifth all-time in 3-point percentage. His college career included two NCAA Sweet 16 appearances, a Big Ten title, and No. 1 seed in NCAA tourney in 1990.

Wolfe founded Rising Stars Basketball/Crossover Basketball in 1994 and is currently general manager of Supreme Courts, a basketball facility in Aurora that offers clinics, camps, leagues and travel programs for boys and girls.

Men's swimming

Augustana freshman Adam Smith (Palatine) was fourth in the 200 freestyle (1:50.19) and fifth in the 1650 freestyle (17:41.19) when the Vikings placed third in the eight-team Grinnell Invitational.

Host Grinnell won the team title (1047.5 points) and Nebraska Wesleyan was second (892), but the Vikings were right behind in third (891).

Augustana freshman Ben Peinsipp (St. Viator) was 16th in 50 freestyle (23.11) and 18th in 200 freestyle (1:55.00).

Women's volleyball

St. Thomas libero Ellie Meyer (St. Viator) was named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year, with 589 digs and 83 assists in 31 matches. She was also among 22 volleyball players named first-team All-MIAC.

Women's basketball

Carthage freshman forward Maggie Berigan (Hersey) had a career-high 10 rebounds for the Lady Reds (10-8, 5-5) in a 73-62 win over Augustana.

• Email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com.