Aaron Gabriel joined the Daily Herald's sports staff in 1990 and became High School Sports Editor in 1994. He coordinates efforts with other prep sports editors who direct our high school and local sports coverage. Aaron also contributes as a writer, covering high school swimming and water polo in northwest suburban Cook County.

Gabriel also is a member of the sports copy desk and frequently assembles pages for the print edition, and stories and photos for our online editions. He has overseen the steady growth of the Daily Herald's high school sports coverage and has helped the sports staff as a whole adapt to developing technologies.

Gabriel lived in Addison, Elmhurst, Geneva and St. Charles as a child, and helped St. Charles High School to state swimming championships in 1980, '82 and '83. He continued to swim at the University of Wisconsin and became an individual Big Ten champion for the Badgers in the 1,650- and 500-yard freestyles.

Gabriel graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a double major in journalism and history.

In 2003, he took second place in a Northern Illinois Newspaper Association contest for column writing. Gabriel's story was about his high school coach at St. Charles, Dave Bart.

Gabriel now lives in Palatine with his wife and two sons.