A pair of former captains lead off the College Achievers

As promised, here's a second and final round of college achievers, winter edition ...

The odds of two past Daily Herald DuPage County All-Area Boys Basketball Team captains playing for the same college may seem slim, but Justin Pierce (Glenbard West) and David Cohn (York) helped William & Mary (19-12) win the 10th-most games in its history while each earned third-team all-Colonial Athletic Association honors.

A senior, Cohn averaged 14.2 points, 6.7 assists and finished with Tribe season and career assist records. According to William & Mary he is the only player in Division I this season to make 50 percent of his 2-point baskets, 40 percent of his 3s and 90 percent from the foul line - where his 91.2 mark ranked sixth. Pierce's 33 points against Delaware on Feb. 10 were the second most by a Tribe sophomore. He averaged 14.7 points and a team-high 8.6 rebounds. Pierce ranked among CAA leaders in 10 categories.

Washington University in St. Louis guard Jack Nolan (Benet) earned D3hoops.com Central Region freshman of the year. He averaged 11.6 points and made 61 3-pointers, connecting on 47 percent. Nolan made 28 of 29 free throws.

Wheaton College's Maggie Dansdill (Wheaton Warrenville South) was a unanimous all-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin pick. The senior guard averaged 11.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.6 steals.

North Central College's Connor Raridon (Neuqua Valley) made first-team CCIW on the men's side. He averaged 13.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 6.7 assists, sixth in the nation. Raridon already owns Cardinals records for assists in a game, season and career. In an early season game at Aurora University, Raridon dealt 13 assists without a turnover.

Diamond Pikulyk (Addison Trail) a freshman center for the Edgewood College (Wisconsin), women's basketball team, was named Eagle of the Week two consecutive weeks in mid-January. Winless last season, with Pikulyk around the Eagles' 11-14 record was the fourth-best turnaround in all of Division III women's basketball, the college said.

Erin Maloney (IC Catholic), a guard at St. Mary's College (Indiana), ended her junior season with 201 steals and 253 assists. That ranks her fifth and sixth, respectively, on the Belles' all-time charts entering her senior season.

Last week we noted Montini graduate and Illinois freshman Dylan Duncan reached the NCAA Division I wrestling championships, but we missed Iowa sophomore Vince Turk (Montini). The 141-pounder placed fifth at the Big Ten meet, going 4-2 after entering unseeded. Also unseeded at the NCAAs, Turk went 2-2 there to finish 15-10 on the season.

Josh Martin (Glenbard East), a 141-pound senior at Cornell (Iowa) College, earned his first All-America honor with a fifth-place finish at the Division III Wrestling Championships in Cleveland. Martin led the Rams (just like Glenbard East!) with a 32-5 record and 10 falls. He ended his college career on Cornell's leaderboard in season and career victories and winning percentage.

At the Big Ten Conference men's indoor track championships Nebraska junior Ty Moss (Neuqua Valley) placed second in the 600-meter run at 1 minute, 16.63 seconds, the third-fastest time in Cornhuskers history. Purdue sophomore Samara Miller (Neuqua Valley) led off a 1,600 relay that topped all Big Ten women's teams, and she ran a fourth-place 600 time of 1:28.55, second in school history.

Rice senior Scott Filip (Lake Park) made Conference USA history by winning heptathlon a fourth time. Filip, who also has two C-USA decathlon titles, was in fifth place with two events remaining in NCAA Division I heptathlon until an atypical no-height in pole vault sent him to a second-team All-America honor.

Filip's Lake Park teammate, Michigan State senior Tim Ehrhardt, earned second-team All-America in pole vault.

At Minnesota's Jack Johnson Invite on Jan. 26-27, Joe Keys (Downers Grove North) set Marquette's freshman heptathlon record with 4,608 points, sixth all-time for the Golden Eagles.

Clarkson senior captain and Downers Grove native Savannah Harmon was named ECAC Hockey's top defensive player a second straight season. Helping Clarkson (36-4-1) win a second straight Division I title and third in five seasons with Sunday's 2-1 overtime win over Colgate, Harmon finished with 8 goals, 26 assists and a whopping plus-54. She was among 10 finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award as the best player in Division I women's hockey and on March 15 was named an American Hockey Coaches Association University Division First-Team All-American.

Air Force junior winger Evan Giesler (Naperville Central) forced a turnover and snapped a wrister for his 11th goal in a 5-1 win Saturday over Robert Morris (Pennsylvania), the Falcons' seventh Atlantic Hockey Conference title in 12 years. Giesler leads Air Force with a plus-16, his 22 points tied for second as the Falcons (22-14-5) enter NCAA play Friday against St. Cloud State.

Sam Piazza (Downers Grove South), a senior defenseman for Michigan, earned a second straight Big Ten sportsmanship award and is among 10 finalists nationwide for the Senior CLASS Award for men's hockey. His sister, Cara Piazza, just finished her college career as a forward for Minnesota.

St. Norbert's T.J. Black, a junior goalie from Wheaton, led the Green Knights to their 17th Northern Collegiate Hockey Association title in 24 years in the league. Entering the Division III Frozen Four this weekend in Lake Placid, New York, the 2017 AHCA All-American leads all Division III goalies with 25 wins, is second in goals-against at 1:39 and third in save percentage at .940.

For a second straight season, Gustavus (Massachusetts) junior goalie Amanda DiNella (Willowbrook) earned AHCA Division III first-team All-America. She went 17-4-4 including 6 shutouts, with a 1.38 goals-against and a .931 save percentage. Her season ended with a 3-2 triple-overtime loss to Eau Claire, a four-hour game that was the longest in Division III women's hockey tournament history.

Katie Granato's (Neuqua Valley) junior hockey season at Elmira (New York) ended with a 2-1 loss to Norwich in the Division III championship. Granato, a forward, was second on the Soaring Eagles with 22 goals and 42 points.

Lewis University freshman Stephanie Palczynski (WW South) earned All-America honors in the 200 backstroke at the NCAA Swimming Championships in North Carolina. Finishing seventh, she set a school record with her time of 1:59.00.

Earlier, on Lewis' senior day, senior Meghan Beese (Glenbard South) swam on a 200-yard medley relay that set a pool record of 1:48.91.

In a trio of Millikin releases spanning three different women's sports, sophomore Lucy Koger (Naperville North) was named the soccer team's offensive MVP after scoring 10 goals with 6 assists for 26 points; senior Emily Mihalkanin (Hinsdale South) earned the volleyball team's "best teammate" award; and Sierra Birdsell (Lisle) garnered the basketball squad's "Big Blue Award."

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doberhelman@dailyherald.com

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