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The last of the college achievers for this school year

It feels like summer. Before we adjourn, one more huge serving of DuPage County athletes who did great stuff in college this spring.

Right off the bat, a fun one. Michael Simmons and Mackenzie Fuller were an item even before graduating from Waubonsie Valley in 2014. Both recently graduated from Lewis University, though Simmons has a year of volleyball eligibility left. Shifting to libero from outside hitter, for a second straight season Simmons earned Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association first-team honors, honorable-mention All-America by both the American Volleyball Coaches Association and VolleyballMag.com. He's also a repeat winner of Lewis' Br. David Delahanty Award for top student-athletes, tabbed as this year's Business Administration student of the year. Meanwhile, Fuller played midfield for Flyers women's soccer. She's a three-time Delahanty Award winner who in April was named Lewis' female student-athlete of the year and the university's Economics Department student of the year.

Loyola senior Jeff Jendryk (St. Francis), Simmons' MIVA opponent, earned his second straight AVCA First-Team All-America honor and fourth overall. Jendryk's second-team selections as a freshman and sophomore make him the Ramblers' first four-time All-American and one of only 12 in Division I-II history. First-Team all-MIVA (along with teammate Ricky Gevis of Benet), the 6-foot-10 middle blocker ranked second nationally this season with a .457 hitting percentage and overall ranks second at Loyola at .449. This season Jendryk recorded his 1,000th point and averaged 2.27 kills and .88 blocks per set for the No. 7 Ramblers. As a freshman Jendryk was the AVCA newcomer of the year and most outstanding player at the NCAA Tournament, helping Loyola win its second straight title with Thomas Jaeschke (Wheaton Warrenville South). Those two are now reunited on the U.S. Men's National Team.

Dominican University volleyball player Jack McGuire (St. Francis) won the school athletic department's "freshman of the year" award on May 1. The 6-4 setter averaged 9.6 assists per set, helping the 26-8 Stars to a share of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference regular-season title and its tournament crown. He was named NACC freshman of the year as well. Also on Dominican's ballot was Anastasia Labadessa (Addison Trail), the NACC women's volleyball freshman of the year who averaged 8.7 assists and 2.7 digs per set.

In Division II track and field, Grand Valley State senior Chris May (York) placed third in the men's 10,000-meter run. At the NAIA meet Bethel junior Danielle Wojciechowski (Lake Park) finished second in pole vault. In NCAA Division III Washington (St. Louis) junior pole vaulter Heidi Nassos (Wheaton Warrenville South) also finished second while Loras College sophomore Patrick Mikel (Glenbard East) took second in the 400 in a school-record 46.53 seconds.

(As an aside, Mikel earned Loras' Student Athlete Advisory Committee's "Dewey Award" as top male athlete in an individual sport. And though he earned it in a winter sport, basketball, Josh Ruggles (Wheaton Warrenville South) was named Loras' top male athlete in a team sport.)

One of Mikel's old Glenbard East teammates, Vince Booth, earned a New York University Student-Athlete Academic Achievement Award. The senior business student was the Violets' top 800-meter runner (by a good four seconds) and also ran on NYU's top 1,600 and 3,200 relays while earning better than a 3.50 grade-point average.

The timing's off for results from Division I track competition, which started Wednesday, but DuPage County athletes could be a factor. Michigan State senior Tim Ehrhardt (Lake Park) entered the decathlon finals ranked third with 8,044 points, a Spartans program record he set in April at the Virginia Challenge. At the Big Ten Championships in pole vault he cleared 17 feet, 9 inches to win the event. Ehrhardt - coached in multi-events by Waubonsie Valley graduate Ceith Creekmur, seeks his third outdoor All-America honor to go with the three he earned indoors. The Spartans' indoor pole vault record holder, he was named the men's Great Lake Region field athlete of the year.

Ehrhardt's Lake Park teammate, Rice senior Scott Filip, enters Wednesday seeded eighth in decathlon at 7,876 points. Filip won his third outdoor Conference USA decathlon title this season, and in 2017 placed fifth at the Division I meet. THIS JUST IN - after Day 1 of decathlon Filip was in third place and Ehrhardt 10th; Filip finished fourth among 24 entries in the 100-meter dash, long jump and high jump.

Nebraska qualified its men's 1,600 relay out of the West Prelims with a season-best time of 3 minutes, 5.93 seconds. That foursome features senior and team captain Sam Bransby (Naperville Central) and sophomore Ty Moss (Neuqua Valley). While Moss makes his NCAA debut, Bransby hopes to reclaim the first-team, third-place All-America finish the Cornhuskers relay netted in 2016; in 2017 Bransby's squad placed 11th.

Tennessee junior Maya Neal (Neuqua Valley) makes her NCAA track debut in heptathlon. At the Southeastern Conference Championships, Neal - who also plays soccer for the Volunteers - racked up 5,650 points, just 21 off the Tennessee women's record. She's the first woman from Tennessee to reach heptathlon finals since 1996.

Neal can reconnect with a couple old Neuqua pals. Purdue brings sophomore Samara Miller to possibly run with its 1,600-meter relay, and Boilermakers redshirt senior Savannah Carson will compete in long jump. Purdue's record-holder in the event, Carson seeks her eighth overall All-America honor and looks to improve upon a 2017 seventh-place outdoor finish. She's seeded eighth.

Illinois State's D'Jenne Egharevba (Naperville Central) entered the NCAA West Preliminary meet seeded 36th in the 200 dash. She finished 15th, three slots shy of advancing to nationals, breaking the Redbirds' school record twice in two days with a 23.40-second quarterfinal time. Egharevba finished her sophomore season setting program records in the 60, 100 and 200 dashes spanning indoor and outdoor seasons. On April 25 her 400 relay partner, Emily Cowan (Metea Valley), was one of two Redbirds chosen to deliver a speech to her peers at the Illinois State Credit Union Senior Student-Athlete Banquet.

After all this time, four years' worth, we should recognize Luke Winder, whose sole strike against him in these pages is he attended Plainfield Central outside of DuPage County. But he did compete at North Central College and by marks he's one of the top two pole vaulters in Division III history. Winder graduated having set the division's outdoor record of 18 feet, 4½ inches on May 10 at North Central's Dr. Keeler Meet, 4 inches more than older brother Jake cleared in 2010 to set what was then the record. Luke Winder ranks second all-time indoors in Division III at 18-1¼. He won both indoor and outdoor Division III titles each of his first three years at North Central, but injury knocked him out of the 2018 indoor season after one meet. The only six-time national vault champion in Division III history, according to North Central, Winder's bid for a fourth outdoor title and seventh overall two weeks ago, at 17-6½, was 2 inches short of the winning height set by Monmouth's Dan Evers, a senior from Kaneland. Truly a fabulous career.

As he did his final year in high school with a 2013 runner-up finish in singles, Northern Illinois senior Eric Marbach (Waubonsie Valley) finished strong with first-team Mid-American Conference honors in tennis. Playing No. 1 or No. 2 all season, Marbach went 17-15 overall.

Despite being ravaged by injury, DePaul senior Keisha Clousing (Wheaton Warrenville South) ended her college tennis career with a repeat first-team Big East honor. The Blue Demons' No. 1 singles and doubles player helped DePaul to second place behind St. John's. She went 11-10 overall.

In women's and men's lacrosse, Dubuque senior midfielder Breann Tjarda (Waubonsie Valley) and Illinois Wesleyan sophomore midfielder Cristian Torres (Wheaton North) earned CCIW all-conference honors. Tjarda led the Spartans in four categories including goals with 48. Augustana senior goalie Annalia Fowler (York) ended her career as the Vikings' leader in saves and save percentage, second in victories.

Illinois Wesleyan junior outfielder John Bosco (Glenbard North) and Augustana junior Pitcher Mike Powers (Benet) each were named to the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) all-conference baseball team. Bosco, who shared Wesleyan MVP honors, batted .371, drove in 39 runs and scored 27; Powers, a second-team Academic All-American, went 7-3 with a 2.22 ERA and led Augie pitchers in seven categories. His 0.89 walks per nine innings ranks second in a season at Augustana.

In softball Wheaton College junior Kelly Thornton (Wheaton North) earned her third straight CCIW first-team honor. The second baseman - first team all-Great Lakes Region - batted a team-high .445 with a program-record 19 doubles. With a season left she ranks third in program history in slugging percentage, fourth in home runs, sixth in doubles, seventh in batting average and on-base percentage and ninth in RBI. She's also on Wheaton's volleyball team and played Thunder basketball her first two years.

Sophomore Amanda Karnatz (York) cracked 49 hits this season hitting leadoff, third all-time for Lawrence University (Wisconsin). The two-time first-team Midwest Conference center fielder batted .422, scored 32 runs, had 13 multihit games and stole 21 bases in 24 attempts.

Benedictine University senior pitcher Becky Karlinski (Neuqua Valley) made the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference first-team squad for softball. The 5-foot-9 right-hander went 23-8 for the Eagles, who won the NACC Tournament title for the seventh time in eight seasons on a 7-6 win over Aurora with Karlinski on the mound.

The University of Illinois' annual Oskee Awards on April 20 had a distinct DuPage County flavor particularly regarding academics. Honored for having the best grade-point averages among Illinis student-athletes within their respective classes were junior softball player Stephanie Abello (Benet) with a 3.98 in creative writing; and senior soccer player Olivia Schmitt (Neuqua Valley) with a 3.97 in journalism (uh-oh). Senior Tony Zea (Downers Grove North), whose personal-record 800-meter time of 1:51.20 came at the Big Ten outdoor championships, was the male recipient of a $7,500 Big Ten postgraduate scholarship.

We thought we were finished reporting on Millikin senior Emily Mihalkanin (Hinsdale South) after the women's volleyball season was done. We were wrong. At Millikin's Student-Athlete Awards Ceremony May 13 she was the female winner of the "Leadership Award" for one of the Big Blue's two teams named "Most Successful." Second all-time in assists for Millikin, in season Mihalkanin was named "best teammate."

Another volleyballer, Jenna Lodewyk (Timothy Christian) shared the top honor given to a female student-athlete at Calvin College, the Kay Tiemersma Athletic Award. The senior, who helped the Knights to a 2016 Division III national title, was a four-time first-team pick in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. She started as AVCA Division III national freshman of the year and ended as Division III College Sports Information Directors Association Academic All-American of the year for women's volleyball. Lodewyk graduated with a major in business operations and a minor in community development. Her mother, the former Kim Lautenbach, won Calvin College's 1986 Tiemersma Award for volleyball and track.

Also hearkening back to fall, soccer player Reuel Erastus-Obilo (Waubonsie Valley) was recently named Waubonsee Community College male athlete of the year. Erastus-Obilo was the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference player of the year after recording 23 goals and 58 points, both ninth nationally in NJCAA Division I, to lead the Chiefs to consecutive conference and regional titles. He'll continue at the University of St. Francis in Joliet.

In another spring accolade for a fall standout, in early April Illinois State senior quarterback Jake Kolbe (Naperville Central) was honored by the university's kinesiology and recreation department. Recognized for a second straight year, in 2018 the physical education major gained the Howard Hancock Athletic Achievement Award, saluting a senior male KNR student-athlete who excelled on the field and in the classroom.

Finally, from the Welcome to the Club Dept.: North Central College announced its 2018 Athletic Hall of Fame class. Inductees include 2006 graduate Tyke Spencer (Naperville Central), a football receiver who holds Cardinals single-season records for receptions and receiving yardage; and 2007 graduate Megan Rossi Bremer (Downers Grove South), a seven-time All-American pole vaulter who won national indoor titles in 2005 and 2007.

Kevin Tokarski (Downers Grove North) will enter Illinois State's Percy Family Hall of Fame in 2018. The speedy baseball player was the Missouri Valley Conference player of the year as a junior, earning All-America honors from several outlets. Tokarski owns Redbirds records for runs scored and bases on balls.

Congratulations to all, and have a great summer.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

Follow Dave on Twitter @doberhelman1

Now playing with the U.S. Men's National Volleyball Team, Loyola's Jeff Jendryk, out of St. Francis, became the first Rambler to earn four All-America honors. Photo courtesy of Steve Woltmann/Loyola Athletics
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