Glenbard South starts athletics hall of fame
Montini announced the hiring of new coaches in three sports.
Adam DeMong was named boys basketball coach and Shannon (Herold) Spanos takes over the girls basketball program. Mike Benefiel is the new wrestling coach.
DeMong, who played at Glenbard West and Boston University, replaces Bob Lozano, who led the program for two seasons following the death of coach Daryl Thomas.
DeMong has been an assistant coach at St. Patrick and Glenbard West. He also coached collegiate basketball at Lewis, Loyola and Ohio University.
He works at High Major Sports, a sports and events marketing company.
Spanos is a 1999 Montini graduate who won 12 varsity letters combined in volleyball, basketball and softball. She scored more than 1,000 points for the Broncos and then played collegiate basketball at Trinity College in Connecticut.
She replaces Jason Nichols as coach. In 17 seasons at Montini, Nichols won 521 games and four state championships. The Broncos went 171-3 in conference games. They also placed third in Class 3A in March.
Benefiel, a 2007 graduate, won four state titles with the Broncos. He finished high school as the IHSA all-time leader in victories with 200. He wrestled collegiately at Oklahoma State and Elmhurst College, where he won the 2013 national championship at 197 pounds. He has been a Montini assistant coach the past six seasons.
He takes over for Israel Martinez.
The Broncos won the Class 3A wrestling championship and five individual state titles in February.
Glenbard South Athletics Hall of Fame:
Glenbard South is looking for nominations for its inaugural athletics hall of fame class.
Nominations are being accepted on the Glenbard South athletics home page. The deadline to submit nominations is Oct. 1.
Nominees must be Glenbard South graduates and be at least five years from their graduation date. Teams must wait seven years to be nominated.
Three baseball players signed by MLB teams:
After the five-round Major League Baseball amateur draft took place June 10 and 11, three DuPage County players were signed by MLB teams as undrafted free agents.
Glenbard West graduate Will Simoneit was signed out of Wake Forest by the Oakland A's and Downers Grove South graduate Danny Oriente was signed out of Louisville by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Westmont graduate Joe Donovan - the University of Michigan catcher who was the 2017 Daily Herald DuPage County All-Area Baseball Captain - was signed by the Cleveland Indians.
Stopka takes over York boys soccer:
York announced it has hired Jordan Stopka as the Dukes' new boys soccer coach.
Stopka joins the Elmhurst school after teaching and coaching at St. Patrick. He will teach Spanish at York.