Fesl sisters enjoy fast start; Zimmerman in national spotlight

The Fesl sisters didn't miss a beat in making the transition from high school to college volleyball.

The two Hersey High School products just keep getting better, and nobody should be surprised.

Sophomore Megan (Notre Dame ) and freshman Annie (Cincinnati) are off to fast starts in the 2007 season.

Annie already has been named Big East rookie of the week, and she also earned a berth on the Big East's weekly honor roll.

In her first weekend of college competition, Annie averaged 15.50 assists per game, while adding 2.50 digs. She had 55 helpers in Cincinnati's three-game match with Southern Mississippi, missing by 3 the school assist mark.

Two matches later, she came through with 59.

In three matches last week, Annie averaged 13.09 assists, 1.55 digs and 0.91 blocks per game.

Sister Megan, who saw action in 83 games and played in 31 matches for Notre Dame as a freshman with 22 starts, also has received Big East honor roll recognition in 2007. She had a team-high 20 kills against Florida International, 14 against Missouri and 11 against Minnesota.

• Lexi Zimmerman (Barrington), a freshman setter at No. 20 Michigan, is featured in the "Faces in the Crowd" section in the latest Sports Illustrated. She made her college debut with 64 assists and 13 digs in a five-game win over No. 10 Hawaii and was named to the all-tournament team.

Football

Elmhurst College quarterback Chris Kudyba (Elk Grove) showed no rust after returning from a knee injury that forced him to miss the 2006 season. Playing in only five offensive series, he led the Bluejays to five scoring drives in a 52-3 win over Benedictine. He was 10-for-14 passing for 157 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Soccer

Dean Ruddy (Prospect) has signed to play as keeper with the Dover Athletic Football Club. Ruddy, a Daily Herald All-Area player at Prospect, was a three-year starter and two-year captain at the University of Rhode Island before starting to play professionally in England.

• Kelly Blenner (St. Viator) of Western Michigan netted her first collegiate goal in action against the University of Missouri and was credited with playing a "great game" by the head coach.

Megan Blenner (St. Viator) of Carroll College got her senior season off to a good start by scoring her 15th career goal in a 6-2 win over North Park and 16th against the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, a 2-1 victory.

• Michael Zaino (Elk Grove), junior midfielder at Taylor University (Upland, Ind.), scored a goal and assist against Illinois-Springfield and Judson College and then scored his second goal of the season and added another assist against Trinity College.

• Jackie Peterson (Schaumburg) of Carthage College scored a goal in a 3-0 win over Viterbo College and added a goal and assist in a 7-0 victory over Buena Vista College. Also for Carthage, Paige Land (Barrington) scored 2 goals against Buena Vista.

• Scott Wallner (Buffalo Grove) scored on an assist from Nick Cosentino (Conant) in Augustana's 3-1 win over Marian. Nathan Jensch (Fremd) was in goal.

• Freshman Martina Pettenuzzo (Prospect) of the University of Buffalo already has earned significant playing time on defense and a start against Canisius.

• Kelly Mitchell (Barrington) of Millikin University scored goals against Westminster (2) and Blackburn. Lyndsey Crandall (St. Viator) scored against Westminster.

Bowling

The High School Bowling Coaches of Illinois (HSBCI) will hold the fall clinic/convention on Saturday, Sept. 29, at Brunswick Zone/Romeoville, 735 N. Center Boulevard.

Diandra Asbaty, spokesperson for the United States Bowling Congress and a Team USA member, will be the keynote speaker.

The first inductees into the new Hall of Fame will be announced during the luncheon.

Registration deadline is Saturday, Sept. 22. Cost is $50 for pre-registration and $60 for on-site.

Greg Troyer, varsity bowling coach at Prospect, is executive director of HSBCI. Send convention questions to greg.troyer@d214.org.

Check www.hsbci.org for more details.

Cross country

Mike Richardson (Buffalo Grove) of Illinois State started the season by taking fifth in the Illini Challenge hosted by the University of Illinois. He ran 18:45.13 for the 6K.

Baseball

Pitcher Austin Wright (Conant) was one of 38 players in the country selected to play in the fifth annual Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic in San Diego. He was the first player selected from Illinois. All participants just completed their junior year in high school.

The game raised a record $150,000 for San Diego's Rady Children's Hospital and Health Center and $20,000 for Coaches Curing Kids Cancer.

• Casey Garms (Hersey) has accepted an assistant coaching job with Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. He graduated with a communications degree from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and during the summer was first base coach for the Thunder Bay Border Cats of the Northwoods League.

Golf

Meredith Robinson (Barrington) of Illinois College was named performer of the week in the Midwest Conference. She had rounds of 84-81 in the Illinois College Invitational.

Basketball

The Elk Grove Girls Feeder Basketball Program will hold its tryouts for the 2007-08 season on Monday, Sept. 24, at the high school. Tryouts for grades 5-8 will be held from 7-9 p.m. Registration begins at 6:45 p.m. in the main gym.

For more details on the program, contact varsity girls basketball coach Jim Wills at jim.wills@d214.org.

• The Prospect High School Athletic Boosters are sponsoring their annual pre-season 3-on-3 basketball tournament on Sunday, Oct. 14, at the school.

The tourney is open to boys and girls in fourth through 12th grades. There will be separate brackets for each age group, except for high school juniors and seniors, who will be combined.

Other grade levels may also be combined depending on registrations. Different competition levels may also be added based on registrations.

Every effort will be made to coordinate playing times so that participants in other fall sports programs can participate.

The entry fee is $100 per team and guarantees each team a minimum of three games.

All proceeds benefit the Prospect Athletic Boosters.

For more information or a registration form, contact Lori Frasco at (847) 670-7811 or Bill Reed at (847) 272-6010 or visit the Web site at www.prospectknights.com.

Wrestling

Max Nowry (Wheeling) took first place in both Greco Roman and Freestyle at the ASICS/Vaughan Junior National Wrestling Tournaments this summer in Fargo, N.D. He won 6 matches in Greco and 8 in freestyle and is the first Illinois wrestler in 39 years to accomplish this feat.