Area grads in Saturday spotlight; Nelson sets three records

Familiar names made headlines Saturday in college football.

Young men who had starred on area high school fields enjoyed prominent afternoons at the next level.

Illinois State junior Tom Nelson (Hersey) established three kickoff return records in a game against No. 1 North Dakota State. He also had a game-high 14 tackles in the 54-28 loss in Fargo, N.D.

Nelson broke the career kickoff return (54) and kickoff return yardage (1,175) records, as well as setting the single-game mark for returns with 8.

Junior quarterback Tim Podulka (Elk Grove) of Augustana College ran for 72 yards and 1 touchdown in 11 carries and also passed for 51 yards in a 35-0 rout over North Park.

Podulka, who was the Daily Herald All-Area captain as a senior, had received the start at quarterback the previous week against North Central College and completed 9 of 16 passes for 122 yards and 1 touchdown.

While his brother Mike starred later in the day for Fremd High School, Jeff Koeneman (Fremd) of Carthage College caught 11 passes for 70 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 35-27 win over No. 4 Wheaton College.

Koeneman had grabbed 8 passes for 120 yards the previous week against Millikin.

Also for Carthage, Danny O'Donnell (Elk Grove) took in a 40-yard touchdown pass against Wheaton.

Cross country

Suzy Turner (Palatine) of Illinois State University placed sixth with a personal-best 17:40.71 in the Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championships in Cedar Falls, Iowa and earned all-conference honors.

A'Seret Dokubo (Conant) of Southern Illinois University (Carbondale) was ninth with a personal-best 17:44.95 and also earned all-conference recognition.

Turner and Dokubo also earned spots on the MVC Cross Country Scholar-Athlete Team.

• Dan Leonard (Fremd) of Augustana College finished seventh (25:36.91) in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin meet.

North Central's Brian Lesiewicz (Schaumburg) finished 10th (25:46.68) and John Lancaster (Palatine) was 11th (25:52.12).

Soccer

Notre Dame junior left back Elise Weber (St. Viator), who has emerged as a leading candidate for Big East Defensive Player of the Year, has been named to the Top Drawer Soccer national team. She also earned a spot on the Big East weekly honor roll for the third time this season.

• Senior Megan Blenner (St. Viator) of Carroll College (15-2-1) scored 2 goals against both Illinois College and Monmouth, raising her season total to 12 and career to 26. Carroll won its third Midwest Conference regular season title with a 9-0 mark.

• Jackie Peterson (Schaumburg) scored 2 goals as Carthage defeated Augustana 3-0 in the semifinals of the CCIW tourney. Carthage lost to Wheaton for the title but secured an at-large bid to the Division III tournament.

• Brandon Bilbrey (Barrington) of the University of Illinois Chicago scored his first college goal in a 2-1 loss to Wisconsin.

• Tonya Romano (Fremd) of Millikin scored on a free kick with five minutes left in a 1-0 victory over North Central and was named the CCIW's player of the week.

Also for Millikin, Kelly Mitchell (Barrington) set a school career record for assists.

• Martina Pettenuzzo (Prospect) of the University of Buffalo scored her first career goal against Miami (Ohio) University.

Playing for Western Michigan, Kelsey Carmichael, another Prospect grad, also scored her first college goal, a game-winner against Central Michigan.

Volleyball

North Central College senior and middle hitter/blocker Diana Range (Elk Grove) recorded 20 blocks to help her team win the Eagle Classic at Benedictine University. Range became the all-time leader in blocks.

• Megan Fesl (Hersey) of Notre Dame had 17 kills Sunday in a 3-1 Big East victory over South Florida.

Basketball

Tryouts for the Junior Knights girls and boys feeder programs for Prospect High School will be held Dec. 1-2 at the school.

The boys program will offer teams at sixth, seventh and eighth grades. The Lady Junior Knights will be adding a fifth-grade squad.

Interested players can download a registration form and have it signed by a parent or guardian.

For details and sign-up, go to www.juniorknights.com.

Girls tryouts -- Saturday, Dec. 1, fifth grade, 3-5 p.m., field house east end; sixth grade, 3-5 p.m., field house; seventh grade, 5-7 p.m., Gym 2; eighth grade, 5-7 p.m., Gym 1.

Sunday, Dec. 2 -- fifth grade, noon-2 p.m., field house east end; sixth grade, noon-2 p.m., field house; seventh grade, 2-4 p.m., field house; eighth grade, 4-6 p.m., Gym 1.

Boys tryouts -- Saturday, Dec. 1, sixth grade, 5-7 p.m., field house; seventh grade, 3-5 p.m., Gym 1 and Gym 2; eighth grade, 1-3 p.m., Gym 1 and Gym 2.

Sunday, Dec. 2 -- sixth grade, 6-8 p.m., field house; seventh grade, 4-6 p.m., field house; eighth grade, 12-2 p.m., Gym 1 and Gym 2.

• The Junior Bison Boys Feeder Basketball tryouts will be held in the Buffalo Grove High School gym on Sunday, Dec. 2, from noon-4 p.m. All sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade boys residing in the Buffalo Grove High School attendance area are eligible to try out.

For more information, contact the Buffalo Grove athletic department at (847) 718-4020.

• Tryouts for the St. Viator Junior Lions Girls Feeder team will be held Sunday, Nov. 18, at St. Viator High School, 1213 E. Oakton, Arlington Heights. Use the Dryden Avenue entrance, door marked 20W.

Sixth grade -- noon-1:30 p.m.; seventh grade -- 1:30-3 p.m.; eighth grade -- 3-4:30 p.m.

All girls who may attend St. Viator are eligible to try out. An additional tryout date will be added, if necessary.

Any questions should be directed to Tom Hohenadel, director of the feeder program, at tjh@highteam.com.

Wrestling

The Junior Cougar Wrestling Club will hold registrations Wednesday from 6-8 p.m. at Conant High School in the wrestling room. Students ages 6-14 are invited to join. Cost is $125.

Practices will be held Monday and Wednesday from 6:30-8 p.m. in the Conant wrestling room.

For information, call Brad Bessemer at (847) 844-7493.

Softball

Registrations will be taken for the Wildcat Fastpitch Winter Softball Camp-Clinic for female athletes between the ages of 9 and 14. The camp starts Sunday at Wheeling High School.

There will be two five-week sessions taking place on Sunday nights between 6:30-8 p.m. in the field house.

Professional and college hitting and pitching instructors will participate. Training in hitting, pitching, base running and defense and a coaches' clinic will be part of the package.

Pitching instruction will be limited to the first 20 requests.

Session 1 will run five Sunday nights (not consecutive weeks) starting Nov. 11.

Session 2 will run Sunday nights (not consecutive weeks) starting Jan. 6.

Program costs are $80 for the November-December clinic and $80 for January-February.

The number of participants is limited to 50.

Mail registration fee with participant's name, address, age and what session you are interested in to "Wildcat Clinics," c/o Rick McCoy, 567 Briarwood, Wheeling 60090.

For information, you also can contact program director McCoy at (847) 520-4249 or e-mail wcatsb@comcast.net.

Submit items to Bob Frisk, Assistant Managing Editor/Sports, Daily Herald, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL., 60006. Fax to (847) 427-1173, or e-mail to bfrisk@dailyherald.com. Please, no phone calls.