Bartlett grad Cohen hits the national stage

A former area football player will be on the national stage this Saturday.

Bartlett alum Joel Cohen is in his sixth season as a medical redshirt senior on the Oregon State football team and is the starting long snapper. Cohen and Oregon State will travel to Eugene to face in-state rival Oregon in the 111th renewal of the Civil War game. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2 at 3:40 p.m. local time Saturday (Dan Fouts, Tim Brant and Todd Harris on the call).

The 6-foot, 245-pound Cohen, who played previously at the College of DuPage, is on full scholarship at the school and is slated to graduate this December. Cohen has started 29 games for the Beavers in his career.

Cohen, a liberal studies major, has played a key role FOR kicker Alexis Serna, who was recently named the Pac-10 special teams player of the week.

The team is 7-4 overall and 5-3 in Pac-10 Conference play heading into Saturday's game against Oregon (ranked 18th in the nation).

Cohen and Oregon State are looking for their second straight road victory over a top 20 program. Oregon State defeated then-No. 2 Cal in October in Berkeley. Oregon State is bowl eligible and could play in either the Holiday, Emerald, Sun or Las Vegas bowls. Oregon State edged Missouri last year by a point in the Sun Bowl.

Oregon State could earn a share of the Pac-10 title with a win and losses by USC and Arizona State.

Pelka update: The Elgin Academy brother-sister swimming duo of Bryan and Michelle Pelka are off to a strong start at Division III Carthage College.

Michelle Pelka was recently named the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin woman swimmer of the week. Pelka won 4 events in a recent triangular against Hope and Kalamazoo. She took first in the 100 butterfly (1:01.22), the 200 butterfly (2:11.53), the 200 IM (2:14.43) and the 400 IM (4:42.68). Her times in the 200 fly and 400 IM were school records and her 400 IM time was also a Kalamazoo pool record. Pelka was also part of two winning relay teams.

Pelka won the 200 fly (2:13.57) in a meet with Lewis and IIT.

Pelka also won the 500 free (5:27.68) and 200 fly (2:15.42) in an invitational at Illinois Wesleyan. She was also part of the winning 300 fly relay team. This was Pelka's first competitive meet since shoulder surgery last December.

Bryan Pelka had success as well in the meet with Hope and Kalamazoo. He won the 200 fly (1:59.16), the 500 free (4:48.76) and the 1,650 free (16:24.63). His closest competition in the 1,650 finished over 40 seconds behind him.

In a meet against Wabash College, Pelka won the 100 and broke the Wabash pool record with a time of 9:56.32. He also won the 500 free (4:51.81).

In a meet with Lewis and IIT, Pelka swam the 1,000 in 9:45.21 and clocked in at 4:44.65 in the 500 and 1:57.52 in the 200 fly.

Pelka was also honored with an outstanding achievement award from the Elgin Sports Hall of Fame. Pelka earned the honors based on last year's All-American nod from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America.

Cebulko at Harper: Bartlett graduate Heather Cebulko enjoyed success with the Harper College women's cross country team this past season. Cebulko earned All-American honors after placing 15th at the NJCAA nationals at Suffolk County College in New York. She covered the course in 22:04.

Cebulko helped Harper reach the NJCAA nationals by winning the Region IV individual championship with a time of 20:44.7.

Earlier in the season, Cebulko finished eighth at the Sauk Valley Community College Invitational with a time of 20:28 on the 5K course. Cebulko took 48th place (19:29.43) at the 2007 Illinois Intercollegiate at Illinois State. The meet combined 4-year and 2-year schools. Harper was competing against schools like Illinois State, UIC, Loyola, Augustana, North Central and Lewis.

Cebulko also took 10th (21:29.8) at the Waubonsee invitational and was fourth at Harper's own invitational (14:53 time).

Schreiber at Central: South Elgin resident Clint Schreiber, a St. Charles North alum, was part of the Central College (Pella, Iowa) men's soccer team that went 14-4-3 overall and 6-2 in Iowa Conference play. Schreiber, a junior midfielder, earned his third varsity letter. Last season he was named to the all-Iowa second team and earned an Iowa Conference player of the week honor.

McCord at Loras: Prairie Ridge alum Justin McCord was part of the Loras College (Dubuque, Iowa) men's soccer team that reached the NCAA Division III national semifinals and finished the year with a 23-1-1 mark and won the Iowa Conference crown with a perfect 7-0 record. Through the team's first 24 matches, McCord, a sophomore forward, played in every match and had 2 goals, 1 assist and 5 points and took 32 shots on goal including 1 penalty kick attempt. Loras lost to eventual NCAA champion Middlebury 1-0 on penalty kicks in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., in one of the national semifinal contests. The game was tied 0-0, but Middlebury held a 3-1 edge in penalty kicks.

ECC honors: Four ECC women's volleyball players were named to the all-Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference teams. Staci Holthus (Burlington Central), Heather Kenny (Elgin) and Kristin Kramer (Larkin) were all named to the all-ISCC first team, while Jaclyn Brannon (St. Charles North) was named to the all-ISCC second team.

Walker at Western Illinois: Hampshire grad Amanda Walker is now a junior guard on the Western Illinois University women's basketball team. Through the team's first 4 games of the season, Walker was averaging a team-high 12.3 points per game, while shooting an impressive .567 from the field. Walker led the team scoring, free-throw percentage and 3-point field-goal percentage last season. Western was 1-3 to start the week.

Off at College wants your help: Send information and/or statistics on Fox Valley area athletes playing collegiately to Mike Miazga at difibulator@aol.com.