Amateur boxing a hit with Benet grad

In the old days Mike Lee floated like a butterfly on the basketball court.

A starting linebacker at Benet his senior year in 2004, his hits stung like a bee.

Boxing, though, gives him the biggest jolt of all.

Lee, 20, a junior at Notre Dame, won the 176-pound weight class of the 78th annual Bengal Bouts.

On March 14 at the Joyce Center in South Bend he won a unanimous decision over pal Andres Villalba, earning an award for best boxer of the tournament in the process.

"My fight was one of the most exciting fights, if not the most exciting fight, of the night," said Lee, who repeated as 176-pound champ.

"It wasn't very technical. It became more of a brawl. We both hit each other a lot of times."

Boxing has been at Notre Dame since Knute Rockne originated inter-hall bouts in 1920. In 1931 the championships became a fundraiser for Holy Cross Bengal Missions in what is now Bangladesh.

The donation in 1931 was $500. This year's haul from sales of tickets, merchandise and advertising was 200 times that.

The Mission has built elementary and secondary schools and provided medical care, occupational training and more on the backs of Notre Dame boxers. A camera crew is filming a documentary on the relationship that, Lee said, they'll submit to the Sundance Film Festival.

"The great thing about all the money we're donating over there -- I know it was over $100,000 last year and it ended up being over $1.5 million (in Bangladesh) -- in terms of what currency can do over there, it's unbelievable," Lee said.

He's no palooka. A finance major with a 3.2 grade-point average and a cumulative 3.5 GPA, including his freshman year at Missouri, Lee's transformative moment came at ringside of the 75th Bengal Bouts watching his cousin in action.

"I'd definitely say at that moment I wanted to box," said Lee, who transferred to Notre Dame in part because of the program.

It's definitely a grind, the five-month-long routine of multiple daily workouts and stark diet cutting into even -- the horror -- spring break.

Lee will gladly absorb the punishment again for a chance at a rare Bengal Bouts three-peat next year.

"The feeling of training for months and basically going 1-on-1 without any teammates, all out for three rounds, it's the best feeling in the world."

Love 200

In Saturday's boys tennis match at Brother Rice, St. Francis coach Marcia Bussey will be going for her 200th career victory. The Spartans will need to win all four matches for her to reach the magic number.

Bussey, coach of both boys and girls tennis teams at St. Francis, is in her ninth season at St. Francis.

In a release sent by the school, former Spartans star and class salutatorian Connor Dawson, now playing at Yale, said: "Mrs. Bussey has influenced me greatly as a tennis player, but even more as a person. She taught me every-day actions to see the positive in everything."

Brainiacs

The Illinois High School Association recently released its 2007-08 All-State Academic Team.

Twenty-six students were chosen from a pool of nearly 500 applicants. The minimum grade-point average was 3.50 on a 4.0 scale.

Two made it from the county -- Neuqua Valley distance-racing phenom Chris Derrick and Hinsdale South badminton ace Deepa Ramaduri.

Honorable-mention selections included a trio of track athletes: Benet's Sarah Clark, Naperville Central's Steve Couch and Waubonsie Valley's Mark Homan.

Just so you know…

According to SportsKnowHow.com, in competitive badminton the shuttlecock, or birdie, is made with 16 real feathers: "Experts claim the very best shuttles are made from the feathers taken from the left wing of a goose."

One online badminton supply retailer has stated that due to bird flu, tournament-grade goose feather is in a "big shortage."

Stats junkies unite

We've run items about prep basketball analyst Charlie Essig for years. His "Essig Report" ranks boys basketball teams throughout the season, weighed heavily on strength of schedule.

Essig just released a cumulative ranking based on the last 13 years of upper-class basketball -- formerly Class AA, now classes 3A/4A.

According to Essig, the best showing by a team in DuPage County over that time is (drum roll, please) Naperville Central, with an average rank of 64th among all big schools.

Hot on the Redhawks' heels is Neuqua Valley at 65 and Waubonsie Valley at 66. Neuqua dramatically improved over a 264 ranking in its inaugural 1998-99 season when it went 6-22.

Essig's best in state? Simeon, with an average ranking of 12. West Aurora followed at 18.

Givin' 'em what for

Last Sunday, some of Illinois' top wrestlers gained revenge on Team Iowa at the Iowa vs. Illinois All-Star Classic in Bettendorf, Iowa.

The Illinoisans answered their 2007 defeat by drubbing Iowa 31-22.

Pat Walker of Glenbard East gave Team Illinois an early 3-3 tie with his 6-4 decision at 215 pounds.

Pins by Glenbard North wrestlers Geno Capezio and Vince Ramos at 130 and 145, respectively, gave Illinois the decisive separation.