Cross country champs plan reunion
Buffalo Grove High School is becoming very adept at holding retirement ceremonies for head coaches with distinguished careers.
There's another party planned for a giant in coaching.
"Giant" may be a reach as far as actual physical size, but certainly not as far as this man's stature in the field of high school education and coaching.
John Wendell, varsity baseball coach at Buffalo Grove for 23 years, will join BG coaching legends Tom Dineen and Rich Roberts on the sidelines with his June retirement.
The school has scheduled Friday, May 9, as the celebration for Wendell prior to the senior night 4:30 p.m. baseball game with Rolling Meadows.
Past players, coaches, family and friends have been invited to take part in the pre-game and post-game festivities and share their memories of coach Wendell.
For additional information, contact Mark Schaetzlein, assistant principal for student activities, at (847) 718-4019, or mark.schaetzlei@d214.org.
Cross country
Arlington High School's 1967 state championship boys cross country team will hold a reunion on Monday, May 26, at the Rolling Meadows Holiday Inn, 3405 Algonquin.
The reception will begin at 6:30 p.m.
Coached by Bruce Samoore, Arlington edged Proviso West by 1 point for the team title.
Members of the state championship team were Dave Dieters, Rory Cassidy, Rich Saxton, Tom Swanson, Joe Hooker, Jim Stubbs, Per Hveem, Dave Marszalek, Ken Malcolmson and Scott Butler.
For more information, contact Samoore at 920-568-9691.
Baseball
After 29 games, catcher Ray Kosmicki (Schaumburg) was hitting .433 for Aurora University. He went 5-for-5 against Elmhurst College with 2 home runs, 3 runs scored and 3 RBI.
• Pitcher Caleb Johnson (Conant) of Trinity International University continues to lead the Chicago Collegiate Athletic Conference with his 1.82 ERA for 11 games, eight as a starter. He has 2 shutouts and 5 complete games and averages 7.79 strikeouts per game.
• After a slow start, Matt Davis (Prospect) of Eastern Kentucky has raised his average to .285 for 41 games. He has 41 hits with 9 doubles, 4 triples and 2 home runs.
• Carl Petersen (Maine West) of Concordia University Chicago has improved his pitching record to 6-2, and Ryan Hantel (Prospect) is 4-2. J. D. Rotzol (Prospect) is hitting .425 after going .565 in six games with 6 homers.
Softball
Nicole Pauly (Palatine) of Northwestern was named the Big Ten player of the week. She batted .538 in four games, driving in 8 runs, scoring seven times and hitting a pair of doubles and 2 homers.
• The Elk Grove connection continues to hit in college. Molly Meyer was batting .333 through 49 games at Dayton, and Ashley Sloan stood at a team-leading .368 in 36 games at Yale.
• Karlee Quaritsch (Palatine) of Augustana College was hitting .367 after 38 games. She leads the team in runs (32) and home runs (8).
• Kat Krause (Hersey) of Loyola University was named Female Scholar-Athlete of the Week. A two-time honoree this spring, Krause, a psychology major with 3.82 GPA, has also been a member of the Horizon League Academic Honor Roll and in 2007 helped Loyola to a National Fastpitch Coaches Association Team Academic Award.
• Freshman pitcher Claire Voris (Barrington) of Washington University St. Louis stands 13-4 with a 1.96 ERA. Senior shortstop Laura D'Andrea (Prospect) is hitting .291 in 33 games.
Track and field
Abe Jones (Rolling Meadows) won the invitational 400-meter hurdles in 50.01 at the Drake Relays, the 11th fastest time by an American this season. Jones has won six Drake Relays titles.
• Mike Murray (Prospect) was the University of Illinois' top finisher on the opening day of the Drake Relays with a fifth in the unseeded 1,500 meters. He ran a personal-best 3:53.47.
Water polo
Megan Barry (St. Viator) and her Michigan State teammates will compete in the Collegiate Water Polo Association nationals starting May 1 in Portland, Ore. Michigan State beat Michigan for the Big Ten title.
Barry's graduation is also scheduled for the May 1 weekend, but the honors student in molecular biology, who won the genetics division for research, will play in the nationals as captain and starter for the Spartans. She is heading to medical school in August.
Golf
Abbie Many (Prospect) of Northern Illinois University closed with a 79 Sunday at the Mid-American Conference Women's Golf Championship in Indianapolis. She tied for 21st overall with rounds of 81-80-81-79.
Tennis
Eric Moss (Maine West) of Oakton Community College ruled No. 2 singles at the NJCAA Region IV tournament.
Wrestling
The 2008 Prairieville Open will be held on Saturday, May 24, at Buffalo Grove High School.
Weigh-ins are scheduled from 6:30-8 a.m., and wrestling starts at 9 a.m.
An AAU card is required and will be available at the door for $12 up to age 18 and $22 for 19 and up. You also can go online at www.aausports.org.
The tournament fee is $15 at the door with no pre-registration.
All brackets are four-man round robin, block weights. Weight classes are determined by the age as of the day of the tournament.
Wrestlers may bump up one age group but not into the adult division.
High school seniors who are 19 must wrestle in the 19-29 division. Bracketing will be strictly by weight and in straight order.
For more information, contact tournament director Dave Durlacher at (847) 977-7050.
Rugby
Britton Meihls (Hoffman Estates) of Purdue University (6-3) scored a try (touchdown) at the wing position in Purdue's 55-5 win over Loyola Chicago that ended the season.
Cheerleading
Twins Amanda and Christina Schweinebraten (Conant) have been selected to be on Illinois State University's co-ed cheerleader squad for 2008-09. In addition to cheering at home sports events, they will also compete at the Division I National Cheerleader Competition in Florida in 2009.