Next direction: Up?

Before Brian Opoka interviewed for a teaching position at Montini two years ago, he needed to consult Mapquest.com for directions.

Opoka now is directing Montini's boys basketball program. Last week the 29-year-old Woodridge resident was chosen to succeed Tom Sloan, who resigned the position after seven seasons to devote more time to his young family.

Caught on his cell phone Tuesday, Opoka had just come out of a meeting with Brother Rice coach Pat Richardson.

"Just trying to pick his brain," Opoka said.

"I looked at a program that has had some success with kids I believe are of a similar nature," he said. "I looked at it from the standpoint of building a program that had not been super-successful."

While always scrappy, the Broncos' fortunes have dimmed since a pair of 20-win seasons around the turn of this century. In 2007-08 they were 11-18.

Opoka was an assistant coach last season at Morton College under one of his primary mentors, Frank Lollino Jr. He played his high school ball at Weber under another, John Bonk, who after a stint at St. Rita is now working some magic at Nazareth.

Opoka, a four-year letter winner in baseball at Quincy, also coached three sports for four seasons at St. Rita.

"This is a dream come true for me in my seventh year of coaching, with the opportunity to coach my own program," he said.

He'll do so using the base of a motion offense and halfcourt man-to-man defense he learned under Bonk.

"As we grow in the program and as the kids learn different things," Opoka said, "I believe we're going to go in the right direction with that as an approach."

It's a first

Freshman Alyssa Gaudio became North Central College's first female golfer to be selected to compete in the NCAA Women's Golf Championships, held May 13-16 in Waverly, Iowa.

Her claim to fame followed her individual title at the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin championships, another first for a North Central woman.

In Waverly, Gaudio shot a final-round 78, which put her 46th out of 111 in the NCAA Division III tourney.

Old hat

Benedictine University baseball coach John Ostrowski was recently honored as coach of the year in the Northern Athletics Conference, the fourth time this century he's won a league award. It's the first for the 36-year veteran in the NAC, which formed in 2006-07.

Ostrowski guided the Eagles to a conference title for a 16th season, helped by NAC rookie of the year Jake Thompson, a freshman out of Downers Grove South who allowed NAC batters to hit just .184 against him. Junior pitcher Dan Vincenti, out of St. Francis, joined Thompson on the honorable-mention team.

What's up…

Jeffrey Peltz Jr.

If the Wheaton North senior's life were a track event, it would be the decathlon. He was a co-captain of both the Falcons' football and boys tennis teams, while also playing violin in the school orchestra and studying toward a5.23 grade-point average. His tennis season over, this Category 1 speedskater will train to land one of four positions on the U.S. Junior World Cup Team. His bloodlines are impeccable: His father, Jeff, Wheaton College's defensive line coach, owns the school's all-time sacks record. His mother, Nancy Swider-Peltz,, set two speedskating records and was the first four-time female U.S. Winter Olympian. Jeffrey's sister, also Nancy, is a world-class speedskater herself.

Do you ever relax?

"Actually, I have a sign in my room that says, 'Relax' that I made myself get. My mom would say I'm the most relaxed person in the family. … I do a lot of things and everything I do, like speedskating, I do as hard as I can."

Your final high school orchestra concert was Tuesday. What's the toughest piece you played?

"Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. That's one I played and it was very challenging."

Who's your favorite classical composer?

"To play? Mozart's always fun, I always like him. Mendelssohn's pretty good."

We hear you're also an artist. What's your medium?

"I really like oil painting. Impressionist-type of stuff."

When did you start skating?

"Probably when I was 2 years old."

You're going to defer your first year of college to train for the U.S. Junior World Cup speedskating team, long track. What's the thrill of speedskating?

"One of the main things I like about speedskating is it's a sport that not many people do. So when people hear you do it, it's like 'wow.'

"Of course, you're going like super-fast, around 35 mph. Another huge benefit is you travel. If I make the Junior World Cup Team I'll go to Poland. My sister went to Japan and Norway and Germany and the Netherlands."

You've already trained in Norway, Canada, Salt Lake City and Milwaukee. In your travels, what have you learned about people?

"This is pretty deep. I'm used to being done with thinking now that school's over.

"I've made a lot of friends, so it's been real easy to make friends and get to know people."

Who's your sports hero?

"I can't not say my mom, because she made four Olympics, and from what she's told me and what I've learned from others, she was one of the hardest-training individuals in speedskating. She kept making Olympic Trials until 2002 (at age 45)."

We're in an age of specialization in sports. You're very diversified. Any regrets on not focusing on one thing?

"I think these different activities I've done throughout my life, I'm pretty sure they're going to help me in whatever I do. I've got a lot of future ahead of me."