Impending record gratifying to JU's Burke

Judson University men's soccer coach Steve Burke got a nice surprise recently when he was on the school's athletic Web site.

There he saw the special countdown box regarding Burke becoming the all-time NAIA men's soccer coaching wins leader.

As of press time, Burke, a 25-year veteran of the Judson program, needed 2 wins to surpass Rockhurst University's Tony Tocco as the all-time NAIA wins leader with 438. Judson played Trinity Christian on Wednesday. Burke could break the record Saturday at Trinity International University in Deerfield (2 p.m. start).

"A former player of mine called me and was talking about this celebration thing," said Burke. "I asked him what he was talking about. It was the first I had hard of it. The sports information director thought it would be a nice surprise seeing it up there.

"I'm very excited about it. People around here are making a big deal about it with the countdown. I've been getting a lot of calls from former players. It's the culmination of a long career. It's nice to have something like that."

Burke said approaching such a milestone wouldn't be possible without the players on the field.

"No question about that," said Burke. "All of the kids have contributed to the success and the championships. Each year presents a different group and a different team. A couple of former players I was talking to not too long ago were part of wins 1 and 25."

The relationships he has forged with his players over the years is something Burke holds in extremely high regard.

"A lot of the guys have kept in touch over the years. It's great to have those kinds of relationships," said Burke. "The relationships with the players are more meaningful than anything else. It's all the people that have come through the program. That's more memorable than all of the wins."

Burke feels there is no way to ever fairly assess which of his teams was the best or was his all-time favorite.

"We've had a lot of good players here over the years," said Burke. "Every team is different. If you ask me what my favorite team was that's like asking me who my favorite child is. I've got 3 kids. All the teams were different. They all had their moments and their assets. It's been a fun time with all of these players."

As far as his coaching career, Burke has no immediate plans for retirement. His youngest daughter, Lindsey, is a sophomore at West Chicago High School. Burke noted he's been fortunate in the fact his employment at Judson has provided the benefit of a college tuition exchange with other universities. His oldest son, Bryan is at Biola University in California, while his other son, Corey, is at Houghton College in New York.

"All of them were soccer players and all of them enjoyed being part of this and growing up around Judson," said Burke.

Burke said there is one simple explanation why he has been able to build a top-notch collegiate soccer program.

"Hard work," said Burke. "I've been blessed to get some key players in here over the years. I've developed connections and the team got better. We started drawing in more players and it snowballed. Success breeds success. It made recruiting easier from that standpoint. With the advent of the Web and the internet, people can see where the top programs are and who the teams are that are going to the national tournaments."

Burke takes pride in the fact he has never left the country to recruit a foreign player.

"Top-level NAIA teams, most of the top teams have international players," said Burke. "In 25 years, all of the international players we've had, I've never once gone out of the country to recruit. I did it all through e-mail and recommendations and videotape. I've had to work extremely hard here to get good players. They come here and they like the school, they like the campus and they like the people. I try to foster an environment with the players where they know I care about them. I do whatever I can to make things good for this program."

Burke will be honored in a celebration of his career on Saturday, Oct. 25 at Dawson Field.

Judson was 5-3 through its first 8 matches of the season this year.

"We're starting to get it together," said Burke. "We've been playing very well as we get into the heart of the season and into our conference."

Judson is the 4-time defending CCAC champion, but has started the season 0-1 in league play.

"Everybody is gunning for us," said Burke. "That makes it especially hard. We're 0-1. We've got a little ground to make up now."

Senior forward Milos Bajic and junior midfielder Gustavo Oliveira each had 4 goals to lead the team to start the week. Both are returning all-conference players.

Senior captain Vitor Bravo and sophomore goalie Alex Tyton (Trinity International transfer; Larkin alum) have also been playing well for the Eagles.

ECC women's tennis: The Elgin Community College women's tennis team is enjoying another banner campaign under the direction of veteran coach Clark Hallpike.

Through the first part of the week, ECC was undefeated in match play and out of the 63 individual matches played in the region the Spartans were 60-3.

"We're dominating big-time," said Hallpike.

ECC recently won the Skyway tournament and is a favorite to win the region tournament that starts today at Waubonsee Community College. ECC has won matches against region teams this year by scores of either 9-0 or 8-1.

The Spartans have excelled thanks in some part to a distinct Elgin High School family connection.

Hallpike's top 3 singles players are sisters Sara Hegel, Rebekah Hegel and Rachel Hegel. Their cousin, Dana Altieri, plays No. 3 doubles.

Dundee-Crown graduate Danielle Sum is a co-captain with Sara Hegel. Sum and Sara Hegel are the only two seniors on the team. In addition to playing singles, Sum teams up with Altieri in doubles play. Sum won the region tournament at No. 3 singles last year.

D-C alum Kim Miller is also having a strong season at No. 4 singles. She also plays doubles with Rebekah Hegel.

D-C's Maria Ballester, St. Charles East grad Megan Joyce and Larkin's Aleah Turk have also contributed. Hallpike likes the intensity Joyce brings to the table.

"She's probably the most intense player I've ever coached," said Hallpike.

Hallpike and the Spartans have a distinct goal for this year's region tournament.

"Our goal, and it is an ambitious goal, is to win all 9 championships (6 singles and 3 doubles)," said Hallpike. "We want to make a clean sweep."

The winning team advances to the NJCAA tournament in Tucson, Ariz.

Judson women's volleyball: The Judson women's volleyball team is on the rebound after playing a good chunk of the season without sophomore setter Carly Campioni (Crystal Lake South).

"We were 2-13 before she got back," said Judson coach Craig Vliestra. "She came back this past weekend. We're much more improved. Having her back, we were able to move people back to their regular positions. We're a much different team at this point. But we're so far behind right now. Other teams have played at full strength for 7 or 8 weeks. This year has been a little rough."

Larkin alum Deb Leganski (NCCAA All-American second-team selection in 2007) has been one of a number of bright spots for the Eagles this year.

"Deb has been absolutely phenomenal," said Vliestra. "She was the female athlete of the year at Judson last year. We moved her from libero to outside hitter. She's 5-foot-7 and playing the front row and has been doing a great job for us."

Danielle Dull (Waupun, Wis.) has also had a strong season.

"Danielle has stepped up huge for us," said Vliestra. "Her and Deb are our 2 main attackers."

Judson cross country: For a first-year collegiate varsity program, Judson cross country coach Rich Weinhandl has absolutely no complaints.

"We're doing good for a first-year program," said Weinhandl, who is at the helm of the men's and women's teams that returned to action this year after a 12-year hiatus. "I couldn't be happier. We've got a very good first-year recruitment class with 10 men and 8 women. We've got some Division I-caliber level athletes that chose Judson because it has a small-school atmosphere or they were looking for a close-knit college rather than a big, spread out university."

In recent action, freshman Rachel Dean (Lakes High School) took first at an invitational held at Aurora University. She was also third at the Cedarville invitational.

"As a team we've been right in the middle of the pack and that's to be expected for a first-year program, actually being at the bottom of the pack is expected for a first-year program," said Weinhandl.

The Judson women were seventh out of 18 teams at Cedarville, while the men were 12th out of 20 teams.

"I was very pleased with our times there," said Weinhandl. "Our times have been pretty respectable. We're still improving our spread. One through 5, we are very strong on the men's side. A couple of the women are still nursing injuries (Kim Peek and Salina Durston)."

Dean, a Lindenhurst native, is the women's top runner, while Matt De Ball (Sycamore) is the men's top runner.

Freshman Abbie DuPont (Springfield) and Sandra Hubbard (Moraine Valley transfer) have also been key contributors for the women's team.

"Those three have run very well," said Weinhandl.

Besides De Ball, Nick Sustersic, Dakota West (Lake County College transfer; Antioch High School graduate), Robert Altenburger and Ethan Hahn (Lakes High School) have also excelled.

"Our top 5 are all within a minute of a minute-20 of each other."

Weinhandl said the team's immediate success will bode well for the future.

"I've been very pleased right from the get-go," said Weinhandl. "It's given our program credibility. We're already doing very well with next year's recruitment class. We've got 2 men and 2 women already from Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan and a local girl from Illinois. We've got athletes taking a closer look at us."

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