Three reasons to cheer for this state tournament

As we continue with a three- and four-class system in Illinois high school sports, stories like this one are bound to become more abundant.

But for this year, and this coming weekend, it's quite unique.

Let's set the scenario correctly before we move on. Burlington Central, St. Edward and St. Charles East have all reached the Final Four of IHSA girls volleyball and will compete for state championships this weekend at Redbird Arena in Normal -the Rockets in Class 3A, the Green Wave in 2A and the Saints in 4A.

Now, it's rare enough to have three schools so close to each other geographically in the same state final tournament, but that's just the beginning of this story.

See, BC coach Marv Leavitt coached at both St. Charles and St. Edward before he went to Rocket Hill. In fact, the year after he left each program they made it downstate -St. Charles in 1998 and St. Edward in 2004. And the coaches that took them there -Jennie Kull at St. Charles East and Jaime Walton at St. Edward - are still coaching at those respective schools.

Now Leavitt, for the first time, joins the party on the sidelines at Redbird. He had coached the Saints to sectional finals and the Green Wave to supsersectionals, but never made it to state until this year with the Rockets, despite the fact he has a 531-159 career record in his 19 years of coaching.

"I'm still pulling for those teams," said Leavitt of the Saints and Green Wave. "I was at St. Charles for so long ... 15 years ... it will always be a special place to me. Jennie and I are great friends and I respect her so much. I always want them to do well. And, I had a great five years at St. Edward. I'm so happy to see Jaime take the program to an even higher level.

"At St. Charles, I just wanted to carry on the tradition my mentor (Shirley Fasbender) started. At all three schools I've had athletes who wanted to be successful and that's half the battle."

Walton's situation at St. Edward may be the most unique in this story. While Kull had coached for Leavitt, Walton didn't know who he was, or who her players were for that matter, when she came to St. Edward from Edon, Ohio five years ago, then just 25 and with no experience as a high school head coach, but whose father, Don, was and still is the longtime and highly successful coach at Edon.

Walton, now 123-69-2 at St. Edward, doesn't coach the same type of athlete Leavitt and Kull do. While St. Charles East and Burlington volleyball players mostly concentrate on volleyball only, St. Edward has a plethora of girls who are two and three-sport athletes. Heck, one of the Green Wave's best players, senior Katie Yohn, is going to Bradley on a basketball scholarship. That Walton has taken the St. Edward program to the next level and its second state appearance, is a testament to her ability to allow her student-athletes to balance all they have to balance.

"The last few years we haven't had the club athletes that St. Ed's used to have," said Walton, who is the director of recruiting for Sky High Volleyball Club, but who also is an advocate of girls at St. Edward playing other sports.

"It takes a lot of kids to make good quality teams at St. Ed's. We've had multisport athletes instead of club players so my challenge here has been to coach athletes and not specifically volleyball players.

"Coaching club you're coaching kids who already know the basics. At St. Ed's I have to go back to the basics and that's the type of athlete I like to coach."

For Kull, maintaining the successful program she inherited has been a matter of not only having dedicated athletes, but a having a family within the coaching staff of a program she has done a more than splendid job with in keeping it at the top of the charts every year.

"Our team motto this year is 'Build on Tradition' and Marv started that tradition," said Kull, who was also the Saints' varsity softball coach when she took over the volleyball program in 1998. "We still do the team trip he started and we still have the club program he started. Marv started a coaching family at St. Charles and we've kept that. Jim Reed and Mark Wallin have been with us since Marv was here."

Kull, now 356-111 in her 12 years at St. Charles and the owner of a state championship (2001) and a third-place finish (last year), agrees that this unique opportunity of having three programs at state where several of the girls competing know each other well, and the schools are less than 15 miles apart, is a byproduct of four classes.

"Going to four classes is wonderful," said Kull, whose 2001 state championship team might be one of the best collection of volleyball players to ever wear the same uniform on a high school team. "It allows all three of us to be there. We'll be rooting for them and they'll be rooting for us."

As it should be. And if all three come home with state championships Saturday night, maybe they can all get together and throw a Grant Park-like celebration. At least no one would have to travel very far.

jradtke@dailyherald.com