College achievers: Christmas break
For the most part these local graduates' fall sports seasons are over. They now have the option of fattening up over the holidays like the rest of us. We're thinking they won't.
Just outstanding
Lewis University senior soccer goalkeeper Anthony Szymel, a Naperville North graduate, enjoyed a season unlike few others.
For the second time in his career, Szymel was named to the CoSIDA ESPN The Magazine First Team Academic All-District 5 Men's Soccer Team for the College Division. A business administration major, Szymel has a cumulative grade-point average of 3.66. The repeat Academic All-Great Lakes Valley Conference pick was also All-District in 2006 as a sophomore.
On the soccer field the Flyers' co-captain compiled a record of 14-1-4 with 10 shutouts. His goals-against average of 0.52 through games of Nov. 30 was fourth in Division II, and his save percentage of 88.5 percent led all Division II keepers.
'The Driscoll boys'
Driscoll football coach Brandon New said former Highlanders Tim Franken and Kevin Palermo were the first freshmen to start for Western Illinois in decades.
They didn't start a ton - Palermo started half of the 10 games he played, Franken three of 11 - but they did create an impact.
Palermo, a 225-pound linebacker, was ninth on the team in tackles with 30. Franken, a 190-pound defensive back, made 22 tackles and a team-high 4 interceptions.
The Driscoll boys had a good role model: Leathernecks senior linebacker Travis Cherry, out of Glenbard North, ranked third on the team in tackles.
Another Driscoll boy
Adam Davis was a handful last year at linebacker, but now he's a catcher on the University of Illinois baseball team. The Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association just released its 2008 award recipients, and Davis earned that body's award for Class 2A player of the year.
One good Burke deserves another
Judson University men's soccer coach Steve Burke, of West Chicago, made Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" section on Nov. 3.
The reason was Judson's 1-0 win over Trinity International on Oct. 4. With it Burke became the NAIA all-time men's soccer wins leader with 438. After winning the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference for a fifth straight season, a Nov. 22 loss ended the year with Burke standing at 446 victories.
Burke's son Corey graduated from Wheaton Academy and was a freshman midfielder for another NAIA school, Houghton College in New York. Incidentally, the soccer pitch is located on Burke Field, named after Corey's grandparents, Doug and Esther Burke.
Doug Burke, a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame, coached men's soccer at Houghton from 1967-1993, amassing 289 wins - tied for 10th all-time in NAIA men's soccer history.
There's more.
After Steve Burke transferred from Wheaton College, he went to Houghton to play for his dad in 1978 and 1979, earning most valuable player honors both seasons. The father-and-son duo were charter members of the Houghton Highlander Athletics Hall of Honor in 1994.
In other ex-Wheaton Academy news...
Taryne Lee, a junior soccer forward at Wheaton College, was named the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin's most outstanding player for a second straight year; she's the 14th consecutive Thunder player to get the big award.
The reigning Division III player of the year, Lee, a Wheaton Academy graduate, broke her own single-season program records with 29 goals and 70 assists entering today's national semifinal in Greensboro, N.C., against Williams College.
She was joined on the all-CCIW first team by two high school classmates: Wheaton defender Lauren Lindner and midfielder Maria Della Torre of Naperville.
Teamwork
It probably rings hollow now that North Central College's football team was ousted from the Division III playoffs last week by Franklin (Ind.) College. But...
Twice this season North Central's entire offensive line, including sophomore Kyle Antos out of Wheaton Warrenville South, was given individual honors by D3football.com.
The Cardinals swept the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin's big postseason awards, including offensive player of the year to former Naperville North quarterback Aaron Fanthorpe and coach of the year to former Wheaton Warrenville South coach John Thorne.
Big time in the Big Ten
Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton, the senior forward at Purdue out of Neuqua Valley, was named this week's Big Ten women's basketball co-player of the week, the second time she's earned the honor. Wisdom-Hylton averaged 15.3 points and 9.0 rebounds as the Boilermakers went 2-1 at the Waikiki Marriott Classic in Honolulu. In one game she went 10 of 11 from the floor and added a career-high 6 assists.
University of Illinois sophomore volleyball player Laura DeBruler, from Downers Grove North, was an unanimous all-Big Ten pick. Three times the outside hitter was named the conference's player of the week. She led the Big Ten in kills and points per set, and earned two national player of the week awards for her 31 kills to rally the Illini past Oregon. On Oct. 3 DeBruler registered Illinois' first 20-20 outing in six years with 24 kills and 22 digs against Minnesota.
Link
There's a nice story on the Fighting Illini Web site by Mike Koon of the school's sports information department, on the final volleyball Senior Day of Naperville North grad Lizzie Bazzetta, Nov. 22. When the season ends for the four-year starting setter it'll end an eight-year span that began with older sister Kathleen's four years as a defensive specialist.
doberhelman@dailyherald.com