Another classy group headed to Wheeling Hall of Fame

The third Wheeling athletic Hall of Fame class is definitely first class.

The five inductees include the school's first state champion, one of its greatest gymnasts, one of its first standout athletes, a coaching pioneer and an unsung hero.

Here's a look at who will be inducted at halftime of the Jan. 17 boys basketball game with Prospect:

Rick Orna was Wheeling's first state champion as he won the still rings in the 1968 boys gymnastics meet. Orna was part of a fifth-place state team and Mid-Suburban League champion and was the school's athlete of the year.

Orna coached gymnastics at Lake Park with the boys for 16 years and the girls for 3 years. The school's freshman gymnastics meet is named after Orna.

Wendy Lahucik Sanchez was the girls gymnastics state champion on the balance beam in 1990 and 1991. In 1991 she was the Illinois gymnast of the year and MSL, regional and sectional all-around champion.

She coached gymnastics at Maine South and Barrington and is married to Barrington head football caoch and Wheeling graduate Joe Sanchez.

Jim Whittington earned all-conference football honors in 1965 and captained the football and baseball teams in 1965-66. Whittington returned to Wheeling as a long-time teacher and administrator and went on to become principal at York and Vernon Hills.

Donna Dubbelde was a Title IX pioneer for women's athletics and a head coach in girls basketball for 18 years, volleyball for 8 years and track for 6 years at Wheeling. Dubbelde was also an assistant coach for badminton, softball, tennis and track.

Dubbelde was the physical education division head for 9 years and was inducted into the Illinois Girls Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1998. She was also a four-year varsity basketball player at Illinois State.

Bert Perlow was a long-time physical education teacher at Holmes Middle School and a volunteer football assistant at Wheeling for 31 years.

Perlow was the architect of the school's strength and conditioning program. He was also the long-time wrestling coach at Holmes, which sent many standout wrestlers to Wheeling's successful program.

Basketball

Former Schaumburg teammates Craig Reichel and Zach Pancratz started their college careers together at Northern Illinois. Now they're finishing them as seniors at Division II Rollins College in Florida.

Reichel, who transferred to Rollins after his freshman year, is averaging 9.2 points and 5.8 rebounds a game. Pancratz, who spent his first three years at NIU, is averaging 13 points and 6.2 rebounds.

•Freshman Alex Toth (Prospect) has been an immediate contributor to the country's top Division III team.

Toth is averaging 3.7 points and 2.6 rebounds as defending national champion Washington University (St. Louis) is off to a 7-0 start and ranked No. 1 in the country.

•Freshman Chris McClellan (Wheeling) had 8 points and 4 assists and hit two 3-pointers in 24 minutes for Lewis University in an 81-65 win over Missouri-St. Louis.

•Seniors Ricky Kolze (Fremd) and Brian Centella (Grayslake) are almost inseparable statistically in helping Loras College to a 5-2 start.

Kolze is averaging 16.6 points and 4.6 rebounds and Centella is at 16.1 points and 4.4 rebounds.

•Kylie Castans (Schaumburg) and Nikki Preston (Wheeling) have come off the bench to help the Illinois Wesleyan women to a 5-0 start.

Castans is averaging 7 points and Preston is averaging 6 points and 2.8 rebounds.

•Pat Barron (Mundelein) averaged 15.7 points in a 3-game span for Cardinal Stritch University. Barron scored a career-high 29 points in an 89-79 win over Valley City State University in the Viterbo tournament and made the all-tourney team.

Football

Two MSL products have played reserve roles as Wheaton College has advanced to the Division III semifinals for the first time in school history.

Ric Radcliffe (Prospect) has played in 7 games at quarterback and has also returned punts and kicks. Safety Jon Sesso (Barrington) has seen action in 6 games.

Wheaton will face top-ranked Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio on Saturday.

Baseball

Former Buffalo Grove star Tim Bogar helped the Tampa Bay Rays make their incredible turnaround to American League champions in his first year as their quality assurance coach.

Now Bogar is going over to the team he helped beat for the AL crown as he was hired as the first base coach for the Boston Red Sox. It's a full-time return to the field for Bogar as his position with the Rays had him on the field before games and scouting from the press box during games.

Bogar had a nine-year major league career as a player and was also a successful minor league manager for four years.

Rugby

The Arlington Stallions Rugby Club will have its sign up day Sunday, Jan. 11 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Wellness Center at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights.

The club has middle school and high school boys teams which play in the spring. The club's high school team was second in the state in 2007 and fourth in 2008.

New players are welcome and questions can be directed to Paul Bergman at (847) 590-8536.

Volleyball

For the second straight season, senior Jenny Peterson (Hersey) of Taylor University was named an NAIA scholar-athlete. Peterson, an outside hitter who majors in business management and marketing systems, also was a Mid-Central College Conference first-team all-league selection and finished ninth in school history for kills in a career.

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