Yelvington a big success on and off the court at Kenyon

An amazing ascent on the basketball court didn't keep Bryan Yelvington from losing sight of what mattered off the floor.

Yelvington went from a freshman "B" team player to a solid senior season at Hersey. Now the 6-foot-6 Yelvington is in the final stages of a stellar four-year career at Kenyon College, a Division III school in Ohio.

But one of the biggest honors Yelvington received was announced Monday when he was named to the ESPN The Magazine/College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-District second team. Yelvington has achieved a 3.34 grade point average with a double major in economics and political science.

Yelvington considered going to Northwestern after high school but wanted to keep playing the game he loved. That decision has paid off as he currently leads the North Coast Athletic Conference in scoring at 20.4 points a game and rebounding at 7.5 as Kenyon is having its best season in 14 years with a 14-7 record.

Yelvington was a first-team all-conference pick as a junior (15.3 ppg, 7.6 rpg), a second-team pick as a sophomore (13.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg) and started as a freshman (12.9 ppg, 7.4 rpg).

Also adding to Kenyon's success is senior Jimmy Arce (Leyden), a 6-3 guard who moved into the starting lineup this season and is averaging 4.7 points and has hit 26 3-pointers.

•Brian Centella (Grayslake) and Ricky Kolze (Fremd) achieved the same milestone at Loras College in January.

The seniors both hit the 1,000-point mark for their careers for a program celebrating its 100th birthday.

Loras is also having a solid season as it improved to 14-7 with Centella scoring 27 points and Kolze 13 in an 84-79 win in double overtime over Central College.

•Sophomore Brittany Hogen (Hersey) is making a big impact as Wisconsin-Parkside is 15-7 and tied for first in the Great Lakes Valley Conference's Eastern Division with Northern Kentucky.

Hogen's 7 points, 9 rebounds and defensive play helped Parkside beat Northern Kentucky, the nation's second-ranked Division II team. She also scored a career-high 19 points against Lewis and had 11 points in a 72-70 overtime win at Kentucky Wesleyan.

Hogen has started 14 games and is averaging 7.2 points and 4.3 rebounds.

•Chris McClellan (Wheeling) had one of the biggest games of his freshman season at Lewis as he came off the bench to score 14 points and hit four 3s in a 72-59 win over Kentucky Wesleyan, ranked No. 11 in Division II.

"I thought Chris played great," said Lewis coach Scott Trost. "He hit some big shots."

McClellan is averaging 5 points a game with 18 3s and has made 96.4 percent of his free throws.

•Melissa Gorski (Buffalo Grove) capped one of the biggest games of her career at Monmouth with a jumper with two seconds left for an 80-79 win over Lake Forest. Gorski finished with 30 points and 9 rebounds.

Track and field

Mandy Streu (Rolling Meadows) will have to keep setting higher goals at St. Ambrose.

Streu already got her college career off to a flying start by setting the school record in the shot put. This weekend at the Cornell College Hilltop Invite in Iowa, Streu's throw of 44-51/4 was 2 feet better than her previous best.

She hit the NAIA national qualifying mark with a throw which was seventh-best in the country in NAIA and the best for a freshman.

"What Mandy's doing as a freshman is just amazing," St. Ambrose head track and field coach Dan Tomlin said. "We knew she was going to be good, but to already throw 44 is really exciting. This season's not done yet, and I know she'll have to start making new goals."

• Success is continuing for three former Palatine standouts.

Amanda LaRocca of Illinois Wesleyan won the pentathlon at the Titan Open with a score of 3,431. The highlight was clearing 5-feet-7 in the high jump.

LaRocca has now qualified for the Division III Indoor Nationals in the 55 meters, 55 meter high hurdles and the pentathlon.

Jocelyn Kuksa of Grand Valley State won the Division II Challenge at Grand Valley in the pole vault with a career-best 12-63/4 to qualify for the Division II Indoor Nationals.

Amy Laskowske of Minnesota ran a career-best 9:34.46 for 3,000 meters at the Mayo Classic at Notre Dame.

•Five Mid-Suburban League products had big performances for North Central College in the Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawk Classic.

Sophomore Michael Spain (Schaumburg) won the 5,000 in 14:32.65 and senior John Lancaster (Palatine) was fourth in 14:37.67. They became provisional qualifiers for the Division III Indoor Nationals.

Freshman pole vaulter John Ward (Fremd) also qualified as he earned his first collegiate win by clearing 15-61/2.

Freshman Sarah Ahn (Hoffman Estates) was second in the 5,000 (18:41.85) and freshman Kala Bingham (Barrington) was third in the 800 (2:22.06) as the women's team won the meet by 2 points.

Gymnastics

These records had Danielle Doll (Carmel Catholic) beaming. In a meet at the University of Iowa on Jan. 31, Doll broke the Wisconsin-Whitewater record on the balance beam with a score of 9.725.

Doll's performance helped Whitewater set the team mark for a meet on beam with a 47.4. She was named the individual specialist athlete of the week for the school's gymnastics team.

Soccer

Senior Michael Armour (Warren) of the Carthage men's team was named to the CCIW/Jack Swartz all-academic team.

Armour played in 12 of 21 games and made 5 starts. the exercise and sport science major has a 3.77 GPA, has been named to the dean's list five times and is a four-semester member of the Carthage athletic director's honor roll.

Tennis

Senior Beth Kaufman (Barrington) of Carthage was named to the CCIW/Jack Swartz all-academic team.

Kaufman earned first-team all-CCIW honors in the fall and was second at No. 1 singles in the CCIW Women's Tennis Championship.

An elementary education major with a 3.98 GPA, Kaufman has been named to the dean's list on three occasions.

ESCC Hall of Fame

Former St. Viator athletic director Lynn Gaziano is part of this year's 11-member East Suburban Catholic Conference Hall of Fame class.

Gaziano, who moved into the same position at Glenbard East this summer, will be recognized March 12 at the Crystal Sky Banquet Hall in McCook.

Tickets are $50 and reservations can be made through any ESCC school. For information contact Notre Dame athletic director Mike Hennessey at (847) 779-8652.

Sports Notes items can be sent by e-mail to mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com or by FAX to (847) 427-1173.