Toth, Richter have roles in Washington U.'s title repeat
A little more than a year ago, Alex Toth was helping Prospect basketball begin its resurgence as it won a share of the Mid-Suburban East title.
A little more than a week ago, Toth helped Washington University in St. Louis continue its dominance in NCAA Division III men's basketball.
Toth played in every game this season as Washington finished with a 29-2 record and won its second straight Division III national title with a 61-52 win over Richard Stockton College in Salem, Va.
Toth, a 6-foot-6 forward, played 16 minutes in the championship game and had 2 points and 4 rebounds as Washington became the fourth repeat Division III men's basketball champion.
He also had 6 points in 10 minutes in the semifinals and 4 points and 5 rebounds in a 79-64 win over top-ranked St. Thomas in the regional finals.
Toth started two games and averaged 5 points and 3.1 rebounds and shot 62 percent from the field.
Freshman Dylan Richter (Stevenson) also played a big role in Washington's push to the national title before he suffered a broken foot in an NCAA tournament first-round win over Lawrence. Richter played in 26 games and averaged 5.7 points and 3 rebounds.
Sean Wallis, who played on Glenbrook North's 2005 Class AA state champion, was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four as he averaged 15.5 points and 7.5 assists in the two games. Wallis had 16 points and 10 assists in the championship.
Wallis' former Glenbrook North teammate Zach Kelly and Maine South product John Wolf also played key roles for Washington.
• Bryan Yelvington (Hersey) saw his stellar career at Kenyon College end with two more significant honors. The North Coast Athletic Conference player of the year was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division III all-America team and the d3hoops.com All-Region team.
Softball
Kim Chalekian (Wheeling) led Loras College to a 6-2 record at the Rebel Spring Games in Florida. Chalekian had 9 RBI on 12 hits - with two key hits leading to game-winning runs - and finished with a .500 on-base percentage.
Track and field
Kevin Dwyer (Hersey) won the decathlon for Miami University (Ohio) in the Charlotte 49er Classic. Dwyer won the discus, shot put, long jump, pole vault, high jump and 100 meters and scored 7,452 points.
Dwyer became a provisional NCAA qualifier and was only 48 points short of automatic qualification. He went 24 feet, 21/2 inches in the long jump to qualify for the NCAA MidEast Regional and was one of the Mid-American Conference's athletes of the week in track and field.
• Eastern Illinois Junior Kris Gehrke (Wauconda) placed second in the men's 400-meter hurdles at the University of Georgia Relays outdoor track meet in a time of 53.7.
• Adrian Kibiersza (Maine West) of Aurora University won the shot put in an NCAA Division III qualifying 51-53/4 and won the discus in 153-21/2 at the Wisconsin Lutheran College Warrior Invite.
• Three area products won events for the Illinois State men's and women's teams in the Southern Illinois Spring Classic.
Freshman Mat Smoody (Palatine) earned his first collegiate victory in the 800 in 1:52.18. Sophomore Michelle Brunk (Palatine) won the women's 800 in 2:15.64.
Freshman Tori Ziegler (Grant) won the shot put with a 45-13/4.
Fencing
Sophomore Jarrett Rodrigues (Lincolnshire), a second-year starter on the University of North Carolina fencing team, was named recently to the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor Roll.
Rodrigues' three-person epee team won the 2009 Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association (MACFA) Epee Team Championship in March. UNC also won the overall Men's MACFA Team Championship.
Rodrigues will join a delegation representing Duke and the University of North Carolina traveling to Vietnam this summer to work with school-aged children. Known as the Coach for College program, Rodrigues will teach math, physics and volleyball to sixth through ninth grade students in the southern province of Hau Giang.
The purpose of the program is to use athletes from rival schools to help encourage learning and the pursuit of higher education in rural parts of developing countries.
Gymnastics
Danni Doll (Carmel) earned all-America honors on the balance beam as she helped Wisconsin-Whitewater take third in the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association national championships.
Doll scored a 9.4 to finish eighth on beam.
Baseball
Zach Scipione (Conant) went 3-for-4 with an RBI for Judson College in a 7-6 win over Purdue-North Central.
Softball
Kim Chalekian (Wheeling) led Loras College to a 6-2 record at the Rebel Spring Games in Florida. Chalekian had 9 RBI on 12 hits - with two key hits leading to game-winning runs - and finished with a .500 on-base percentage.
Volleyball
Freshman Ken Ropiak (Conant) is a middle blocker on the St. Ambrose JV team that has a 27-2-2 record.
Sports Notes items should be sent by e-mail to mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com or FAX at (847) 427-1173.