Shurna fits right in with U-19 standouts

Glen Ellyn's John Shurna is all-American... in a sense.

As reported on June 18, the former Glenbard West basketball star was among 17 players trying out for 12 spots on the USA Basketball Under-19 World Championship Team. After three days of tryouts at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Shurna made the cut.

On June 25 the team flew to Auckland, New Zealand, where from July 2-12 they'll compete for the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship. All 12 players chosen by the selection committee, chaired by Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, recently completed their freshman year at an NCAA Division I school. As a true redshirt at Northwestern, in 2008-2009 the 6-foot-8 Shurna averaged 7.3 points and 3.0 rebounds while starting all 31 games for the Wildcats.

Within 24 hours of arriving in New Zealand, the Americans handily beat Croatia in an exhibition, 97-68. Shurna scored 9 points and led the USA team with 8 rebounds.

In a release posted on the USA Basketball Web site, head coach Jamie Dixon said, "John Shurna played really well today..."

Among 16 under-19 teams competing for a world title, the USA squad is grouped with Iran - kicking off preliminary-round play July 2 - France (July 3) and Egypt (July 4). The United States took the silver in the most recent U19 World Championships, held in Serbia in 2007.

Road warriors: Scrambling to fill the spot vacated by the closing of Driscoll, Immaculate Conception athletic director Darren Howard stated that the defending Class 2A state champion Knights will open the football season Aug. 29 against Bishop Ready, out of Columbus, Ohio. Better yet, IC and Ready will be playing at Park Tudor High School in Indianapolis.

Oh so close: Benet's McKinzie Schulz finished 0.10 seconds off the leader in the 2,000-meter steeplechase on June 30 at the USA Track and Field World Youth Trials in Ypsilanti, Mich.

Braving a reported 58 degrees with wind and rain, Colorado's Eleanor Fulton required a late surge to edge Schulz, an incoming senior at Benet and a two-time national champion in steeplechase. Fulton won in 6 minute, 48.01 seconds to Schulz's 6:48.11.

Other local competitors included Naperville North's Tyler Jermann (fifth, 3,000) and West Chicago's Annette Eichenberger (12th, heptathlon). Schulz also placed fifth in the girls' 1,500 at 4:41.09.

Schulz's steeplechase performance may yet be sufficient to reach the sixth IAAF World Youth Championships, July 8-12 in Bressanone, Italy. For the first time USATF athletes will be chosen based on their efforts at the Youth Trials instead of being chosen by a selection committee based on past performances at national events.

Nike Outdoor Nationals: Schulz came off training runs in the 800 meters and 1-mile run on June 20 at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro, N.C.

Incoming North Central College freshman Tom Stacey Jr., out of Glenbard North, placed ninth in pole vault at 15 feet, 23/4 inches.

Lake Park's Lindsay Flanagan placed second in the girls 5,000-meter run, while Lake Park incoming junior Jermaine Kline was 13th in discus at 158 feet, 9 inches. (Kentucky-bound Dan Block, recently named Gatorade's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year for Illinois, fouled in all attempts in both shot put and discus; a week later he recovered to place third in discus, at 191-6, at the 2009 USA Junior Championships in Eugene Ore.)

IHSA Class 3A state champion York had a full complement at the NON. The foursome of John Fox, Khara Williams, Tarrence Williams and Jimmy Sullivan took second in the 800-meter relay and eighth in the 400 relay. The group of Jordan Herbert, Patrick Morgan, Jack Driggs and Steve Sulkin placed seventh in the 4-mile relay.

Sprinter Khara Williams gave the "Kroy Track Club" a boost in the distance medley. Williams joined Herbert, 800-meter ace David Way and the Minnesota-bound Sulkin to run a second-place time of 9:57.22. It was the second-fastest time of the season - still a little more than 2 seconds off the nation's top time set in the same race, by The Woodlands of Texas - and the seventh-fastest high school time in history.