Sockers FC's Elk Grove trio making national impact
It is quite rare to have two players from the same state representing a national youth soccer team.
But even more startling, how about three girls from the same town?
High school sophomores Katie Naughton, Kelli Hubly and Courtney Raetzman of Elk Grove and the Sockers FC Club have made the U-15 Girls National Soccer Team.
The trio has been included on coach Mike Dickey's roster for the Thanksgiving Interregional at Coral Springs, Fla., where the squad will play games against the United States Olympic Development regional teams and a Costa Rican youth national team.
"We are pretty ecstatic about this, it's so rare for three girls from the same town to have this chance," said Naughton, who like Hubly, plays for Elk Grove High School. "It's kind of amazing and we are proud to have been able to accomplish it together."
"We were so happy when we learned from our parents we were all playing on the team together," added Hubly. "It's been a great experience being involved in this."
"I think it's going to be such a fun time," added Raetzman, who as a freshman was the second-leading scorer for Conant's soccer team which took third in the Class 3A state tournament last spring. "Playing against these teams, like Costa Rica, will be a great experience."
Women's cross country
Senior Rachel Riske (Hersey H.S.) of Concordia College earned her first all-conference award, finishing 12th overall out of 78 runners in the Northern Conference women's 6K with a time of 25:13.
Men's cross country
Phil Allman (Schaumburg) of Concordia College in Chicago ran on a week-old ankle injury but led the Cougar men in the Northern Conference 8K with a 15th-place finish of 28:08, earning honorable mention all-conference honors in his freshman season.
Derek Kieninger (Hoffman Estates) finished in 29:31 while Eric David (Schaumburg Christian), who finished among the Cougars' top five for the first time this season, was clocked in 31:06.
•North Central captured an unprecedented 26th straight CCIW Championship, scoring a perfect 15 points.
The Cardinals' Sean Carlson (Buffalo Grove) took home top individual honors, crossing the tape in 26:33.8 for the 8,000 meter course to edge out runner-up Michael Spain (Schaumburg) by two-tenths of a second. Kyle Brady was third followed closely by Neal Klein and Nathan Rutz (Schaumburg) as all five runners finished within one second of each other.
• Kevin O'Brien (Palatine) of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy earned All-conference honors with an 11th place finish at the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championships at Franklin Park in Boston, Massachusetts. O'Brien is a second-year cadet pursuing an electrical engineering degree.
Women's soccer
Marquette's Rachael Sloan (Elk Grove) earned all-conference recognition and becomes the first Golden Eagle to earn All-Big East first-team honors since the school joined the league in 2005. Sloan leads the Marquette offense with 15 points on 5 goals. Four were game winners. She has 5 assists.
• Western Illinois junior defender Jennifer Green (Palatine) was named to the District 5 ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District team.
Green has tallied 7 points with 3 goals and 1 assist this season while serving as a team captain. She has a total of 12 points in her two seasons with the team. She was named to The Summit League All-Conference and Fall All-Academic teams a year ago.
Men's soccer
• The Augustana men's soccer team had four players selected to the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin All-Conference team. Seniors Mike Dolan (Libertyville) and Scott Wallner (Buffalo Grove) were honored as first-team selections while seniors Eric Love (Buffalo Grove) and John Linden (Fremd) each earned a spot on the second team.
Women's swimming
Capturing 11 of 13 events, the Augustana women's swim team rolled to an easy 159-54 victory over Millikan in the Carver Center pool. Sophomore Tonya Walter (Prospect) was a double winner in the meet.
Walter captured the one meter (171.01) and the three meter (127.65) diving events.
Senior Sara Hlavin (St. Viator HS, Elk Grove Village, Ill.) won the 200 individual medley and was also second in the 500 freestyle in 5:46.93.
Wrestling
The Jr. Cougar Wrestling Club will hold registration on Monday, Nov. 9 and Monday, Nov. 16 at Conant High School in the wrestling room at 6 p.m.
Students in grade school and junior high may participate. Practices are held at Conant High School from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from Nov. 16 through the month of February.
Please bring a copy of your birth certificate. For further information contact Brad Bessemer at 847-844-7493 or check out jrcougars.com
• The first practice for the Bison Wrestling Club will be Thursday Nov. 12 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Buffalo Grove High School Field House.
Some of the features of the club: 1. Experienced Federation and University Coaches; 2. Everybody wrestles. 3. Learn proper wrestling techniques. 4. Train 3 days a week at either Wheeling or Buffalo Grove High School. 5. Compete in tournaments for team and individual awards. 6. Be part of a real team - The Bison Wrestling Team. 6. Increase Self Assurance. 7. Develop both physical and emotional strength.
You can register at the Buffalo Grove or Wheeling Park District or at the parents' meeting tonight at the Buffalo Grove High school Field House at 6 p.m.. The registration fee is $150 which includes a uniform, singlet, headgear, shorts and a T-shirt to keep.
Football
Concordia University of Chicago's Michael Egebrecht (Buffalo Grove) caught 6 passes for 75 yards and caught the final touchdown pass as well as the 2-point conversion pass that won the game over Concordia University of Wisconsin in double overtime.
• Carthage College's Jeff Koeneman (Fremd) caught 8 passes for 136 yards and 1 touchdown in a 55-24 victory over North Park.
Koeneman is the school's record-holder in receptions (236) and yards (2,736).
Teammate Joe Busse (Fremd) leads the Redman defense with 38 solo tackles and 14 assists.
• The Beloit College Football team sent its 11 seniors away with a big win at Strong Stadium, topping Grinnell College 41-7 in the final game of the 2009 season.
Among the seniors , who all served as co-captains, were defensive lineman Joe Goldufsky (Stevenson) and center Brian Liewergen (Elk Grove).
Goldufsky was the recipient of the Senior Award.
In recognition of outstanding performances the coaching staff recognized the efforts of six individuals with Coaches Awards. One of them was Liewergen.
Linebacker Tony Baratti (Prospect) was the Bucaneers' leading tackler this fall (107), giving him more than 100 for the second straight season. He was named Team MVP.
Volleyball
Kyrsten Becker (Rolling Meadows) of the University of St. Francis recently scored a triple-double against Trinity International University (Deerfield) in the CCAC championship pool play.
Becker had 16 kills in 33 attempts for a hitting percentage of .424. She also had 14 digs and 23 serve receives as St. Francis now moves on to the conference championship.
Fitness
Assistant St. Viator football coach John Ferlito is the owner and head trainer of Split Second Speed which recently opened in Buffalo Grove at 1388 Busch Parkway (business number is 847-499-3300 and Ferlito's cell is 847-767-0849).
The center focuses on specific speed, strength and agility for all athletes (all ages, any sport). There are seven different packages to fit the athlete's needs.
A special introduction package gives a free evaluation of the athlete to see where he or she needs to improve overall speed, strength and agility.
Split Second Speed's motto is "Where good athletes become great athletes". Ferlito said he takes a lot of pride in his work and enjoys seeing an average athlete join the club and leave weeks later a "well-oiled machine ready to take on anyone".
Ferlito will also be using the ARP, an accelerated recovery performance machine.
"The program gets to the root of the injury and helps cure it 30 percent faster then a physical therapist," Ferlito said. "My brother and I used the machine on injuries we had and it is amazing how fast we were back working out pain free."
Ferlito can be e-mailed at johnny@splitsecondspeed.org.
The business Web site is splitsecondspeed.org.
• Please email items to jleusch@dailyherald.com