Lakes' Tubek nets football honor

Lakes senior Andrew Tubek has been named the Hammer Strength football player of the year runner-up.

Love isn't a strong enough word to describe Tubek's feelings for the game of football.

In the four years he played running back for Lakes, the senior never missed a practice and was never below a 98 percent for attendance in the team's off-season workouts, even though he was a multisport athlete.

Standing just 5 feet, 6 inches, and weighing only 155 pounds, Tubek had his opponents' defensive coordinators on edge.

Tubek hits the weight room hard, starting at 6 a.m., four days a week, he can squat 400 pounds, power-clean 250 pounds, bench 225 pounds, and can run 40 yards in 4.5 seconds. During last season, Tubek broke eight program records, earned Daily Herald All-Area, all-North Suburban Conference and honorable mention all-state honors. He was the third leading rusher in Lake County, and had touchdowns of 96, 91, 68, 61 and 48 yards.

"I feel truly blessed to have taught and coached Andrew," Lakes coach Luke Mertens said. "His desire and ambition to begin a successful post high school education career has always been glaringly evident. He will be missed, but his impact will never be forgotten."

The Hammer Strength football player of the year award honors student-athletes who demonstrate consistent dedication in four key areas: work ethic, effort, leadership and academics. As a runner-up, Tubek will receive a plaque from Hammer Strength, a Hammer Strength T-shirt and will be profiled on the Life Fitness website as well as in the April issue of American Football Monthly magazine.

Off the field, Tubek maintains a grade-point average of 3.5 and is in the top 15 percent of his class. He was also voted as team captain by his peers and the school's faculty. As team captain, Tubek was responsible for practice planning, team discipline, weekly pre-game presentations and representing the team at various functions.

Tubek will continue his football career at Elmhurst College, which competes at the NCAA Division III level.