Fame arrives for Froehlich
In less than two weeks, Rolling Meadows wrestling coach and boys athletic director Dave Froehlich will have a new title:
Hall of Famer.
Froehlich will be inducted into the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association annual Hall of Fame ceremony April 2 at the Park Place Banquet Hall in Countryside.
Froehlich has coached 45 individual qualifiers for the state tournament and 10 of those either medaled or received all-state honors. He has won more than 350 dual meets.
The Mustangs have consistently placed first or near the top of the Mid-Suburban League standings under Froehlich. They have been especially successful in the last four years with a record of 80-19.
“Dave deserves every accolade he will receive for dedicating his life to the sport of wrestling,” said former Wheeling coach and friend Fred Kush, who will be at the banquet. “Dave truly cares about the kids who go through his program.”
Froehlich was an all-state wrestler for the late Chuck Farina at East Leyden High School in 1971. He was the 1975 Big Ten champion and placed fourth in the nation as an All-American at Northwestern University. His Northwestern coach, Ken Kraft, and Farina have preceded Froehlich in the Hall of Fame.
Women’s softball
Wisconsin-Platteville sophomore Melissa Anderson and Carthage sophomore Sarah McGinn, both 2009 graduates of Schaumburg, participated in the Rebel Games in Kissimmee, Fla., last week.
Anderson raised her record to 3-1 and fanned four (raising her season total to 20) in a 6-2 victory over Roger Williams.
McGinn batted .300 and had 4 RBI for Carthage on its 4-6 spring trip.
Ÿ Northern Illinois sophomore Alex Wulbecker (Hoffman Estates) is off to a big start this season. In 16 games, she is hitting .409 in 44 at-bats, including 2 home runs (a game-winning 3-run blast against Wichita State a couple of weeks ago) and 7 extra-base hits.
Ÿ Trinity International freshman Allie Micucci (Stevenson) is currently ranked seventh among all National Christian College Athletic Association Softball pitchers in strikeouts per 7 innings pitched.
During the Lady Trojans’ spring break tournament in Tucson, Micucci pitched 36 innings, striking out 40 for an average of 7.78 strikeouts per 7 innings.
Minor-league baseball
Jeff Pink (Buffalo Grove) has been hired as clubhouse manager for the Toronto Blue Jays’ minor-league affiliate in Dunedin, Fla.
Pink had been Director of Baseball Operations for the Southern Illinois Miners of the Frontier League for four years until accepting the position with the Florida Class A team.
Men’s track and field
Iowa sophomore Jeff Thode (Conant) placed sixth in the 1-mile run at the NCAA Indoor Track Championships March 12 in College Station, Tex., running a time of 4:01.73.
Ÿ North Central senior Michael Spain (Schaumburg) won the 5,000-meter run in 14:17.42 at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track Championships in Columbus, Ohio. North Central won its second consecutive indoor title.
Women’s basketball
Ÿ Illinois Wesleyan senior Nikki Preston (Wheeling) closed out a stellar four-year career by being named an all-tournament selection for the NCAA Division III national finals. Making their first appearance in the Final Four, the Titans (27-6) finished fourth.
Preston scored 20 points in Illinois Wesleyan’s 87-77 loss to defending champion Washington University (Mo.) in the semifinals and she had 13 against Christopher Newport in the third-place game.
The tourney was held at Illinois Wesleyan’s Shirk Center.
Ÿ Northwestern fought valiantly against a high-powered Alabama squad on Sunday afternoon but the host Wildcats fell short 72-70 in the WNIT’s second round. A lay-in attempt by senior Meshia Reed as time expired was no good, which preserved the win for the Crimson Tide.
Alabama jumped ahead 11-4 just three minutes into the game. But a 3-pointer from the corner by junior Allison Mocchi (Buffalo Grove) made it a 4-point game with 16:14 left.
Four minutes later, a reverse lay-in by Mocchi and a jumper by teammate Kendall Hackney capped a 7-0 run and gave Northwestern its first lead of the contest, 14-13.
Ÿ In four years, senior Brittany Hogen (Hersey) and Wisconsin-Parkside received three berths to the NCAA tournament.
After going winless in the first two appearances, Parkside won two games this season (73-55 over Missouri S&T) and 73-62 over Quincy.
Although Hogen injured her ankle and was unable to finish the second half against Missouri. She came back Saturday against Quincy despite the doctor’s and trainer’s presumption that she would not play.
Hogen ended up collecting 19 points and 7 rebounds in 28 minutes against Quincy.
She was 9-for-11 at the line and was only 2 points shy of being the leading scorer in the game.
While the loss in the third round to Michigan Tech was bittersweet, Hogen was a part of Parkside’s winningest record in school history and first visit to the Sweet Sixteen.
Girls basketball
A couple of Barrington girls basketball players will have one more chance to compete at the high school level.
Abby Kirchoff and Shelby Whigham are listed on the West girls team for the second annual Lake County Senior Shootout High School All Star Game which will be played on Friday, April 22 at the College of Lake County.
Softball
Jim Goranson, director of the Illinois Bash and the head coach at Regina High School, is once again conducting a slate of indoor softball games.
The games will be held at the Schaumburg Sport Center at 1140 W. Irving Park Rd.
Games involving area teams this week are St. Viator vs. Plainfield (Thursday at 5 p.m.), Barrington vs. Stagg (1 p.m. Friday) and Elk Grove vs. Minooka (3 p.m. Friday) and St. Viator vs. Fenton (9 a.m. Saturday).
Next week, Prospect meets Libertyville at 5 p.m. Monday and Elk Grove faces Libertyville at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Ÿ Please e-mail Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com or FAX to (847) 427-1173.