Snader helps Denison to national title
It didn’t take long for Ben Snader to make a splash at Denison.
Only a freshman, the former Libertyville swimmer became an All-American with his part of a third-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay at the NCAA Division III national championships.
Snader swam the breaststroke leg of the relay.
For much of the season, he was the team’s No. 1 breaststroke swimmer and Snader kept that spot during the 200 medley relay.
The Denison (Granville, OH) swim team successfully defended its national championship from rival Kenyon College, which had won the event for the past 31 years.
Women’s track
St. Francis sophomore Hilary Halford (Carmel) set a school record in the 1,500-meter run (4:47.89) by placing first at the University of Chicago Ted Hayden Invitational.
Halford also won the 800 run (2:19.6) and was a member of the winning 4x400 relay.
Wrestling
Southern Illinois-Edwardsville junior Dillon Pousson (Round Lake) finished the season with National Collegiate Wrestling Association All-American status at 141 pounds.
The Cougar placed eighth after a knee injury kept him from battling for seventh place.
As a team, Edwardsville placed seventh out of 79 teams at the event held at the Ocean Center in Daytona, Fla.
Women’s track
Southern Illinois freshman Kelley Gallagher (Vernon Hills) posted an 11:21 in her first 3-meter steeplechase run at the Ole Miss Invitational in Oxford, Miss. Gallagher placed fourth in a field of 17 and her time time ranks her in the No. 3 spot in the Missouri Valley Conference.
She is seventh best on the SIU all-time list.
Lacrosse
Rutgers’ Brian Goss (St Viator) and Syracuse’s Matt Harris (Stevenson) will be starting for their respective teams in the ESPNU Warrior Classic at 10 a.m. on April 14 at the Bank Of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC.
Women’s softball
University of Chicago junior pitcher Kim Cygan (Barrington) was selected the University Athletic Association “Athlete of the Week” for softball.
In four appearances, including three starts, Cygan posted a 2-1 record with a 0.29 ERA and two shutouts. In 24 innings, she allowed only 11 hits while recording 23 strikeouts.
Cygan was named MVP of the Wheaton College Invitational after tossing a 3-hit shutout against the host Thunder.
She then threw a 4-hit shutout in the Maroons’ 1-0 win over 22nd-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University.
Cygan earned her first UAA weekly citation of the season and the second of her career.
Football
North Central senior Peter Bulandr (Stevenson) was recognized by the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin as one of his school’s winners of the Merle Chapman Leadership Awards for the 2011-2012 academic year.
The CCIW honored the winners on March 31 at its Student-Athlete Workshop at the Hyatt in Lisle.
Bulandr, an economics and finance major and a senior on the football team, was a team captain for the Cardinals this past season.
He helped lead the team to a 10-2 overall record and the program’s sixth consecutive CCIW Championship.
He received First Team All-CCIW, All-North Region and All-America honors as a senior, and also became the fifth North Central player to be voted the CCIW Defensive Player of the Year.
Girls volleyball
Buffalo Grove senior Paige Smith will continue her education and athletic career at Augustana where she will be a member of coach Jamie Walters’ Viking volleyball program.
Smith, a 5-foot-9 outside hitter who earned three varsity letters for coach Marianne O’Shea at Buffalo Grove, was a Bison co-captain this past season.
Smith earned all-conference honors and was honorable mention on the Daily Herald all-area team.
Smith recorded 162 kills, 10 solo blocks and 107 digs as a senior. She had an .877 serve percentage with 9 aces. As a junior, she had 112 digs and a .913 serve percentage with 24 aces.
Smith also competes for the Top Flight Volleyball club and coach Kyle McCall.
She has also lettered twice as a midfielder in coach Pat Dudle’s Bison soccer program.
An honor roll student, Smith participated in chorus and show choir and volunteered with several organizations including the Special Olympics. She is a Mid-Suburban League Senior All-Academic team selection and is planning on a pre-physical therapy major.
Smith joins an Augustana program that owns a pair of College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championships and has produced one CCIW Player of the Year and four CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.
Ÿ Please email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com or FAX to (847) 427-1173.