Kaneland grad Nguyen piling up awards at Augustana

Kaneland graduate Jessica Nguyen recently earned a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin women's volleyball defensive player of the week honor.

Nguyen is a junior defensive specialist on the Augustana College women's volleyball team. During the award time frame, Nguyen had 40 digs in a pair of Augustana triumphs. She had 17 digs in a win at North Central where she also logged 5 service aces. She came back with 23 digs in a win at Cornell.

The honors, however, didn't stop there for Nguyen. At the team's own Viking Classic event, Nguyen was named to the all-tournament team after posting 82 digs, 10 assists and 4 aces during the three matches.

Nguyen is a biology major.

Through the weekend, Nguyen had played in 78 sets and was tops on the team in digs with 436 (5.59 per set) and third on the team in service aces with 24.

To start the week, Nguyen was leading CCIW in digs at 5.59 with the No. 2-ranked player at 5.45. Only one other player in the CCIW Top 10 for digs has more digs than Nguyen (458 to 436), but that individual has played in 10 more sets than Nguyen.

More local standouts at Augustana: A host of local runners are excelling on the course this fall for the Augustana College men's cross country team.

Maple Park product and Burlington Central alum Josh Teets, a junior, finished fourth out of 91 runners at the recent Olivet Nazarene Midwest Intercollegiate Championships held at Aspen Ridge Golf Course in Bourbonnais.

Teets ran the 8-kilometer track in 26:49.

Fellow junior Tate Henrikson, also out of Burlington Central and an Elgin native, took 10th in the race with a time of 27:18.6. South Elgin graduate and Bartlett native Jackson Mainellis ran the course in 27:36.2 and finished 12th.

Senior Nick Harvey, also a Burlington Central graduate, rounded out the team's Top 7 by taking 20th with a time of 28:12.1. Augustana finished second in the meet.

Teets also led Augustana with a 19th-place finish at the Coe Early Fall Invitational and was the team's top performer at the Luther all-American Invitational where he took fifth overall.

Olenek takes home award: Carthage College junior Thomas Olenek, a product of St. Charles East, recently was named the CCIW men's cross country athlete of the week.

Olenek was cited after logging Carthage's top finish at the Loyola University Lakefront Invitational Gold Race.

Olenek was 65th in the race with a time of 27:37 on the muddy 8K course. The race featured a combination of Division I, II, III, NAIA and JUCO programs.

Jakubowski at Creighton: Huntley graduate Taryn Jakubowski is a senior midfielder on the Division I Creighton University women's soccer team. Through the first 15 games of the season, Jakubowski had 3 goals and 2 assists for 8 total points. She is second on the team in shots on goal at 20 and leads the team in shots taken with 45. She has one game-winning goal to her credit and is 1 of 2 on penalty kicks this fall - she's the only player on the team to take a penalty kick.

Jakubowski was a unanimous selection to the preseason all-Big East Conference team and is coming off a junior season where she earned all-Big East first-team honors.

Creighton was 7-6-2 overall and 1-3-2 in conference play to start the week.

Kamienski honored: South Elgin graduate Andrew Kamienski recently was selected as the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin football co-player of the week.

Kamienski, a junior wide receiver, earned the award after establishing a new North Central single-game record for receptions, and posted the sixth-highest single-game yardage total in program history during a 46-13 win over No. 24 Washington University-St. Louis.

Kamienski finished with 15 catches for 181 yards and 2 touchdowns. With that performance he moved up to No. 3 in school history in career receptions (153) and fourth in receiving yards (2,002). He caught multiple touchdown passes in a game for the fifth time in his career.

Mattas at Northern Illinois: St. Edward product Michael Mattas is now a senior on the Northern Illinois University men's golf team. Mattas recently shot a 1-over-par 72 to record the lowest round of the day at the Inverness Intercollegiate held in Toledo, Ohio.

Mattas finished the tournament tied for 46th place at 12 strokes over par.

To start the week, Mattas had played in four tournaments and was second on the team in 18-hole scoring average at 74.42, just behind Elmhurst York graduate Jordan Less and his 74.16 mark.

Mattas started the season at the Badger Invitational where he tied for 36th with a 220 for three rounds that included efforts of 70 and 71.

He then tied for 42nd place at the Windon Memorial where he again logged a 220 for three rounds. This time, his low rounds were 71 and 74.

After the Inverness event, Mattas played in the Prairie Club Invitational where he finished 22nd with a score of 228 that again included a low round of 71.

Off at College wants your help: Send information and/or statistics on Fox Valley-area athletes playing collegiately to Mike Miazga at mjm890@gmail.com. Fall sports submissions are encouraged.