IBCA Hall of Fame is a milestone and a compliment
The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association on Monday announced its hall of fame inductees for the Class of 2024.
Obviously, it's a satisfying achievement to 18-year Fremd girls coach Dave Yates.
"It's a milestone that I think every coach wants to achieve and I think it shows some longevity in doing something that I love," said Yates, who won his 400th game Nov. 21 at the Hampshire Thanksgiving Tournament.
"I think it's a compliment to the talent we've had coming through in my school and to the number of assistant coaches I've worked with, too," he said.
Honored coaches within the area also include Milt Awe of Hampshire, Ray Card (multiple northwest schools plus North Central and Elmhurst colleges), James Lancaster (Aurora University), Bill Murmann (Wheeling), Gene Nolan (Naperville North) and Steve Raethz (Huntley).
Players include Marc Davidson (Aurora Christian), Whitney Holloway (Montini), Erin Ingwerson (Hoffman Estates), Jackie Kempf (Rolling Meadows), Ashley Tomzik (Maine South), and coed duos from the same schools - Keelan Amelianovich and Lindsey Wisdom-Hylton (Neuqua Valley), and Toni Kokenis and current Bradley men's coach Brian Wardle (Hinsdale Central).
Official Bernard Reusz from Downers Grove got the call.
The West Suburban Conference, in its 100th year, was named one of three "Organizations of the Year."
Mark Kleemann, who coached at late, great Driscoll Academy among other stops, will receive the 2024 Chuck Rolinski Award for lifetime achievement and service to basketball, specifically to the IBCA. He's worked on its behalf for a quarter-century.
One of our favorite honors, the IBCA's "Friends of Basketball," salutes Waubonsie Valley's Bill Lay, St. Charles East superfan Dave Pichik, Maine West's Tom Sochowski and former Glenbard West athletic director Mike Skowronski.
Another Friend is Jane McNamara of New Trier. A schoolteacher for 30 years, McNamara keeps the Trevians' score book when the boys and girls teams are on the road.
Like McNamara, with New Trier since 1966, Yates does not see an end anytime soon.
"The plan is to keep doing what you love doing," he said.
Landmarks
In Benet's 69-49 boys basketball win over Joliet Catholic on Tuesday, coach Gene Heidkamp earned his 368th victory to set the Redwings' boys record. Heidkamp eclipsed the mark of Bill Geist, who led the famous state-record 102-game home winning streak between 1975-87. Heidkamp still has a way to go to reach retired Benet girls coach Peter Paul's 617 victories.
As the Daily Herald reported on Tuesday night, Barrington boys basketball coach Bryan Tucker reached 500 wins with a 67-29 win over Wheeling. Tucker is in his 15th season at Barrington and owns the school's boys basketball record of 265 victories. Babbi Barreiro, in her 31st season coaching the Fillies girls team, has 511 victories at Barrington.
Glenbard East senior guard Catey Carney, a four-year varsity player and DuPage County All-Area returner, scored her 1,000th varsity point in a 69-40 Upstate Eight Conference win at Bartlett on Nov. 28.
Another All-Area player, Neuqua Valley guard Luke Kinkade, just hit 1,000 points. He did it Tuesday in a 70-54 home victory over Lincoln-Way Central.
In Burlington, Central boys basketball coach Brett Porto entered Wednesday's game at Dundee-Crown with 299 victories. The Rockets alum has led Central to at least 26 wins in six of the last eight seasons.
Schaumburg boys coach Jason Tucker sits on 299 wins going into Friday's Mid-Suburban West game at Fremd. If it doesn't happen his next chance is Saturday at South Elgin.
Down the stretch
The Downers North Cross Country Club, essentially the same Downers Grove North Trojans who won the boys Class 3A cross country title, placed seventh at the Nike Cross Nationals, Dec. 2 in Oregon.
The group - by Nike rule contestants must be a "club" and not a high school team, though it's basically semantics - had the highest finish among several Illinois squads navigating a Portland golf course, including girls teams from York (12th), Prospect (14th) and, again, Downers North (15th).
Ryan Eddington, a Missouri commit, led the Downers boys with a 64th-place finish out of 201 competitors. Right with him was junior Grant Schroder in 65th place. Further scoring came from Philip Cupial, Will Surratt and Kentucky-bound Caden Weber. The seventh-place finish was Downers North XC's best since it ran fourth in 2017.
Hinsdale Central's Aden Banduwkala, the two-time Class 3A champ, finished 35th overall. Prospect sophomore Meg Peterson had a strong national finish in 59th, 27th among scoring girls teams.
This Saturday, in the last prep cross country race of 2023, Naperville Central's Liv Phillips and New Trier's Ben Crane will compete among 40 runners in each of their races at the Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships at San Diego's Balboa Park.
A senior headed to Wisconsin, Phillips placed 10th at the Foot Locker Midwest regional Nov. 25 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. She was the Class 3A runner-up at the state meet in Peoria, and placed sixth last spring in the Class 3A 3200-meter run in Charleston, 12th in the 1600.
New Trier junior Crane advanced to Foot Locker Nationals after his eighth-place Midwest regional run in Kenosha.
Crane's third-place Class 3A finish at Detweiller Park was a great leap over his 30th-place as a sophomore in 2022. He finished 10th in the 3200 in the 2023 3A boys track finals.
doberhelman@dailyherald.com