Libertyville JCats teams qualify for State
Three grades of JCats teams have qualified for the Illinois State Middle School Championship.
Leading the pack is the 8 Black Team which includes players Will Barrett, AJ Bell, Adam Hammel, Jacob Haan, Jacob Huber, Will Mills, Emerson Reed, Ben Rojas, Blake Sorensen, and Caleb Stewart. The team is coached by head coach Steve Anderson and assistant coach Michael Cenar. The team has been having an excellent season including winning a number of tournaments like Ridgewood as well as individual games over Stevenson, Fremd, Antioch and Mundelein. They qualified for state because of their placement in the Matto Tournament.
The 7 Black Team is made up of Calhoun Bruha, Logan Danforth, Kale Hatten, Carter Luxon, Bryce Parvis, Brooks Sheridan, Dawson Taylor, Blake Vander Ark, Cayden Westforth and Ben Zaban. This team is coached by Grant Vander Ark, Brian Bruha and Chad Danforth. They also qualified at the Matto Tournament.
The 5 Orange players are Eli Dillon, Cole Epps, John Getsy, John Hynes, Harry Kalicki, Zac Marks, Sylas Medina, Quinn Seymour, Kolby Vander Ark and Matthew Zivkovic. Their coaches are Grant Vander Ark, Mike Dillon, Howard Epps and Matt Zivkovic. They qualified at the Frenzy Feeder Tournament.
The State Middle School Championship will be held March 15, 16 and 17 in Champaign-Urbana and features top competitors from all over Illinois. Brackets and schedules will be on the Championship website, statebasketballchampionship.com. Tickets must be purchased online in advance or during the tournament at the Event Connect site, eventconnectsports.com. No tickets will be sold at the venues.
The JCats organization is the approved feeder basketball organization for Libertyville High School. It is dedicated to not only developing basketball players from fourth to eighth grade with on the court skills, but also teaches community service. A recent free throw event raised funds for three area charities including monies for local children with cancer. An upcoming service project will see the athletes putting together bags of supplies for at risk and homeless children in Lake County.
For more information about the JCats program, visit libertyvillejcatsbasketball.org.