The 2024-25 Herald Cup: No. 3 Marmion Academy
Editor’s note: Now that the 2024-25 high school sports year is over, it’s time to announce the top schools in the Herald Cup standings. We devised a points system based on team state finishes to measure which of the 80-plus high schools from the Daily Herald circulation area had the best athletic year. We’ll announce the top five small schools this week, one per day, with No. 5 on Monday through No. 1 on Friday. The top five large schools will be revealed next week.
The boys at Marmion Academy found themselves at IHSA state tournaments several times this school year, placing top-10 in cross country, golf, tennis, wrestling and swimming.
The Cadets earned a Class 3A dual state title in wrestling and senior golfer Regan Konen captured his second-straight 2A individual trophy.
Such success across multiple sports helped Marmion garner 70 points — calculated by weighing team finishes throughout the fall, winter and spring — and a third-place spot in the 2024-25 Herald Cup standings for small schools.
How they got there
Marmion finished the fall season with a seventh-place finish in state for cross country with a score of 291. Along the way, the Cadets claimed their second consecutive regional championship and a third-place finish in the 2A sectionals.
The golf team advanced to the state finals after a second-place finish at regionals and sectionals. The Cadets shot a 638 at Normal to place seventh in state. Konen, a Marquette commit, shot two-under-par over to finish with a 140 and the individual state title for 2A.
The Cadets heated up in the winter with a 3A title in wrestling and second-place finish in swimming.
In Bloomington, Marmion defeated Schaumburg and Hersey before edging Hononegah 42-31 for its first 3A dual team state championship.
In the state swimming meet at Westmont, the Cadets amassed 190 points but fell short of a dominant Hinsdale Central team that finished with 338.
To wrap up the school year, the Cadets’ tennis team placed eighth in the state with 13 points. Marmion won the Rochelle 1A sectional.
Who made it happen
Seniors John Daffenberg and Matthew Sullivan were named first-team all-conference in cross country while teammates Joseph Dorando, Jonah Sartain, and Michael Whitacre received second-team nods. Daffenberg became the first four-time IHSA state finalist in program history
Senior golfers Cooper Okolita and Evan Paganelis finished in fifth and sixth at regionals behind Konen in first.
After Hononegah’s wrestling team took a 19-11 dual team lead, Marmion’s Mateusz Nycz (285 pounds), Colton Wyller (106 pounds) and Preston Morrison (113 pounds) posted three consecutive pins to flip the script and give the Cadets a 10-point lead.
Sophomore swimmer Brayden Capen placed second in the 200-yard individual medley and third in the 500 freestyle. He, alongside junior Braden Nagel and seniors Evan Conti and Sam Russell, finished second in the 200 freestyle relay.
Senior tennis players Benedict Graft and Andrew Mumford placed first and second, respectively, in singles at sectionals while fellow seniors Samuel Pall and Owen Theriault placed third in doubles.
Key Stats
Six of Marmion’s seven cross country runners placed within the top-20 at regionals, with Daffenburg placing sixth with a time of 15:20.81. Daffenberg and Sullivan finished inside the top-20 at sectionals.
Nycz ended his senior season with a 49-6 record and will play football at Dartmouth. Wyller and Demetrios Carrera also notched 40 wins.
At the state tennis meet, Graft won five straight matches, conceding only four games, before losing in the title match to Nicholas Patrick of Alleman Catholic.
Key Fact
The Cadets’ wrestling team outscored its first two opponents 118-25 in the state tournament.
They said it
“We know our top five is going to be like a power-five together with a 26-second split which is really what we were trying to do.” — cross country coach Andrew Lifka after winning the Kane County Meet.
“A big thing for me is having that team-first mentality and just getting it done.” — Nycz after the Clint Arlis Invite.