Naperville’s O’Reilly shows off a big leg at Northwestern
After an auspicious debut, Northwestern University freshman soccer player Aaron O’Reilly (Naperville Central) earned the Big Ten Conference’s award for men’s freshman player of the week on Aug. 26.
Earning starts in his first two games as a Wildcat, the 6-foot forward assisted on an insurance goal in Northwestern’s season-opening 2-0 win against Eastern Illinois. Three days later O’Reilly scored his first collegiate goal, which proved to be the game-winner in a 2-1 victory over Air Force.
O’Reilly is Northwestern’s first Big Ten freshman of the week winner since the conference initiated the award, and is the first true freshman to score for the Wildcats in nearly two years.
Winton one to watch
Katelyn Winton (York), a redshirt junior at Indiana University, was named one of the preseason Big Ten Conference women’s cross country runners to watch, as determined by league head coaches. A runner on York’s all-state 3200-meter relay in 2021 and later that fall an all-stater in cross country for the Dukes, Winton opened Indiana’s cross country season last Friday with a fifth-place finish at the Hoosiers’ own Sam Bell Invitational.
Right behind Winton were freshman teammates Michael Quinn (York) in sixth and Alayna Todnem (Downers Grove North) in seventh.
Surges with the hit
An alert reader of last week’s College Achievers item on Iowa State offensive lineman Dylan Barrett (St. Charles East) noted that along with Dylan’s younger brother, Austin Barrett, the Cyclones have another St. Charles product on their roster — redshirt sophomore defensive back Drew Surges (St. Charles North).
Surges made a tackle and caused a fumble early in the second quarter of No. 22 Iowa State’s 24-21 win over No. 17 Kansas State at the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin. Surges walked onto the team in 2023 but was awarded a scholarship after playing in 12 games and making two starts as a freshman.
Sprints and brains
In a Big East Conference announcement in August, graduated Marquette University track and field athlete Sam Cascella (Wheaton North) earned a 2024-25 Big East Institutional Scholar-Athlete Award. It comes with a $2,000 grant toward graduate studies.
A former 100- and 200-meter man and team captain for the Marquette men’s track and field team, Cascella graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering, according to his LinkedIn profile. He’s returned to the Milwaukee school to earn his master’s in sports and exercise analytics. This summer Cascella had an internship at the famed athletic high school, IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where in his spare time he did volunteer work.
Know of a college student-athlete doing good things on and off the field of play? Send your College Achiever candidates to doberhelman@dailyherald.com.