College Achievers: Downers North graduate a national champion with Denison

Violet Mitchell, a Downers Grove North High School graduate, was a starting guard on the Denison University women’s basketball team that won the NCAA Division III Championship on Saturday.

The Big Red beat the University of Scranton (Pa.) 55-41 at Roanoke College in Salem, Va. for its first Division III title in its first appearance in the big game.

A 5-foot-10 junior, Mitchell scored 6 points with 3 rebounds and 3 assists in the final. Two of her rebounds and 2 assists came in the last 1 minute, 6 seconds.

In her second season as a starter Mitchell averaged 7.5 points, helping the Big Red (30-2) set a single-season program record for victories and win the North Coast Athletic Conference for the first time since 2015-16.

A 2024-25 Academic All-District selection with a double-major in economics and communications, Mitchell also averaged 3.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists. She averaged 10.6 points as a sophomore.

On March 6 she scored a career-high 21 points in Denison’s 82-47 Division III playoff-opening win over Southern Virginia. Mitchell followed with 12 points in a 63-54 victory over Trine, and 16 points in Denison’s 86-67 Sweet Sixteen win against John Carroll University.

Comeback queen

Indiana University redshirt sophomore women’s basketball player Lenée Beaumont (Benet Academy) earned the Hoosiers’ Sportsmanship Award when the Big Ten Conference named its league awards for women’s basketball. After missing her true sophomore season rehabbing from knee surgery, this season Beaumont started all 32 games and finished second on Indiana in scoring at 13.3 points per game, grabbed 4.8 rebounds a game, shot 86% from the foul line and tied for the team lead with 95 assists, about 3 a game.

Rookie of the Week

In early March, Oklahoma freshman gymnast Sasha Bogonosiuk (Stevenson) earned the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation freshman of the week, while the College Gymnastics Association named him its national Rookie of the Week. In a meet against Nebraska, the 5-7 all-rounder won vault at 14.450 with a 9.550 execution score that was the highest of any routine at the meet. He also placed third on floor exercise and posted his best score on parallel bars. As of March 16, Bogonosiuk ranked third nationally on vault and seventh on floor for the No. 1 team in the country.

MIVA mover

Also earlier in March, Ryan McElligott (Mundelein), a 6-5 senior setter for Loyola men’s volleyball, was named the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association offensive player of the week. In a 3-0 win over Northern Kentucky McElligott recorded 20 assists, 3 digs and 2 blocks. The 2025 all-conference pick followed with 47 assists, 7 blocks, 4 digs and 2 service aces in a 3-1 win over Ohio State to earn his second weekly MIVA award.

Quick draw

From Wheaton, but the 2024-25 Midwest Scholastic Lacrosse Association player of the year while attending Culver Military Academy in Indiana, University of Michigan freshman forward Tay Rodriguez earned Big Ten freshman of the week to start the season. After Saturday’s Big Ten opener at Johns Hopkins, Rodriguez was second on Michigan with a .508 faceoff percentage and led the Wolverines with 34 ground balls.

De-fense

Another lacrosse player from Wheaton, Taylor University defender Lucas Pacer (Wheaton North), was named Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference defensive player of the week on March 16. In games against Lawrence Tech (Mich.) and Indiana Tech, the 5-9 senior totaled 14 ground balls and 8 turnovers to earn his first weekly award. At the time Pacer’s 19 caused turnovers led the WHAC and he ranked fourth with 33 ground balls.

Good neighbor

In February, the Missouri Valley Conference announced its State Farm MVC Good Neighbor Awards for the fall season. Eva Krakowski (Conant) was Southern Illinois University’s representative among the 11 honorees, all women. The 6-foot middle, who had 100 blocks and 89 kills last season, has made the dean’s list all three semesters to date and in December made the MVC Scholar-Athlete team. Krakowski owned a 3.89 grade-point average in communication design.