College Achievers: A rare links achievement for a Wheaton Academy graduate

Sam Dykema (Wheaton Academy), a junior at Indiana Wesleyan, was named Crossroads League men’s golf player of the year for a second straight year, the first Wildcat to win it more than once.

All-America in 2024-25 and a Crossroads first-team selection three years running, the West Chicago native was ranked third in NAIA men’s golf, and reached as high as No. 1 after a second-place finish at the Currahee Club Invitational in Georgia in March. At the time of the Crossroads League’s May 11 announcement, over the 2025-26 season Dykema had won two tournaments and placed among the top five finishers in eight of 10 tournaments.

Dykema was an at-large qualifier to the NAIA Men’s National Championships at Deere Run in Silvis, but after two rounds he was unable to make the cut. Dykema owns the two best scoring averages in Indiana Wesleyan history, 70.5 as a sophomore, 71.4 this season. His older brother, former Wildcats golfer Jack Dykema, also made three appearances on the all-Crossroads League team.

Runnin’ Roemmich

Also in the NAIA, Taylor University senior baseball player Fletcher Roemmich (Timothy Christian) earned Crossroads League first-team honors. Leading off and primarily playing third base for the NAIA’s top team, Roemmich’s 80th run scored against Shawnee State set Taylor’s single-season record. Spanning the 2025 and 2026 seasons, Roemmich had a streak of safely reaching base in 61 straight games.

After winning its opening round of the NAIA Baseball National Championship, Roemmich was hitting .362 with 11 home runs and 58 RBI for the Trojans. A 2025 NAIA Scholar Athlete, Roemmich’s home run total has contributed to a program-record 98 home runs going into the NAIA World Series starting next week in Idaho. As a team, No. 1 Taylor (52-5) is hitting .356.

Beltin’ Bruin

Playing second base and hitting third in the batting order for Belmont University, senior Nicole Hughes (Grayslake North) earned her second first-team Missouri Valley Conference honor in three seasons. Starting every game in which she’s played at Belmont over four years, before the NCAA Tournament Hughes was hitting .361 with team highs of 14 doubles, 8 home runs and 32 bases on balls, plus 34 RBI, .639 slugging, and a 1.117 OPS. Her 206 hits is Belmont’s all-time record.

Hughes made the MVC all-tournament team a second straight season, helping Belmont repeat as tourney champ. In 2025, she drove in Belmont’s first run in its first NCAA Tournament victory. She has a 3.7 GPA in hospitality and tourism management.

Sophomore Madison Dolecki (Schaumburg) is right behind Hughes in the Bruins’ batting order and in home runs. Playing first base, the cleanup hitter improved from a .203 batting average as a freshman to hitting .301 with 7 home runs and 34 RBI.

Schwitzenberg-ed

Nate Schwitzenberg (Loyola Academy), whose hometown is Arlington Heights, is a junior defender on the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team. Schwitzenberg last month was named the Atlantic Coast Conference defensive player of the week after helping hold then-No. 1 North Carolina 10 goals below its season average in a 10-5 victory by the No. 2 Fighting Irish. A member of Notre Dame’s 2024 national champions, Schwitzenberg limited North Carolina’s top scorer to 1 goal, and that came on an extra-man opportunity.

Five-peat

Sophomore golfer Pablo Castro (Palatine) became the fifth straight Illinois Wesleyan golfer to earn medalist honors in the College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin men’s tournament. It’s a streak started by Jimmy Morton (Marmion, 2022) and included Bobby Beaubien (Barrington, 2024) and current Titans senior Michael Spitzer (Hinsdale Central, 2025).

Castro, the CCIW’s men’s golfer of the year, shot a 67 first round at Rockford’s Aldeen Golf Club and led throughout the next two rounds. Aided by freshman and CCIW newcomer of the year Ryan Andrews (Libertyville) in second place and Spitzer in third, Illinois Wesleyan won its 27th conference title by 42 strokes.