Carthage looks to area for latest Hall of Fame selections

Some decisions are called slam dunks because they're easy to make.

Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., had that type of decision in determining the Class of 2007 for the Carthage Athletic Hall of Fame.

They knew what to do.

They turned to the Daily Herald area for their selections.

Slam dunk.

Jason Wiertel (Buffalo Grove), Robyn Schenk Schoeneman (Stevenson), Kevin Burris (Carmel) and Mike Domin (Naperville North) were easy choices as four of the six selections for the Class of 2007.

The six Hall of Famers will be officially inducted on Oct. 5 with a 7 p.m. banquet at the school's Todd Wehr Center. Call (262) 551-5700 for reservations.

Wiertel, who graduated in 2002, was a four-year letterwinner in basketball and baseball. He was a second-team All-American in basketball and is the school's career scoring leader with 2,133 points. He was all-conference four straight years and helped lead Carthage to third in the NCAA Division III tournament.

As a pitcher in baseball, Wiertel also was named all-conference.

Schenk, a 1996 grad, earned four letters in both volleyball and track and field, gaining all-conference recognition in both sports. She ranks seventh for career kills in volleyball, third in assists and first in service aces.

In track and field, Schenk was conference champion in the shot put and runner-up in the discus.

Burris (2000) was a four-time all-conference selection at tailback. He set a Carthage career scoring record with 246 points and 40 touchdowns and had 12 games of over 100 rushing yards.

Domin, 1998 grad, was all-conference three years in soccer, CCIW Co-Player of the Year in 1997 and second-team all-Midwest Regional. He is the school's career leader in points and assists and second in goals scored.

Football

Wide receiver Jeff Koeneman (Fremd) of Carthage College scored touchdowns in each of the first two games.

• Tom Nelson (Hersey) of Illinois State University ran back kickoffs 47 and 59 yards against Murray State.

• Eric Jensen (Hersey), cornerback for the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, had an interception, 2 breakups and 3 solo tackles in a 16-6 win over St. Ambrose.

• Through two games, Tim Podulka (Elk Grove) of Augustana College had returned 7 punts for 81 yards and 4 kickoffs for 101. He also had caught 3 passes for 14 yards.

• Mark your calendar now for the Daily Herald football recognition banquet.

The all-area players and players of the week will be honored at five banquets in December.

The Cook County banquet is set for Monday, Dec. 3 at the Stonegate Banquet Centre in Hoffman Estates with reception at 6 p.m.

Volleyball

Kristin Paczosa (Buffalo Grove) of Cornell College (Mt. Vernon, Iowa) was named to the all-tournament team and also honored as Cornell's Player of the Week after the opening tourney at Illinois College. She led the team with 61 kills, including 19 in a 3-game sweep of the hosts.

• Sarah Garrette (Barrington) of Wagner College (Staten Island, N.Y.) had a career-high 16 kills on .344 hitting against Lehigh University.

• Monique Houston (Wheeling) of Western Illinois and Dana VanDiggelen (Hersey) of Loyola University were on opposite sides of the net in the match won by Western 3-2.

Soccer

Augustana College's Petar Tomicic (Buffalo Grove) and Scott Marlega (Conant) were named to the Luther College Invitational all-tourney team.

• Shawna Becker (Wheeling) started her fourth year in goal for Cornell College with a 5-0 shutout over Knox College, the 11th of her career. Last year she was first in saves, saves percentage and minutes played in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

• Jackie Peterson (Schaumburg) of Carthage College scored 2 goals in a 7-0 win over Cardinal Stritch University and 2 more in a 4-1 decision over Loras College.

Also for Carthage, Paige Land (Barrington) was named most valuable player of the Battle of the Border Tournament. She had 3 goals and 2 assists in 2 games.

• Senior Megan Blenner (St. Viator) of Carroll College scored her fifth goal in six games and 19th for her career in a 4-2 conference win over St. Norbert College. She also scored in wins over Ripon College and Concordia (Wis.) University.

Freshmen Alyssa Low (Stevenson) and Cody Callender (Lake Zurich) scored goals against Ripon.

Freshman Kelly Blenner (St. Viator) of Western Michigan scored her second goal of the season, and it was the game-winner in a 1-0 win over Arkansas.

• Nick Cosentino (Conant) of Augustana scored the game-winner in a 2-1 win over Wisconsin-Platteville, and Nathan Jensch (Fremd) worked in goal.

Golf

Senior Abbie Many (Prospect) of Northern Illinois University shot a two-day total of 150 to win the Western Illinois Invitational on Monday.

• Freshman Michelle Caporusso (Prospect) of Michigan State shot 77-76 in her first college meet and contributed to the Spartans' invitational victory.

• Heather Arizpe (Conant) contributed to a new school scoring record at Augustana College. She was one of four golfers who combined for a 323, one stroke better than the old mark.

Cross country

Dan Leonard (Fremd) of Augustana finished sixth in the college division and 14th overall (25:16.90) in the Illinois Intercollegiate Championship at Illinois State.

Basketball

The Schaumburg High School Girls Feeder Basketball Program is conducting tryouts for their 5th/6th, 7th and 8th grade teams for the upcoming 2007-08 season on Saturday, Sept. 22 at Schaumburg High School's main gym.

The tryout times will be from 3-5:30 p.m. for both the 5th, 6th- and 8th-grade teams, and will be from 5-7:30 p.m. for the 7th-grade team.

The girls should bring a basketball and wear appropriate basketball attire.

The tryouts are open to all girls currently in these grades who live in the Schaumburg High School district and plan to attend the school. This feeder program participates in competitive leagues and tournaments in the Northwest suburbs.

For more information, visit the team Web site at www.eteamz/shsgirlsfeederbball.com, or call the program administrators: Kurt Leiber (847-882-3124) or Marty Kelly (847-352-6223).

• Ashley Sandstead (Buffalo Grove) was selected as the first Illinois State women's basketball recipient of the Bob and Audrey Weber Endowed Scholarship. The Webers were longtime Redbird fans. The award is one of 16 endowed scholarships available to ISU student-athletes and funded by private donors.