College Achievers: A Certa-fied ace at Illinois Wesleyan

Grayslake North High School graduate Gianna Certa, a senior pitcher for the Illinois Wesleyan University softball team, was named College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin pitcher of the year for the second time in three seasons. It’s her third first-team all-conference honor.

Certa led the conference with an 8-0 record and 53 strikeouts, was second with an 0.71 ERA and 5 earned runs, and third in opposing batting average. She allowed 1 home run and 1 double. In an 8-0 win over Carroll College, Certa threw a 5-inning no-hitter, striking out 11 batters. Last season, she pitched a perfect game.

In four seasons, Certa went 23-0 during the regular season against CCIW opponents. Overall this season, she is 11-2 with a 1.91 ERA, 11 complete games, 7 shutouts, and in 113⅔ innings pitched has struck out 87 batters while walking 24.

Certa threw a complete-game shutout in Saturday’s CCIW tournament semifinal. On Sunday she entered in relief with the tying run on base and struck out Augustana's last two batters, a 5-4 win for Wesleyan’s third straight CCIW title and automatic NCAA Division III tournament bid.

The 5-foot-3 right-hander has done this despite being diagnosed with Type I diabetes in her early teenaged years, according to Illinois Wesleyan.

Before the championship game Sunday, Illinois Wesleyan sophomore center fielder Grace Wilkens (Bartlett) accepted the CCIW Elite 26 Award, which goes to the athlete playing in a league championship with the highest GPA. She’s also hitting .355 and leads the team in runs. Twin sister Julia Wilkens (Bartlett) ended Saturday’s game with a long running catch at the left field fence.

Meanwhile …

The CCIW all-conference first team also included Illinois Wesleyan sophomore utility player Jillian Bollard (St. Viator), and North Central College junior pitcher Juliana Maude (Huntley). Bollard is hitting .375 for the Titans while handling 55 chances in the field without making an error. Maude, a right-hander, was 9-11 with a 2.94 ERA with 12 complete games and 3 shutouts. She formed a good 1-2 combination with second-team selection Sam Schilf (Benet Academy).

And the fellas …

The CCIW first-team all-conference baseball team included North Central players Jackson Bland (Batavia) and Payton Diaz (Buffalo Grove). A junior and primarily a second baseman, Bland hit .357 with 7 triples, 8 home runs, 43 RBI, a .675 slugging percentage and a 1.152 OPS. Diaz, a sophomore first baseman who also pitched in a team-high 11 games, hit .361 with 38 runs scored, 31 driven in, and 13 doubles.

All-American

Oklahoma freshman gymnast Sasha Bogonosiuk (Stevenson) made the March 23 College Achievers after the College Gymnastics Association named him national rookie of the week. He wasn’t done. Bogonosiuk made all-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, second on floor exercise at the conference meet. (Air Force senior Tai Gopaul, also from Stevenson, placed third on high bar.) Then Bogonosiuk helped the Sooners finish second to Stanford at the NCAA Championships. Bogonosiuk earned All-America, placing seventh on vault.

Super soph

Northern Illinois sophomore Patrick Raupp (Prospect) made the Mid-American Conference all-tournament team for men’s golf. He tied for fifth place in the final round at The Club at Holliday Farms in Indiana. Raupp led the tournament after the first round with a 2 under-par 69, the 13th Huskie in program history to card a round under 70 at the MAC Championship.

Northern Illinois, which got an eighth-place tie from Devin Swoyer (Hinsdale Central), finished second to Miami overall.

Club sports rule

At the University of Nebraska Student Impact Awards held April 30, senior Conner Schreier (Neuqua Valley), a four-year player on the Cornhuskers’ men’s club volleyball team, was named Nebraska’s male sports club athlete of the year. Volleyball club president the last two years, Schreier earned all-conference honors the last three seasons in the Midwest Plains Volleyball Conference.