Some top teams, favorite games and best quotes of 2009-10

Another school year has come and passed seemingly in the blink of an eye, and it's time to look back at a memorable 2009-2010 season while taking a peek ahead at what lies ahead for 2010-11.

Hail to the state championsIn mid-October, Wheaton Academy's boys golf team claimed the Class 2A state title via a fifth-man tiebreaker. Seniors David Flynn (5th place) and St. Charles resident Blake Biddle (8th) helped lead the Warriors to their first-ever boys state crown.Led by double-event winner Olivia Scott (200 IM, 100 fly) and MacKenzie Powers, Rosary's girls swim team captured its fourth consecutive state championship in November. Scott also joined Sarah Sykstus, Rachel Burke and Katherine Hare for a first-place finish in the 200 free relay.On the same day, St. Charles North's Lauren Reynolds, Angie Chokran, Taylor Gannon and Kirsten Hutchinson combined to win the 200 medley relay.In February, three area athletes returned home from Champaign as individual state wrestling champions. Marmion's Ben Whitford (119 pounds) and Nico Jimenez (171) emerged as Class 2A winners while St. Charles East senior Brandon Rubino (112) edged West Aurora's Nicholas Drendel in the 3A tournament.Last month, Kaneland received a pair of individual victories from Nick Sinon, who cleared 6-9 in the high jump, and its 1,600-meter relay quartet of Tommy Whittaker, Derek Bus, Edgar Valle and Logan Markuson at the Class 2A boys state track meet in Charleston.Plenty of near-missesSecond-place state showings were turned in by Kaneland junior Hayley Guyton in the Class AA girls golf tournament; St. Charles East sophomore Emma Smith (500 free) in girls swimming; Kaneland's boys track team (2A); and West Aurora's Drendel in 3A wrestling.The list of third-place state finishers included Batavia's Logan Arlis (119) in 3A wrestling; Marmion's Pat Greco (145) in 2A wrestling; Wheaton Academy's girls soccer team (2A); and St. Charles North's girls soccer squad (3A).Favorite games covered St. Charles East's double-overtime victory over St. Charles North in late October that helped coach Mike Fields' Saints clinch their first outright Upstate Eight Conference championship in more than a decade.Watching Geneva's girls basketball team pour in 46 second-half points to rally past Bartlett, 67-61.St. Charles North's thrilling 3-2 baseball triumph over St. Charles East last month at Elfstrom Stadium. North Stars pitcher Jared Shurtleff worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the complete-game victory.St. Charles East's 5-2 regional baseball championship win over host Geneva in late May. Junior pitcher Wes Benjamin went the distance while posting his 12th victory. He ended with 13, one shy of Tod Moore's Saints single-season record.Strangest games coveredGeneva's final baseball game as a member of the Western Sun Conference vs. Sycamore last month at Kishwaukee College. Playing in a steady drizzle, the teams combined for 29 runs before the Spartans prevailed 15-14. The outcome was still in doubt as the teams left the field because nobody was sure if it was a completed game until the next day.Favorite column A heartwarming story featuring St. Charles East boys basketball team managers Mike Ayache and special needs students Casey Carlson, Brayden Nuessen, MacKenzie Schweizer and Grant Sturgeon, and St. Charles North special needs student Johnny Remitz that appeared in the Daily Herald in February.It was an eye-opening experience to watch the relationship formed between Saints and North Stars players and their respective team managers both at practices and during games.Best comeback Down and all but left out of the Western Sun baseball race trailing first-place Geneva by 5 games with 7 remaining, Batavia didn't lose another WSC game over the final 2 1/2 weeks of the regular season to clinch a share of the conference title alongside Kaneland and DeKalb.Best postgame interviews (athletes only) In no particular order, Michael Santacaterina, Geneva football; Jesse Coffey, Batavaia basketball; Nolan Possley, STC East football; Ben Dvorak, STC North football; David Johnson, STC North boys basketball; Lauren Wicinski, Geneva girls basketball; Kat Yelle, Geneva girls basketball; Lexi Baltes, STC East girls basketball; Kiley Hackbarth, Jenna Bell, STC North girls basketball; Kala Sigona, STC East girls basketball/water polo; Bethany Carrignan, STC East softball; Alex Sroka, Geneva baseball; Mike Budka, Jared Shurtleff, STC North baseball; Wes Benjamin, Tommy Konrad, Evan Prose, Robert Wendt, STC East baseball.Fab frosh who will become super sophs in 2010-11Erienne Barry, STC East girls volleyball; Lauren Carlini, West Aurora girls volleyball; Sami Villareal, Batavia girls basketball and softball; Kendall Stephens, STC East basketball; Quinten Payne, STC North basketball (played in Florida last season); Joe Hoscheit, STC East baseball.Teams we'll see posing alongside a state trophy in 2010-11Rosary girls swimming, Geneva girls basketball, St. Charles North softball.Former area athlete most likely to play professionally St. Charles East graduate Matt Reynolds, who owns a 1.76 ERA and 0-2 record as a left-handed relief pitcher with the Colorado Rockies' Triple-A baseball team.Days until the opening kickoff of the 2010 prep football season 80.One more thing Thank you to all of the area coaches, athletic directors, athletic secretaries and student-athletes for their cooperation throughout the 2009-10 school year.