Wendt, Tucholski show what being teammates is all about

Above his name on e-mails he sends out, Geneva varsity boys basketball coach Phil Ralston substitutes usual closing salutations like "Thanks" or "See ya later :)" with a custom-made declaration: "Teammates."

A perfect illustration of Ralston's slogan is playing out right now.

Senior David Tucholski, the 6-foot-4 Vikings' forward the Daily Herald featured Jan. 26 - he made varsity this season after being cut his first three years of high school and in middle school - is among the final round of 32 players in the Class 4A 3-point shooting contest.

Tucholski earned his ride to Peoria's Carver Arena by surviving five rounds of shooting against ever-increasing pressure - he won overtime sessions in both rounds at the Neuqua Valley sectional.

"It's been a lifetime experience," he said at Neuqua.

What makes this really special was that from the start, Geneva teammate Scott Wendt, a senior guard, donated his spot in the 3-point contest to Tucholski.

Wendt and J.P. Landry won the Vikings' three-day shootout to join leading marksmen Nolan Block and Dan Trimble as Geneva's representatives into the state contest. Tucholski finished a couple off the pace.

Wendt couldn't sleep before Geneva's first playoff game - and the first round of the IHSA shooting contest - wrestling with a decision.

"It was my senior year and I wanted to shoot," Wendt said. "But it would be so good for me to give him the spot. ... I saw him in the hall and told him and he was shocked."

But not speechless.

"He couldn't stop saying 'Thank-you,'" Wendt said.

"David, he's a great guy, one of my favorite teammates on the team," Wendt said. "After seeing how much hard work and dedication he put in - especially with it being the first year he actually made a school team, five years he's gotten cut. I could tell how much he loved the sport and how much it meant to him, and I thought it'd just be a good thing to let him shoot."

This perfect example of Ralston's "Teammates" mantra was not lost on the coach, Tucholski said.

"To me it means a lot," said Tucholski, who averaged .3 points in 12 games off the bench this season. "Like Coach Ralston said in the locker room after our (playoff) loss to Downers Grove South, he appreciates teammates, and the greatest thing that he saw this year come out of that was Scott giving me the spot in the 3-point competition."

Wendt witnessed Tucholski's first three rounds, missed the sectional semifinal round at Neuqua Valley, then came in just as Tucholski was making 6 of 10 baseline shots in the overtime session last Friday to land a downstate slot.

Seeing his teammate's success, Wendt has no second thoughts about offering up his spot.

"No, I really don't," he said. "I'm really happy with how Dave's done and how far he's gone."

College achieversBatavia graduate Candace Norville is concluding an astounding athletic career at Illinois College. In February she was awarded the Doris B. Hopper Award as the college's top individual female athlete for a second straight year, just the fourth woman since 1978 to win the award twice. She'll graduate with the most letters ever for a female at Illinois College, on track for 14 commendations spanning soccer, indoor and outdoor track, basketball and tennis. Norville - the subject of a 2009 feature story on the NCAA Web site - is a four-time Illinois College tennis MVP, and owns six different school records in either indoor or outdoor track. In 2009 she was the institution's first female track All-American in 20 years, in heptathlon. She ended her basketball career ranked sixth all-time in Lady Blues scoring and first in steals.While Norville wraps up her collegiate career, Batavia's Jordan Coffey has gotten off to a nice start in his at Taylor University. In baseball, the freshman outfielder and pitcher had a .393 batting average and .571 slugging average with 11 runs batted-in in his first 10 games for the 9-3 Trojans. In his first collegiate pitching start he threw 51/3 innings of 4-hit ball in a 5-4 win over St. Catherine's College.Alex Rindone, a North Central College freshman out of Marmion, won the 200-meter dash at the College Conference of Illinois Wisconsin (CCIW) indoor track championships. He also took third in the 55 dash. Rindone's time of 22.22 in the 200 was a North Central College field house record and lowered his own school record in the event.Carthage College junior Josh Brennan (Geneva) was named an athlete of the week in men's indoor track in February. More importantly, and more recently, he finished eighth in the nation in the weight throw at the NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Championships at DePauw University.At the Women's Indoor also in Greencastle, Ind., Carroll University's Lindsay Gruenke - the Kaneland product's made this page before - placed seventh in the 400-meter run. She was one of four sophomores to reach the finals.Lisa Tiltges, a Carthage junior out of Rosary, is part of the Lady Reds' 200 freestyle relay team that qualified into the DIII Swimming Championships this weekend in Minneapolis. A woman out of Lake Park, Alyssa Messina, is also part of the relay. Earlier in the season, Tiltges won the 100 breaststroke and finished second in the 50 freestyle at the Wisconsin Private College Swimming Championship.Like Candace Norville, Elmhurst College's Lyndsie Long really demands her own entry if not a chapter in a book somewhere. The senior out of Kaneland just completed her final season for the Bluejays as a finalist for the Jostens Trophy, which honors the top Division III men's and women's basketball players based on athletics, academics and community service. The 5-foot-10 forward was one of 12 female finalists and 22 overall. Third in the nation in scoring this season with a 24.3 average plus 7 rebounds per game, Long also was in the country's top 20 in free-throw and 3-point percentage and 3s per game. The CCIW MVP, her 615 points were the second-highest total in conference history. Long became the sixth three-time first-team all-CCIW selection and the 11th with four all-conference honors. Her 45 points against Carthage were school and CCIW records.Long will with graduate Blue Jays career records for points and career and season records for 3-pointers, 3-point percentage and free-throw percentage. She's one of three players in Elmhurst history to have 1,500 points and 600 rebounds.