Kicking it in college - and beyond

In January U.S. Representative Judy Biggert arrived at North Central College with a copy of House Resolution 1001. That recognized the Cardinals' 2009 NCAA Division III men's cross country championship, the program's 13th title.

Keep those Cards and resolutions coming. Coach Al Carius' men's track squad won the Division III Indoor Championships last weekend at DePauw University in Indiana. The Cardinals entered the indoor season ranked second and left it one better. North Central brought 13 competitors to Greencastle, most among the 65 institutions, including 5,000-meter winner Kyle Brady, a 2006 Wheaton Warrenville South graduate.

"It felt like a regular meet because we had so many qualifiers," said Brady, a senior and one of several team co-captains. "Usually at a national meet you only get a few guys in. We were able to go out there and take care of business and the results just came in the end. It was awesome, an incredible experience."

North Central had five All-Americas after the first day - pentathlete Matt Borchardt and four pole vaulters including two-time national indoor champion Jake Winder and third-place vaulter Tommy Stacey of Glenbard North.

Brady, a two-time state qualifier in the 3,200 meters at WW South, started a tactical race but kicked past the competition to join Winder as North Central's second individual champion. The Cardinals concluded with a victory in the 1,600 relay, a foursome that included freshman Dayton Henricksen, out of Wheaton North. It was the second national indoor track title for North Central and the first since 1989.

Landing seven cross country All-Americas for the first time in Division III history, winning the indoor title and garnering all sorts of awards for Winder, Carius and his staff, this is a golden age in Naperville. Not to be overlooked, on the women's side Rachel Secrest placed fourth in pole vault to earn her third All-America honor.

Now North Central aims for its fifth national outdoor title in history. Brady calls the indoor trophy "extra motivation" for the spring.

"Especially because we won in the fall and we won in the winter, now we want to get that third one," said Brady, who'll be student-teaching at Neuqua Valley next fall. "In our program we want to take indoors like a steppingstone for outdoors. And for us to do so well indoors, it'll be exciting because we don't really focus a ton on indoors."

Back to workA competitor's work is never done.Duke junior swimmer Nick Garvy, a four-time medalist at Benet in 2006-07, ended five months of competition in the Blue Devils' 'sixth-place finish at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships Feb. 27-28 in Chapel Hill, N.C.He enjoyed spring break in Cancun, Mexico, but by Monday was back in the pool. "It was nice having two weeks off after the ACCs, but we're already training again for next season," Garvy said.The cultural anthropology major is an integral part of a squad that, under five-year coach Dan Colella, established 18 new program records out of 22 on the board. (Naperville North's Kevin Arthofer, since graduated from Duke, retains his 100 breaststroke mark.)Garvy was the ACC performer of the week after scoring 32 points at the Orange Bowl Classic in Key Largo, Fla., in early January. This season he recorded program-record performances in seven events - three individual swims and four relays.He reset his own marks in the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly and established the 50 freestyle mark with a split time of 19.83 seconds.Garvy considered his role anchoring the Blue Devils' 400 freestyle relay "one of my greatest performances." Garvy said the Duke men hadn't won an ACC swimming event in nearly 30 years, and they came close with a third-place finish."That's going to be our goal for next year," said Garvy, who also wouldn't turn down 50 free or 100 fly titles, either. That's why he's so eagerly dived back into training."I'm setting the bar higher for myself, and that definitely helps," Garvy said.Converting hang time to big timeGlenbard North graduate Scott Ravanesi, who last fall concluded a record-setting career at Southern Illinois, was one of five punters invited to the 2010 NFL Scouting Combine, held Feb. 24-March 2 in Indianapolis.He's gotten mucho correspondence from agents and the like, so at first he thought the e-mail invite was a hoax. His actual agent, Chris Murray out of Minneapolis, confirmed the honor was valid."This is what you're looking for," Murray told Ravanesi, who is trying to prove he's what pro teams are looking for.A three-time all-Missouri Valley Football Conference and 2007 honorable-mention All-America pick whose career average of 42.6 yards is SIU's best in history, at the combine Ravanesi spoke with representatives from all 32 NFL teams. He got the feedback he sought and then some."It was almost kind of creepy how much they know about you," said Ravanesi, who put 5,000 miles on his Ford truck in a month driving from workouts to pro days to workouts.Improved hangtime, flexibility, consistency - that's what the scouts said they were looking for, all "fixable things" for Ravanesi."Even though I was a small-school guy I knew I could hang with those guys," Ravanesi said. "I knew I could fit in, knew what I needed to do."Being a small-school guy - he was the only Football Championship Subdivision punter invited - he called it a surreal experience walking the field with the likes of Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow.He also got a truck-bed's worth of duffel bags, sweatpants, shoes and shirts. That satisfies Ravanesi's sartorial requirements but not his desire to be a pro punter. Knowing the chance of getting drafted isn't great, Ravanesi hopes he'll catch on as a free agent after eye-opening performances at events like Thursday's SIU Pro Day. "The hardest thing to do is break in," he said of the punter's lot. "And once you're in, you're in."Meanwhile, in PeoriaThe cast is set for the IHSA's 3A and 4A 3-point and dunk contests. The lone area dunker out of both classes is Wheaton Academy junior Luke Johnson, in 3A. St. Francis' Eric Stout will shoot in the 3A arc contest.Class 4A's local 3-point qualifiers are: Adam Hansen of Lake Park, David Niggins of Naperville Central, Manny Martinez of Addison Trail, Jim Stocki of Neuqua Valley and Chris Chacko of Hinsdale Central.Go ahead. Use the backboard.