Wendell recognition set; Bonadonna's bat hot for Illinois

Buffalo Grove High School has become very adept at holding retirement ceremonies for head coaches with distinguished careers.

There's a new party planned for another giant in area coaching.

"Giant" may be a reach as far as actual physical size, but certainly not as far as this man's stature in the field of education and coaching.

John Wendell, varsity baseball coach at Buffalo Grove for 23 years, will join BG coaching legends Tom Dineen and Rich Roberts on the sidelines with his June retirement.

The school has scheduled Friday, May 9, as the celebration for Wendell prior to the senior night 4:30 p.m. baseball game with Rolling Meadows.

Past players, coaches, family and friends have been invited to take part in the pregame and postgame festivities and share their memories of coach Wendell.

For additional information, contact Mark Schaetzlein, assistant principal for student activities, at (847) 718-4019, or mark.schaetzlei@d214.org.

Baseball

Joe Bonadonna (Stevenson) of the University of Illinois has been on a hitting tear. The junior second baseman was named Big Ten co-player of the week.

In a weekend series at Minnesota, he hit .692, scored 4 runs and drove in 3 while stealing 3 bases. The .418 hitter in Big Ten play also had a string of 7 consecutive hits.

Bonadonna then racked up a career-high 5 hits while stealing 3 bases and scoring 4 runs in a 10-2 nonconference win over Western Illinois.

• Carthage College first baseman Jason Acevado (Vernon Hills) has improved his league-leading average to .505. He also leads the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin in hits, runs homers, doubles, triples and RBI.

Football

The 14th annual Wildcat Football Skills Camp will be held on June 30, July 1 and July 2 at Butler Lake Park in Libertyville.

This is a non-contact camp that stresses the development of individual position techniques and skills and is open to anyone between the ages of 8 and 13.

Experienced players and newcomers are welcome.

The camp staff will consist of the Libertyville High School coaching staff and past and current Libertyville players. The cost is $70.

For more information, contact camp director and Libertyville football coach Randy Kuceyeski at (847) 549-6149.

Tennis

Rob Ogden (Warren) of Marian College was named Northern Athletic Conference rookie of the year. The freshman finished the NAC season with a 6-1 record at No. 2 singles and won the event at the NAC Championship. In doubles, he went 6-1 in the NAC regular season and took second in the league meet.

Also from Warren, Brian Silverstein, playing at No. 1 singles, was the only winner for Quincy University against Truman State.

Cross country

Arlington High School's 1967 state championship boys cross country team will hold a reunion on Monday, May 26, at the Rolling Meadows Holiday Inn, 3405 Algonquin. The reception will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Coached by Bruce Samoore, Arlington edged Proviso West by 1 point for the team title.

Members of the state championship team were Dave Dieters, Rory Cassidy, Rich Saxton, Tom Swanson, Joe Hooker, Jim Stubbs, Per Hveem, Dave Marszalek, Ken Malcolmson and Scott Butler.

For more information, contact Samoore at 920-568-9691.

Softball

Nicole Pauly (Palatine) of Northwestern was named the Big Ten player of the week. She batted .538 in four games, driving in 8 runs, scoring seven times and hitting a pair of doubles and 2 homers.

• Kat Krause (Hersey) of Loyola University was named Female scholar-athlete of the week. A two-time honoree this spring, Krause, a psychology major with a 3.82 GPA, has also been a member of the Horizon League Academic Honor Roll and in 2007 helped Loyola to a National Fastpitch Coaches Association Team Academic Award.

• Freshman pitcher Claire Voris (Barrington) of Washington University St. Louis stands 13-4 with a 1.96 ERA. Senior shortstop Laura D'Andrea (Prospect) is hitting .291 in 33 games.

Track and field

Micky Cobrin (Stevenson) of the University of Arkansas ran the 1,500 meters in 3:44.25 at the John McDonnell Invitational and ranks No. 22 in the NCAA. He topped the qualifying time of 3:47.80 and will compete in the regional championships.

• Senior distance runner Jim Beatty (Mundelein) and junior sprinter Keli Coleman (Carmel) of Augustana College are the winners of the school's Jack Swartz Award for academics and athletics.

• Abe Jones (Rolling Meadows) won the invitational 400-meter hurdles in 50.01 at the Drake Relays, the 11th fastest time by an American this season. Jones has won six Drake Relays titles.

Water polo

Megan Barry (St. Viator) and her Michigan State teammates will compete in the Collegiate Water Polo Association nationals starting May 1 in Portland, Ore. Michigan State beat Michigan for the Big Ten title.

Barry's graduation is also scheduled for the May 1 weekend, but the honors student in molecular biology, who won the genetics division for research, will play in the nationals as captain and starter for the Spartans. She is heading to medical school in August.

Wrestling

The 2008 Prairieville Open will be held on Saturday, May 24, at Buffalo Grove High School.

Weigh-ins are scheduled from 6:30-8 a.m., and wrestling starts at 9 a.m.

An AAU card is required and will be available at the door for $12 up to age 18 and $22 for 19 and up. You also can go online at www.aausports.org.

The tournament fee is $15 at the door with no pre-registration.

All brackets are four-man round robin, block weights. Weight classes are determined by the age as of the day of the tournament.

Wrestlers may bump up one age group but not into the adult division.

High school seniors who are 19 must wrestle in the 19-29 division. Bracketing will be strictly by weight and in straight order.

For more information, contact tournament director Dave Durlacher at (847) 977-7050.