Hillner hauls in another soccer honor
Arlington Heights resident Norm Hillner, already an Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association Hall of Famer, is still racking up honors for his long career as the Lake Park boys soccer coach.
Hillner recently received a Letter of Commendation from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America at their 67th Annual Awards Banquet in Philadelphia.
The NSCAA Letter of Commendation is presented yearly to recognize an NSCAA member for unusual achievement that clearly exceeds performance requirements, expectations or contributions to the NSCAA or soccer in the United States.
This year, Hillner was one of five people recognized by the NSCAA.
Hillner retired in 2012 and has been a member of the NSCAA since 1981.
He is a past president of the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association.
He forged one of the early high school partnerships with the NSCAA to promote membership, awards, education and the NSCAA national convention within Illinois and the IHSSCA.
Hillner has consulted with other states on the formation of their state high school soccer coaches organizations.
He has also served the NSCAA awards program as both an All-American and Coach of the Year representative on the state and regional level.
Hillner was named IHSSCA Person of the Year four times. He is currently the Director of Operations for men’s soccer at Northwestern University.
Hillner joined the Wildcats staff for the 2012 season as the team’s new director of operations. His role will be to coordinate team travel and game day operations, assist with various community relations projects and help with alumni events such as the golf and soccer tournaments.
Hillner served as Lake Park’s head boys soccer coach for 28 years. He was one of the IHSA’s winningest coaches with a career record of 369-211-71.
He was an executive board member of the IHSA Soccer Coaches Association since 1986, serving as president in 1988 and again from 2003-2008. He was inducted into the IHSSCA Hall of Fame in 2007.
Hillner was a team captain and MVP for Maine West in 1975, and starred at Knox College in Galesburg, where he was a four-time All-Midwest Conference honoree and three-time All-Illinois selection.
He is still the all-time leading scorer at Knox and was inducted into the Knox-Lombard Athletic Hall of Fame as a soccer and baseball player in 1998.
Men’s basketball
Washington University (St. Louis) senior forward Chris Klimek (Fremd)was selected to the D3hoops.com Men’s Basketball Team of the Week.
Klimek earned the honor for the first time in his career.
He averaged 24 points and 12 rebounds as the Bears remained unbeaten in University Athletic Association play with a pair of road wins. He scored 26 points and pulled down a career-high 18 boards to propel the Bears to a 77-64 win at Case Western Reserve University Friday in Cleveland.
Klimek followed that up with 22 points and 6 rebounds in a 94-81 win at Carnegie Mellon. Klimek shot 61.5 percent from the field (20-32) in the two wins.
Klimek, who also earned UAA Athlete of the Week honors, is averaging a team-best 16.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. He is 57 points shy of becoming the 21st member of Washington’s 1,000-point club.
Soccer standouts
Barrington seniors Carrie Madden (Marquette) and Nicole Niro (Auburn) will sign their letters of intent on Wednesday at Barrington High School.
They have played for the Eclipse Select ECNL Team since age 12 and have been ranked in the top 100 nationally of their graduating class.
Eclipse Select has held the No. 1 overall club rank during their seven years with the club.
In addition to club soccer, both girls are members of the National Honor Society.
Madden plays on coach Babbi Barreiro’s 16-5 girls basketball team while Niro played club volleyball and competed for the Barrington lacrosse team. Niro is on the student council supporting many activities.
Relay For Life
The Relay For Life of Mt. Prospect/Wheeling will hold its kickoff event on Friday at Prospect High School during the Prospect-Wheeling sophomore and varsity basketball games from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Registration will be available for teams and individuals for this year’s Relay For Life event, which will be held May 16-17 at Prospect High School.
There will also be T-shirts for sale, as well as raffle prizes, a 50-50 raffle, and a pre-game ceremony honoring cancer survivors.
Relay For Life is the signature fundraising event of the American Cancer Society. For more information contact Dave Jacobson, Prospect High School Service Learning Coordinator, at (847) 718-5230 or at david.jacobson@d214.org.
Women basketball
Cornell College (Iowa) sophomore Kellie Kuzmanic (Wheeling) is averaging 7.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3 assists for the Rams (14-3), who are tied for first in their conference.
Ÿ Truman State’s Bianca Szafarowicz (Wheeling)is averaging 10.8 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2 assists for the Bulldogs (13-4, 7-2).
Ÿ Carthage senior point guard Stephanie Kuzmanic (Wheeling) was named Capital One academic all-district as named by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). As an all-district winner, Kuzmanic, an exercise and sports science major with a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average, advances to a national ballot for consideration as Capital One Academic all-American®.
Men’s hockey
Bowling Green junior Dan DeSalvo (Fremd) is the leading scorer for his team with 6 goals and 21 assists in 28 games. Bowling Green is in third place in the WCHA and ranked 25th nationally.
Ÿ St. Olaf junior goalie Steve Papciak (Elk Grove) has a 1.87 goals against average with a 93 percent save percentage. He is second with 3 shutouts in 10 conference games. He ranks third among goalies in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Ÿ Franklin Pearce freshman Aaron Blaker from Rolling Meadows is third in scoring for his team with 5 goals and 3 assists in 16 games.
Ÿ Lake Forest College junior forward Jason McAloon (Elk Grove)had an assist on the Forresters’ game-tying goal in the third period of a 3-2 overtime win over Lawrence University.
Getting close ...
Rolling Meadows junior guard Jackie Kemph is 60 points away from becoming the first player in Mustangs history to score 2,000 points. Kemph’s Mustangs host Prospect on Tuesday and Hersey on Friday.
The Huskies are coached by Mary Fendley, who coincidentally was also a high-scoring guard for Meadows and finished with 950 career points.
Got there ...
St. Viator senior guard Erin Fabbri joined Denise Walker, Lauren Weber and Susan Hohenadel as the only Lions to reach 1,000 points.
Fabbri, who played with Meadows’ Jackie Kemph in the Arlington Heights Youth Basketball Association, dramatically reached the magic number when she made 2 free throws with 10 seconds left Saturday at Carmel to give the Lions a 54-51 win.
Even more impressive, Fabbri reached 1,000 points in 2½ seasons. She was not on the varsity as a freshman and she’s played in 12 of 25 games this season due to a broken ankle suffered on Dec. 6 against Gordon Tech.
Women’s track
Augustana junior Becca Sund (Palatine) finished second (5:12.56) in the mile run at the Warhawk Classic in Whitewater, Wis. Augustana took fourth place with 80 points in the seven-team event.
Men’s track
DePaul senior Matt Babicz (Prospect) paced the Blue Demons in the shot put invitational at the Indiana Relays in Bloomington. He captured first place courtesy of a career-best throw of 63 foot 8 inches (19.43 meters). It was Babicz’s fourth shot put competition victory in five meets this indoor season.
Fitting Friday For Frisk
Many schools across the state celebrate ‘Pack the Place,’ a night in which school officials try to fill their gyms for one boys and one girls basketball game by means of promotions of their own design.
Former Daily Herald assistant managing editor/sports Bob Frisk was the creator of ‘Pack the Place’ back in 1988.
So how appropriate was it that Prospect’s ‘Pack the Place’ was on Friday, the same night Frisk was honored as one of the first four recipients of the IHSA Distinguished Media Award?
It should be noted that Frisk, who worked for more than 50 years at the Daily Herald, was also the creator of the column you are reading.
Congrats again, Bob, on the well-deserved honor on Friday night.
Ÿ Frisk’s IHSA recognition was also mentioned by veteran Daily Herald writer Mike Spellman in his Friday ‘Scorecard’. Congrats also to Mike, a former St. Viator all-star catcher, for his Super Bowl pick. He was one of the few Chicago print media members to select Seattle as the winner.
Ÿ Incidentally, on that same night Frisk was honored, coach Ashley Graham guided the Prospect girls basketball team to its first 20-win season in ten years.
The last time Prospect won 20 games was in 2004 under coach Mike Nocella, now the Hoffman Estates head coach.
The standout on that 24-6 Knights team in 2004 was Gabrielle Cottrell-Lovin, Prospect’s second all-time leading scorer.
Cottrell shared the Daily Herald all-area captain award with two others that season — Fremd’s Ali Ridge and guess who?
Buffalo Grove’s Ashley Sandstead — yes, now Ashley Graham.
Ÿ Please email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com.