Smoldering finish for Smoy at Knox
Erik Smoy is finishing his career at Knox College in style.
He has been named to the Midwest Conference All-South Division baseball team for the third consecutive time.
The Prairie Fire outfielder is one of the 10 position players named to the team.
Smoy, who excelled at Hoffman Estates in high school, hit .349 with 1 home run, 49 RBI, a team-high 53 hits, 26 runs and 11 stolen bases.
He had 8 doubles and 3 triples.
He led the Midwest Conference in RBI and is ranked 10th in league history in career RBI (121).
Smoy also tied for second in the MWC in triples and he was sixth in hits.
Smoy had two or more RBI in 13 games, three or more six times and he matched his career-high with 6 RBI twice.
He drove in 6 runs in a game three times in his career.
A career .341 hitter, he set several new Knox baseball records during his senior year.
Smoy established new all-time single-season marks for runs batted in and at bats (152), and he's the career leader in RBI, hits (164), and at-bats (481). He's also among the top three in school history with career totals of 93 runs scored and 215 total bases.
Smoy helped the Prairie Fire win 16 games this past season and 62 during his four-year career. The 54 victories by the baseball team over the past three seasons are the most over a three-year period in the program's history.
• Concordia Chicago junior pitcher Kurt Kempema (Schaumburg) was honored as the school's Student-Athlete of the Week.
Kempema (6-0, 2.76) took the mound for the Cougars' second-round game against Edgewood College and hurled 8⅓ innings in a 2-1 victory in 10 innings.
He allowed just 1 unearned run on 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out a career-high 11 batters. Kempema threw 121 pitches, 77 for strikes.
Women's soccer
Central Michigan's Emily Baston (Fremd), who will be a junior next season, has been elected captain of the team.
She was also the student representative for Central Michigan at the MAC leadership symposium.
Basketball camp
A high-level basketball skills camp will be held at Immanuel Lutheran School in Palatine for six weeks from June 9 to July 16.
John Ulrich's summer program is intended to properly introduce and reinforce high level basketball skills to girls and boys who may be interested in playing at a high level. The program is noncompetitive in nature, yet is structured to give students the opportunity to learn strong fundamental skills.
Ulrich was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2002 and has 40 years of experience coaching junior high and high school girls and boys.
For for further information or to sign up, call Ulrich at (847) 259-7504 or visit the website www.johnulrichbasketball.com or email at coachjohnulrich@yahoo.com.
Men's tennis
Senior Eric Klawitter (Hersey) and his Case Western Reserve University doubles partner C.J. Krimbill have been selected to compete in the individual portion of the 2014 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship.
As a pair, Krimbill and Klawitter are 16-2 with all of their matches in the top spot. As of the last ITA polls on May 1, the duo was ranked second in the region.
The winningest singles player in program history (75-40 overall), Klawitter has a combined 132 victories for his career with a doubles mark of 57-23.
Also, the CWRU men's tennis team advanced to the national team portion of the Championship by defeating host Carnegie Mellon University in a regional final match. The 2014 NCAA DIII Men's Tennis Championship will be in Claremont, CA from May 19-24.
Women's swimming
DePaul University sophomore Erin Horne (Hersey) made her second consecutive appearance at the NCAA Division III swimming and diving national championship meet.
Horne's 400-yard freestyle relay finished 10th with a time of 3:27.42, while her 200-yard freestyle relay finished 12th in a time of 1:35.79. Both relays broke school records and earned honorable mention all-American status.
In addition, DePauw finished in 15th place overall at the meet, up from 27th place the year before. Horne also received the Scholar All-America award for the second time in as many seasons, which is presented to NCAA all-American athletes achieving a grade-point average above 3.5.
Sibling soccer standouts
Luis Arreola (15 years old) and his sister Alondra Arreola (13) of Wheeling are currently on the USA and Mexico's national team pools.
Luis has been to two USA U15 National Team Camps in California.
He has been courted and made offers by top professional soccer clubs like Chivas, Pachuca, Xolos, Santos, Leon and by the German club Schalke 04. He is planning a trip to Real Madrid.
Luis was chosen out of more than 500 players who tried out for Alianza National event last September. He was the most outstanding player at the Alianza nationals and received the most interest from pro scouts attending the event.
Luis Arreola has played for the Chivas Guadalajara top 99' team in a Houston Dynamo Tournament which won the finals. He is currently also invited to play in Mexico's National U15 Tournament with Xolos from Tijuana.
Alondra has recently been called up to Mexico's U15 National Team Camp. She was one of only four players selected from a tryout held in Chicago.
The Arreolas developed their skills in their current Wheeling-based soccer club FC Athletico.
Rowing
Notre Dame's Maddie Conlin competed in the Atlantic Coast Conference Rowing Championships and her No. 10 -ranked Fighting Irish took second place behind a No. 5-ranked Virginia team at Lake Hartwell in Clemson, S.C.
Conlin's boat finished second behind Virginia, and defeated Syracuse by .5 seconds. Conlin was in the 3V8 boat.
Notre Dame was second with 67 points, followed by Syracuse (61)Clemson (48), Duke (41), Miami (28), Boston College (23) and North Carolina (11).
The Irish must now wait to hear about an at-large berth into the NCAA Rowing Championships which will be held May 30-June 1 at Eagle Creek Park outside Indianapolis, In.
Women's basketball
Carthage College women's basketball coach Tim Bernero has sent a jersey worn by Stephanie Kuzmanic (Wheeling) to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville Tenn.
Kuzmanic's jersey will be on display until May of 2015 in that organization's Ring of Honor.
The Ring of Honor is one of the most-popular exhibits at the facility in Knoxville.
It provides a colorful backdrop to the facility archives and is used to "honor the past, celebrate the present and promote the future of women's basketball."
Over 100 jerseys from high school and college All-Americans currently hang in the hall.
Kuzmanic was named a 2014 Women's Basketball Coaches Association All-America, the College Conference Illinois and Wisconsin's Most Outstanding Player and first-team All-CCIW.
She was also named Capital One® Academic all-American 'Player of the Year' for NCAA Division III.
Softball
Illinois sophomore Allie Bauch was named to the NFCA All-Midwest Region third team, marking the first regional award for the second-year player.
Bauch is the second Illini second baseman to take home the honor, following three-time all-region selection and two-time all-American Danielle Zymkowitz, who graduated in 2011.
Bauch started all 50 games at second base, batting in the leadoff position. She led the Illini with a .547 slugging percentage, totaling a team-high 8 home runs, 2 triples and 6 doubles while walking a team-leading 21 times for a .417 on base percentage.
Bauch led the Illini with 19 multihit performances, including four 3-hit games, while knocking in 23 runs and stealing 8 bases. A true catalyst for the Illini offense, Bauch hit .424 when leading off an inning, starting 20 games on first base and crushing 5 leadoff home runs.
She also was solid defensively, leading the Big Ten with 129 assists on the season and setting a new Illinois record for double plays turned by a second baseman, ranking third in the Big Ten behind only her teammates with 16 double plays on the year.
• Northwestern junior Andrea DiPrima received All-Big Ten second team honors and NFCA All-Great Lakes third team. She batted .393 with a .519 on-base percentage in Big 10 games.
Rugby
Led by the field generalship of scrumhalf Tony Lapiana and tries by Zach Niro, Nikko Gountanis, Spencer Krueger and Nick Breitzman, the Arlington Stallions defeated the Morton Mustangs 31-22 to advance to the semifinal round of the IYRA Tier One Championship Tournament.
The No. 3-seeded Stallions will travel to Aurora on Thursday to face the No. 2 Waubonsie Chiefs. "This is an exciting time for the Stallions," said coach Paul Bergman. "Winning our division and getting through the first round of the playoffs in Tier One is new territory for us. We're obviously excited but we know it's a hard road ahead and will take a great effort to get through Thursday with a win."
Men's track
Carthage sophomore Mark Balmes (Hersey) qualified for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Ohio Wesleyan University's Selby Stadium/George Gauthier Track in Delaware, Ohio.
He is ranked 11th in the discus (166-2) and 14th in the shot put (53-11 ¾).
The top 20 individuals qualify for the national championship. The shot put gets underway on Friday at 3:15 p.m. and the discus on Saturday at 1 p.m.
• North Central senior Dionte Hackler (Schaumburg, IL) was part of the Cardinals' 4-by-400-meter relay team that put up a qualifying time of 3:12.77 at the Drake Relays, which makes it the fifth-fastest relay in this year's championship field.
They advance to the NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships to be held Thursday through Saturday at Ohio Wesleyan University.
The Cardinals are six-time outdoor national champions.
Women's track
Augustana junior Becca Sund (Palatine) ran 17:59.34 to win the 5000-meter run at the Twilight Qualifier at Paul V. Olsen Track.
• Please email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com.