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Sports short: Loyola football No. 1

The Loyola Ramblers football team finished atop two polls to conclude the season.

Unbeaten at 6-0, Loyola got 69 points by media voters to put them No. 1 in Class 8A in the final 2021 football rankings by the Associated Press on Tuesday. Unbeaten Lincoln-Way East pushed the Ramblers in second with 64 points.

Also, Loyola earned the top spot in the Illinois Coaches Poll organized by Batavia football coach Dennis Piron. It was another close contest with 4 points separating the Ramblers from Lincoln-Way East.

Maine South (5-1) finished the season ranked eighth by the Associated Press, ninth by the Coaches.

Can't do better

Glenbrook South's boys tennis team played four matches last week. Titans senior Mark Blekhman won all four times out. Not just that, he didn't drop a game, winning 6-0, 6-0 in each match.

Trackletes

At the Coed Crosstown Classic track meet at Glenbrook South on April 24, Glenbrook North senior co-captain Nick Ihrke won the boys' 3,200-meter run. He ran it in 9 minutes, 58.9 seconds, more than a 20-second outdoor personal best. According to Spartans boys track coach Sean Brandt, it was the first time a Glenbrook North athlete had broken the 10-minute barrier in the 3,200 since 2016.

On the girls' side, Glenbrook South returning all-stater Sydney Willits won long jump, triple jump and the 200-meter dash at the Crosstown Classic. The Iowa State recruit's long jump of 18 feet, 6 inches surpassed state-qualifying distance, her triple of 36-2 was about 3 inches shy and, adding the sprint to her workload this year, Willits ran it in 25.7 seconds, right at the qualifying standard.

No-no Elle

On April 22, Glenbrook North softball pitcher Elle Harris threw a 5-inning no-hitter in an 11-0 win over Maine East. Only 2 walks kept her from pitching a perfect game. Harris, a junior, struck out 12 batters. At the plate she went 2-for-3 with a double and a triple.

Augustana duo

The Augustana men's lacrosse team dropped an outing at Carthage on Saturday, but a couple local standouts continued solid seasons.

Maine South graduate John Calabrese, a junior, won 15 of 23 faceoffs and picked up 10 ground balls in the 11-10 loss in Kenosha.

Entering the Vikings' regular-season finale against North Central on Wednesday, Calabrese had won 138 of 214 faceoffs, a .645 percentage that's ahead of Augustana's single-season record of .581 set in 2016. Calabrese's 100 ground balls are 18 away from his own single-season record.

Glenbrook South graduate Cameron Duffy has played more than 597 minutes in goal for Augustana, nearly all but an hour's worth of Augustana's season. The junior has had a hand in all of the Vikings' results, compiling a record of 6-5, a 4.78 saves percentage and a 10.55 goals-against average.

John Calabrese
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