It's hall of fame for Halpin

Anyone who attends the annual St. Viator youth golf camps in mid June can't go wrong with the instructor.

They'll be learning from a hall of famer.

Jack Halpin was inducted into the Illinois Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame on May 18.

In 24 years of coaching, Halpin has directed either a team or an individual to the high school state finals 18 times.

Halpin has served three years on the IHSA Golf Advisory Committee, two years on the rules committee and has been a starter for two years. He has hosted four regionals, three sectionals and 36 individual tournaments.

He has been the on the IJGA board of directors and a MAJGT Founder/Board Member for seven years.

Halpin has a bachelor's of arts degree from Saint Joseph's College (marketing) in Rensselaer, Ind., where he earned three letters in golf. He also earned letters two letters apiece in golf, track and football at Immaculate Conception High School in Elmhurst.

Halpin, who has been an insurance executive at Allstate, CNA and JKrug & Associates for 53 years, led St. Viator to three consecutive Class 3A state titles (from 2007 to 2009). The 2008 and 2009 teams included individual state champions.

Halpin's 2006 and 2017 team placed second in the state.

The Lions have also won four sectionals, seven regionals and 11 conference championships under Halpin, who was the IHSA Coach of the Year in 2007.

For information on Halpin's golf camps, go to saintviator.com.

Softball

Hersey junior Makayla Tsagalis made the Greek National Softball Team and will be competing in Slovakia this summer against the best teams in the world. Tsagalis helped the Huskies to a tri-championship in the Mid-Suburban East this spring.

Also listed on the roster is Barrington graduate Kat Panos, who played for DePauw in Newcastle, Ind., this spring.

The Hellas Softball Federation announces the athletes named to the Women's National Team program for 2018.

The U-22 team will compete at the European Championship in Trnava, Slovakia from July 23 to 28.

"We are extremely excited about the upcoming summer and the athletes selected for our events," said coach Tony Foti. "We have a lot of new athletes joining our program and this is a great opportunity to be able to give our younger athletes international experience.

"We are using these pre-2019 events to evaluate all of our athletes in international competition and to give them well needed experience that is different from their regular college softball experience. These events are extremely important for us, as these are the last events before 2019, where we will be selecting a final senior roster to compete in the ESF Women's Championship and the Olympic Qualifier."

The Hellas National Team Program is the official national team of the Hellas Softball Federation.

• Coastal Georgia sophomore Paige Alt (Schaumburg) was named to the Sun Conference all-conference team as a utility player after being a key component to the Mariners' lineup.

From the plate, Alt blasted a season-high 6 home runs and slugged a team-best .519.

In the circle, she compiled a program-record 1.44 ERA, which currently ranks 24th nationally. She also ranks 36th in hits allowed (5.31 average) and 37th in opponent batting average (. 207). She recorded 13 complete games in 18 games started, and struck out 77 batters in 126.2 innings pitched.

Baseball

Eli Wilson, son of Barrington High School baseball legend Dan Wilson, played an instrumental role as the starting catcher for Minnesota's Big Ten and NCAA regional champions (44-13), who have now advanced to the best-of-three Super Regional June 8 to 11 in Corvallis, Ore.

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Wilson, a sophomore from Seattle, hit a home run in Minnesota's 6-4 victory over Purdue that added the Big Ten tourney title to the Gophers' regular-season championship.

He then drove in the tying run in the eighth inning in a 3-2, 10-inning victory Saturday over UCLA in the regional and drove in 2 more runs in a second win (13-8) that eliminated UCLA on Sunday.

The .300 hitter also is a rarity among college catchers because he calls all the pitches for the Gophers. Dad Dan also went to Minnesota, was a first-round draft pick in 1990 and is in the Seattle Mariners' Hall of Fame as a catcher.

• Illinois junior Bren Spillane (Wheeling) was named to the Baseball America All-America first team.

He was also named Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's 'National Player of the Year' and edged by Florida pitcher Brady Singer for Baseball America's National Player of the Year award.

Spillane is the 31st all-American in Illinois program history and the fifth in the last four years. He joins Josh Klimek (1996), Tyler Jay (2015) and Cody Sedlock (2016) as the only other Baseball America All-America first-teamers in program history.

Spillane's long list of accomplishments includes Big Ten Player of the Year, the first player in Big Ten history to win three straight conference player of the week awards, the first player in Illinois history to win two national player of the week awards, the nation's leading slugging percentage (. 903), OPS (1.401) and home runs per game (0.46) and the second-best slugging percentage in Big Ten history.

Spillane was the first player in program history to hit 15 homers and steal 15 bases in the same season. His combo of power and speed help him lead the Big Ten in batting average (. 389), slugging percentage (. 903), on-base percentage (. 498), OPS (1.401), home runs (23), RBI (60) and total bases (158).

• Wisconsin-Whitewater junior Matt Wary (Elk Grove) batted .330 this season from 100 at-bats. He scored 19 runs and collected 23 RBI, 4 doubles and 1 homer for the Warhawks who went 33-8 and took first place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a 20-4 record.

Wary, who is majoring in economics, was Mid-Suburban League all-conference in football and baseball while at Elk Grove where he also played basketball.

Men's track

Lewis University's Michael Leet (Prospect) finished fourth in the steeplechase at the Music City Distance Carnival at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

Leet automatically qualified for the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships which will be held June 21-24 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.

Competing unattached, Leet completed the race in a personal best 8:39.25, which was under the automatic qualifying time of 8:40.00. He is one of 26 runners to qualify for the event and will compete in the preliminary round on Friday, June 22 at 3:15 p.m. The finals for the steeple will take place on Sunday, June 24 at 3:55 p.m.

Leet finished third in the steeplechase at the NCAA's outdoor championships in Charlotte, N.C. on Friday, May 25, setting a school record in the event by finishing in 8:50.65.

• Senior Josh Yamamoto (Fremd) was one of four All-Americans who led the Vikings to a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex

He ran a personal-best: 51.45 to finish fourth in the 400 hurdles. A five-time all-American in relays, he earned recognition for the first time as an individual.

Yamamoto led off Augustana's 4x400 relay which finished seventh in the nation with a 3:13.08. Senior Kyle Hucker (Wauconda) anchored the relay and gained all-American status for the fourth time.

Senior Evan Murphy (Buffalo Grove) went 48-2 to finish ninth in the triple jump. That mark was just 1¼ off his personal best and he missed out on All-America status by just four inches.

Men's lacrosse

Conant senior Dylan Drawer has committed to coach Dan Torie's Augustana lacrosse program.

The 5-foot-10, 165-pound Drawer was a four-year letter winner in coach Nico Vega's Conant program. He served as a team captain for the Cougars this spring and earned All-Mid-Suburban League honors. He also lettered in football at Conant.

Drawer is a National Honor Society member and won the All-Academic Senior Athlete Award. A certified nursing assistant, he is planning on a pre-optometry major at Augustana.

Drawer will be joining a prorgam that has compiled a 68-50 record in seven seasons of varsity competition. Torie, who will be in his fourth season at Augustana in 2019, led the Vikings to a CCIW championship in 2016.

Women's volleyball

Seven former Harper players have moved on to resuming their careers on the collegiate level.

The list includes Katelyn Sommers (Trinity International University), Kathryn Novy (Bethel University, Ind.), Hannah Moore (Augustana), Sarah Udoni (Carthage), Arianna Chelini (Augustana), Ellie Burzlaff (Elmhurst) and Breanna Cullen (Dubuque).

Former NJCAA all-American and Harper alum Meghan Chartier recently finished up her fourth year of eligibility at Roger Williams University. She had 136 digs in 2016, and while playing libero in 2017 led the team with 395 digs (4.49 digs/set).

Harper reunion

On Saturday, July 21, a reunion for the Harper College football program has been scheduled at Drink Nightclub in Schaumburg.

The event is for all former players and coaches who were with the program from 1971-2011. It will begin at 6 p.m. with drinks and hors d'oeuvres, followed by dinner at 7 p.m., special presentations at 8 p.m. and music/dancing to follow.

There will be a cash bar and the cost of dinner is $35. Organizers are requesting RSVP and payment by June 21. Checks can be made payable to the Harper Football Reunion and should be mailed to John R. Eliasik, 5541 Amanda CT., Rolling Meadows, 60008.

For more information, contact Eliasik at (847) 707-4562 and johnr.eliasik@yahoo.com or Randy Cashmore at (847) 975-1699 and randy.cashmore@yahoo.com.

See you in September

Sports Notes will take the summer off and return next September to bring you more updates on the area's athletes competing on the collegiate level. Have a nice summer and look for us again next school year!