Palatine's Campe will take volleyball talents to Virginia Tech

During her four-year varsity career at Palatine, Emily Campe will always remember one moment during her sophomore season.

It came in coach Dan Gavin's huddle during a timeout.

"(Gavin) told me 'you can write a ticket to play anywhere you want in college, I'm telling you, you're that good.' That really stuck with me," Campe said.

Sure enough, a year later Campe punched that ticket to Virginia Tech, where she will continue her career for the Hokies' Division I women's volleyball team.

Campe said that Gavin also helped her keep a positive attitude in the ups and downs of recruiting.

"And my teammates, both high school and club, have always been with me through everything. I cannot thank them enough for always having my back," she said.

If you turn your back for a second, you may miss one of Campe's dynamic kills. She had 300 as a junior along with 210 digs, 45 aces and 39 blocks.

"Just about anyone who watches her play can almost immediately identify her ability to impact a match and I would never undersell that," Gavin said. "She is undoubtedly one of the best and most physical players in the entire state."

Campe began playing on a park district volleyball team when she was in sixth grade.

"I immediately fell in love with it, and I tried out for club a couple years later going into eighth grade," she said. "By eighth grade I knew that I wanted to play at the collegiate level."

Campe obviously knew her 6-foot-4 height was an advantage.

"But I also knew that could only get me so far," she said, "and that I needed to put in the time and work to make that goal become a reality."

The work was plentiful, as she became a member of the Rolling Thunder club.

"My coach Spencer, at Rolling Thunder, has pushed me beyond my limits, and greatly shaped me to be the player I am today," Campe added. "He also helped me tremendously in the recruiting process, from the very first email, to getting in contact with Virginia Tech. Coach Gavin has also always been a positive influence on me as a player, but also as a person, throughout all my four years playing at Palatine."

"From my lens, I cannot speak enough about how proud I am of Emily," Gavin said. "The growth she has demonstrated as a volleyball player is unquestionable."

Same goes for her growth as a person.

"The piece people may not realize is just how much she has grown as a person, a leader and a teammate," Gavin said. "She has always been a high-character kid but she has really made a conscious choice to better herself and to become more well-rounded. I couldn't be prouder of her."

Campe plans to study criminology at Virginia Tech.

"I have always found crimes, and the psychology behind them interesting," she said. "I also started watching many law, crime, and medical shows at a young age with my mom so that definitely persuaded my interest. My parents have always supported me in everything I do so it was great to always have them in my corner throughout my decision."

It was an easy decision for Campe when asked about her favorite part of volleyball.

"As a hitter, it's being able to terminate plays," Campe said. "I know that hitters get the most credit since that's what everyone remembers. But I also love the teamwork and effort that has to be put forth in every play, in order to make those opportunities happen."

The highlight of Campe's career happened to be four months ago when her club team placed third at the AAU nationals.

"We put in so much blood, sweat, and tears to medal at nationals so it was just an amazing feeling to see that all pay off," she said. "However our mentality next year is to work even harder, and come home with a first place medal."

Then it will be on to Blacksburg, VA.

"Virginia Tech is getting a great one," Gavin said. "But I am glad she's still ours for a month or so."

Men's cross country

Walk-on and 2018-19 redshirt Jack Fredian (Hersey) made the Villanova traveling squad. In his first race, Villanova was one of six Top 25 teams at the Bill Dellinger Invitational at the University of Oregon.

Fredian ran 24:31 for 8,000 meters (4:56/mile), a 41-second personal record, and finished 53rd out of 142 overall. He was the fourth of nine Villanova runners to finish.

Women' swimming

University of Findlay (Ohio) junior Sarah Miles, who attended Hoffman Estates High School, placed second in a pair of backstroke events in a dual meet at Northern Michigan University. Miles took second in the 75-yard backstroke with a time of 45.26. In a more conventional race, Miles finished second in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:14.87. She also anchored a 200 free relay team and split a time of 26.53 seconds for her 50 yards.

Women's cross country

Saint Mary's (IN) freshman Julia O'Grady (Prospect) was a co-athlete of the week for the Belles when she led the team at the Pre-National Race in Louisville. O'Grady was on pace to break her own personal record 6k time at the race with a 3:46.7 average kilometer time through nearly 4k of the event. An error caused the race to be scored through the 3.9 kilometer mark as she posted a time of 14:44.3 and was 65th in a field of more than 250 runners.

Hersey feeder

The Hersey girls feeder basketball program holds tryouts for the 2019-20 season on the Sundays of Oct. 27 and Nov. 3 at Hersey High School. Times are 4 p.m. (eighth grade), 5 p.m. (seventh grade), 6 p.m. (sixth grade) and 5 p.m. (fifth grade). For questions, email sjs@4scp.com.

Football

Augustana running back Bobby Jarosz (Prospect) rushed for a career-high 143 yards on 24 carries in the Vikings' 40-14 homecoming win over Millikin. He also caught one pass for 18 yards. After the Vikings' first four games, the finance and business management major has rushed for 432 yards and 3 TDs (all team highs). He also has 10 catches for 143 yards and another TD.

Women's soccer

Millikin's Faith Fitzsimmons (Prospect) had one of the three Big Blue goals in the second half of its 4-0 win over North Park University in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin match.

Men's soccer

Augustana senior Jeremy Klaber of Buffalo Grove has played all 740 minutes in goal and is 3-4-1 with a save percentage of .761 and a 1.34 goals against average.

Please email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com