Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 114

16 Section 3 Chicago Tribune, Sunday, June 18, 2000 1999-2000 HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOK YEARBOOK DEDICATION 8 r. score. Linebacker Lee Sicinski had a record-setting 18 total tackles and 10 assists as the Hilltoppers defens made 10 tackles behind the Catholic became the first school to win eight state football r-l Several hours later, Joliet had to share that distinction with Mt. Car; mel (13-1), which handled Marian Catholic 31-7 for the 5A title. That was the fifth championship for the Caravan in the 1990s.

Mt. CarraeL Joliet Catholic and Marian Catholic all compete in the Catholic Metro Conference. Jim Letz recovered a mishandled punt in the end zone for Mt. Carmel's first touchdown, and 54 seconds later Chad Dickerson returned an interception for a TD. In 3A, Byron (14-0) cruised to (the state title with a 41-8 victory over t.

Joseph-Ogden. Stillman Valley (12-2) captured ultimate bragging rights in 2A with a 28-0 triumph over Macon Meridian. The only competitive final was in 1A, where Carthage (14-0) edged Galena Bob Sakampto WINTER SEASON 1 1 11 1 I flV Sf Jury YhJ Tribune photo by Charles Cherney Vault talk: Pole vaulters at the DuPage County track and field championships share some stories at the top of the vault runway as they wait to practice at Wheaton Warrenville South High. John Janulis 24th. Schaumburg was second with 139 points.

In Class Eureka turned in a York-like performance to win with 32 points to Kaneland's 155. Marten Garcia Girls cross country A. week before the state meet, Woodstock's Katie Hartmann left her sectional race on the verge of tears. A preseason favorite to win a state title, she had trouble hiding her disappointment from a runner-up sectional finish. Hartmann redeemed herself in the Class AA state final, however, leading from the start to win the 2.5-mile race in 13:55.

Delilah DiCrescenzo of Queen of Peace ran second in 14:06. Schaumburg's runners also were motivated by a disappointing sectional, in which the Saxons had finished third. Sparked by Lana Mac-nider's eighth-place finish at state, Schaumburg scored 154 points for its first state title since 1982. York scored 167 for second. Winnebago won the Class A title with 98 points to Eureka's 171.

Marlen Garcia Girls volleyball Things didn't look bright for the Downers Grove South volleyball team when practice started in August. All-State pick Chantel Reedus was coming off ACL surgery, and senior setter Kelly West hadn't recovered from a shoulder operation. The season ended on a much It would seem Jack Kaiser had little in common with Brian Knuerr, Kevin Richards and Amanda Macal. Kaiser was Oak Park's 72-year-old baseball coach. Knuerr was a junior hockey player for Fremd, Richards a junior track star at Evanston and Macal a Hinsdale South freshman soccer player.

Death, however, linked all four during the last school year. Kaiser died in March after battling lymphoma for 12 years. Knuerr died in October, Richards in February and Macal in April, each after collapsing during competition because of an undetected heart All four, of course, also were linked by a passion for sports but there the similarities end. Kaiser was a legend, winning a state-record 892 games and one FALL SEASON Boys golf Lake Forest won the Class AA team championship by four strokes over New Trier, the Scouts firing a two-day total of 631 strokes to New Trier's 635. Freeport finished third at 641, and defending champion St.

Charles was fourth. New Trier's Michael Slaven won the individual state title with a 36-hole total of 148, edging Naperville Central's Mike Baldwin by three strokes. Slaven's final-round score of 70 was the fourth-best single-round score in Class AA history. Fairbury Prairie Central won the Class A title, and Brian Anderson of Rochester won the individual crown. MikePankow Girls golf St.

Charles made up for finishing second in 1998 with an easy state-title victory in 1999. On a cool, dark, blustery day, St. Charles breezed to the state championship by 15 strokes, scoring a two-day total of 664, compared with runner-up New Trier's 679. St. Charles led New Trier by just three strokes after the first day but shot 328 on the final day to clinch the crown.

Sterling Newman's Beth Hermes won her second straight individual state title by carding a 153, five shots better than New Trier's Alexis Wooster. MikePankow Girls tennis Glenbrook South's Chrissie Nolan capped her remarkable career with her third straight state singles title, beating Margaret Purcell 6-1, 6-0 her second consecutive championship-match victory over the Lake Forest standout. Nolan became only the second player to win three straight titles, following Stevenson's Suzy Jaeger, who won from 1976 to 1978. In an all-twins doubles final, Bar-rington's Ashley and Karlyn Mar No town like T-town Teutopolis may be 218 miles from the Loop, but it is close to the hearts of Illinois high school girls basketball fans. That's one reason I wanted to make the drive one gray December Saturday down to the town in the south-central part of the state.

The other reason? No. 1 Fenwick was making the trip as well. The first thing that strikes anyone about T-town is that it's not a one-stoplight town. It's a one stop-sign town. There's one clothing store that not only has the basics like underwear and socks but Teutopolis Wooden Shoes shirts.

Another shop sells appliances. That's about it. The high school lies on the east side of town, along with a few farm machinery dealers. Class photos going back to the early 1950s line the walls outside the gym. Coach Dennis Koester, whose teams have won a Class A-best five state titles, works out of an office that well, let's just say it's in need of a good decorator.

The gym, with the and wooden shoe in the center of the court, looks like something out of the movie "Hoosiers." For the record, Fenwick left that day with a 49-37 victory and its then-No. 1 ranking intact. Me? I left with a full stomach. While writing my game story for the Tribune, I was treated to a plate full of goodies in the school cafeteria by the Wooden Shoes booster club. Alan Sutton Tracking greatness One the most vivid memories of my first year in Chicago was the 1978 boys state track meet and watching Sandburg's Tom Graves breeze across the finish line in the Class AA 2-mile run in 9 minutes 6.91 seconds.

Graves was such a dominant runner that Fenton's distance standout, Jim Spivey whom I would watch in the 1996 Olympicsdropped down to the half- state championship in a career that lasted six decades. He taught kids the fundamentals of baseball and life, chief among them discipline and responsibility Kaiser's death was not a tragedy His passing produced almost as much joy as sorrow because it gave us a chance to savor a long life well spent. The deaths of Knuerr, Richards and Macal brought emptiness because those talented young people never had the chance to show what they could do. Because of promise realized and promise unfulfilled, we dedicate this 1999-2000 Preps Plus Yearbook to Jack Kaiser, Brian Knuerr, Kevin Richards and Amanda Macal. Barry Temkin tin defeated Stephanie and Natalie Matko of West Aurora 6-0, 6-2, denying the Matkos' bid to become the first duo to win three state titles.

Hinsdale Central won its first team title since 1983 as both its singles players juniors Kate Williams and Shawna Zuccar unreached the semifinals. PatRooney Boys soccer Prairie Ridge, in only its third year of existence, won what many other older high schools are still striving for a state championship. The Wolves defeated defending Class A champ Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin 2-0 in the title match at Edwardsville. Tribune All-State pick Ryan Zoel-lick and Spencer Kemmeling scored in the final to lead Prairie Ridge to a 29-0-1 finish. Dave O'Le-ary's team is 55-2-1 over the last two seasons one of those losses in the 1998 state final.

In Class AA, East Moline stunned favored New Trier 4-1 in the semifinalsthe Trevians were ranked No. 1 in the Chicago area, and New Trier's Greg Badger and Bill Metzg-er both were on the Tribune's All-State team. Then East Moline became the first Downstate team to win a Class AA title by knocking off Lincoln-Way 2-1 in the title game at Rockford. The last single-class boys soccer champ from Downstate was Collinsville in 1992. Alan Sutton Boys cross country Before the 1999 season, York coach Joe Newton hinted he would postpone his retirement.

He made it official after the Dukes won their 20th state title powered by Donald Sage's individual championship. Sage, who had finished second the previous two seasons, won the Class AA 3-mile race in 14 minutes 3 seconds. West Chicago's Tim Keller was second in 14:24. York had six runners in the top 25 and scored 24 points, the second-best total in state history. Adam Palumbo ran fifth, Pete Cioni sixth, Adam Roche eighth, Peter Stasiulis 12th and mile for the state meet.

Graves came back to win the mile in 4:09.37. That was quite an introduction to Illinois track. I figured the likes of a Tom Graves would appear every so often, but I was wrong. He was one of the all-time greats, and every year I appreciated his performance more. Twenty-three years later, I saw Graves' performance eclipsed by York's Donald Sage.

Sage ran a Class AA record' 8:42.89 in the 3,200 meters and 4:07.56 in the 1,600 for what has to be considered the greatest distance double in state history. The performance by at the state track meet will live on in my memory, as will York coach Joe Newton's first track title and the performance of Lemont's one-man team, Nick Bromberek. Over the years memories fade and it's hard to compare teams and athletes. How would the 1977 East Leyden football team do against the 1998 Wheaton Warrenville South team? How would Providence's Nick Passolano do against Mt. Carmel's Joe Williams on the wrestling mat? We can only speculate.

In track and field, the stopwatch and the tape measure do the comparing for us and enhance our memories. Reid Hanley A dream takes wing As I drove to Indiana's Lake Village Airport on a damp December morning to meet, interview and fly with Mark Hardy, a teenage airplane pilot, I became extremely nervous. I dread flying, and the thought of flying in a single-engine airplane with a teenager hardly eased my fear. After getting to know Hardy, a senior at Richards, my fear subsided. Hardy carried himself with maturity and confidence beyond his 17 years.

He had earned his glider and single-engine airplane pilot licenses through the Aviation Scholarship Foundation, a program geared for teens from the resigned after the season. Neuqua Valley's Jessica Wagner won her fourth straight 100-yard breaststroke title while Hinsdale Central's Jessica Roberts also made it 4 for 4 with her 100 backstroke victory. Jack McCarthy Football Ryan Clifford went from an anonymous running back in the preseason to the best football player in the state. The 5-11, 180-pound Eastern Michigan recruit rushed for 2,670 yards and a state-record 51 touch-, downs in leading Naperville Central to the Class 6A championship. The title-game showdown between Clifford and Schaumburg All-State running back Jason Hawkins never materialized as Hawkins was slowed by an ankle injury Naperville Central (14-0) won 56-31 as Hawkins finished his senior season with 2,748 yards rushing and 41 TDs.

Clifford stole the show in the finale, played for the first time at Champaign's Memorial Stadium. He scored on a 58-yard TD catch and three short runs and also contributed a 53-yard run and a 59-yard kick-off return. His 401 all-purpose yards included 249 rushing. After upsetting preseason No. 1 Mt.

Carmel on opening night, Joliet Catholic (14-0) went on to capture the 4A crown with a 48-13 rout of Metamora. Leading the way was 6-5, 260-pound All-State defensive lineman Mike Maloney, who returned an interception 39 yards for a 21 Clemente outs came on a fly ball. Most came on infield grounders. The dandelions? Well the grassy part of the infield at Lane's home field in Horner Park was cushioned with thousands of stems of dandelions gone to seed. The stems broke the impact of hard-hit grounders and acted like mini-trampolines.

"My infield was good to me today," Kornatowski said. "It slowed down grounders and gave my in-fielders nice, high, easy hops." He also credited his fielders and his catcher Adrian Cabrera. But he was the only pitcher all season to credit dandelions for part of his success. Bill Jauss A Wise runner There's a good chance, 20 years from now, twice as many people as really were there will claim they were at Hanson Stadium on Sept. 30.

For the few hundred on hand that day, Talib Wise and the Simeon Wolverines staged a dramatic comeback that will certainly have people talking for years to come. In a critical Public Hlini South match against Dunbar, Simeon was trailing 36-12 at the half. Wise, who had missed the first three games of the season in an ongoing transfer controversy, had gained only 10 yards in the first half but took out his frustrations on the Dunbar defense in the second. The senior scored on runs of 3, 20, 66 and 75 yards while amassing 270 second-half yards to lead Simeon to a 50-44 victory in one of the more thrilling games any football fan could ever hope to see. PatRooney A wonderful water mark For St.

Charles swimmers, nothing short of a victory would do as they entered the final event of last November's girls state swimming finals trailing host New Trier by two points. Girls bowling Three-year-old Bartlett High School had its first state champion, when Jaime Calusinski claimed.top honors with a 2,602 pinfall at 'thfe. state tournament. Calusinski, a junior, rallied from a 70-pin deficit in the final three games to edge Belleville East's Branded Hewlett by 39 pins. The three-time state qualifieren-tered her name throughout the state record books during the two-day f-.

nals. Her four-round 2,602 was the fourth-best score in state history and her 700 series tied for fourth highest In the first round, she set a state se' ries mark with a 775, including a 297 -game the second-best single game. Machesney Park Harlem held 6ft a late surge from Conant to nail dowft its first state team title. Harlem: closed with a cumulative 11,527 pin-fall to the Cougars' 11,284. Jack McCarthy' Individual wrestling Glenbard North sophomore Chad, Isacson stunned almost 10,000 fans at Champaign's Assembly Hall with a 6-3 victory over two-time state champion Paul Collum in the 63rd state -championships.

Isacson, who had lost twice to Col- lum was trailing 3-2 with less than 20 seconds left in the match when he scored a takedown with two nearfall points for the victory at 135 in Class AA. VJ West Aurora's Israel Martinez (145) and Machesney Park Harlem's Cal Ferry (119) won their third' straight titles and have a chance to join the elite group of four-time state champions. Providence's Nick Pas solano (160), Andrew's Eric Novak (140) and Wheaton North's Jason Vincens (189) won titles with undefeated records. Naperville North freshman Eric Tannenbaum won the 112-pound title with a 44-0 recorl In an unusual double, Deik ij brothers Andy and Sam Hiatt won ti' ties. Andy, a sophomore, won at 125 ti Continued on Following Page Saints fans were nervous as, Ashley Seymour toed the mark to start the 4xl00-yard freestyle relay A The Trevians grabbed a quick lead with a strong swim from sopho- more Jackie Goldman.

But Charles' Christine closed the gap in the second leg and Laura Lipskis kept it and-neck going into the final yards. That's when Kristen Brennan -lowered the boom with a powerful final lap to help the Saints away and win the event in a state record 3:26.01 and claim their sixth 1 consecutive state championship. 0. Brennan closed a spectacular high school career with four state championship medals last fall including the 50 and 100 and was part of a 4x50-yard freestyle relay that set a national of 1:34.54. All told she won 12 first- place medals from individual and relay events during her career.

Jack McCarthy A Knight to remember On Feb. 4 Lincoln-Way's boys basketball team went to liet with the SICA West cham. pionship at stake. Although Joliet wrapped up the title that Lincoln-Way senior Jeff Oberg, a 6-' foot-l-inch forward, left everybody in the gym cheering. Ir'." On an alley-oop pass from guard Adam White, Oberg reached with his right hand, grabbed ball and then slammed it That sparked cheers and a buz? that lasted for several minutes.

7 Later, after fielding a few tions about the victory, Joliet' coach Bob Koskosky changed the topic, marveling at Oberg's dunK''V and the crowd's reaction. He then'; made a point of finding Oberg and offering him congratulations. 1 Lincoln-Way eventually No. 2 Hillcrest in the Joliet sectional, but Oberg's dunk should be at the front of the Knights' 1999-2006" basketball highlight reel. Ken OBrien OUR FAVORITE MOMENTS higher note.

The Mustangs won their second Class AA state championship with a 15-8, 15-5 victory over Belleville Althoff. All-Stater Lindsey Filkins led Downers with nine kills in the first game against Althoff, when Downers South rallied from a 7-3 deficit. Filkens had 11 kills in the second game as Downers (36-5) wrapped up the title. Normal University High won the Class A title, defeating Quincy Notre Dame. ReidHanley Girls swimming St.

Charles closed the 1990s in dramatic fashion with its sixth consecutive state team championship, rallying to beat New Trier with a victory in the meet's final event. The 4xl00-yard freestyle relay team of Ashley Seymour, Christine Anderson, Laura Lipskis and Kristen Brennan finished with a state record time of 3 minutes 26.01 seconds. St. Charles closed with 186 team points and four state champions, including a pair of individual gold medals from Brennan as well as two relay triumphs. Brennan capped a stellar individual career with victories in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races and also swam on a championship 4x50 freestyle relay with Anderson, Lipskis and Seymour that finished in 1:35.27.

The previous day that group set a national record of 1:34.54 in the 4x50. The architect of the Saints' successhead coach Jennifer Heyer tale. Then there was the inspiring tale of Stagg Softball catcher Sa-mantha Eyman, who was born without a left hand. Sitting for almost two hours and listening to this remarkable teenager talk about how she has tackled life head-on swept you away from the mundane, inconsequential matters we sometimes call problems. Watching her catch-and-switch technique and seeing her smash a line drive, throw out a runner, tie her shoe, do 12 pull-ups, polish her nails, drive a stick-shift vehicle-all with one hand was an eye-opening and humbling experience.

You notice the sparkle in her eyes and the radiance of her smile, and you begin to understand another form of happiness. At 17, Sa-mantha Eyman has fully accepted her situation in life and likes it. She is happy with who she is. Instead of hiding the fact she is different, she accessorizes the left wrist and wears a ring on her partial thumb. This spring, for the first time, she let a guy hold her left hand.

"If anybody has a child like this, don't be afraid," she said. "Look at what's happened to me. Take it as a blessing. I'm 17, and if I died tomorrow, I've had a terrific life. I think God gave me just one hand for a reason: to show people how to overcome it." He couldn't have picked a better messenger.

Bob Sakamoto Weeding out a winner Winning pitcher: Steve Korna-towski. Save: Dandelions. The box score of Lane Tech's 6-4 decision over Clemente on May 18 did not contain that line. But it could have. Kornatowski kept most of his 113 pitches knee-high in his four-hit, eight-strikeout victory.

As a result only one of South Side and some southern suburbs. He had worked hard to become a solid student, football player and track athlete at Richards but also dedicated himself to the aviation program for 3Va years. He did so with the support of his devoted grandparents, Ben and Kathryn Harvey, who raised him in Rob-bins. Hardy credited them for his work ethic, considered stellar by his coaches and flight instructors. From my brief flight with Hardy and from the time I spent with his family in December, I learned of his dream to become a commercial a'irline pilot.

He has since earned an aviation scholarship to attend Western Michigan. I believe someday as I board a commercial airplane, I'll be greeted by Hardy, the pilot in command. This time, I'm looking forward'to it. Marlen Garcia Two to savor Thinking about the year 2000, 1 always will remember two very special athletes who were blessed in unique ways, enabling them to overcome some serious adversity. ToddTownsend was a basketball player at Morgan Park who was forced to live on his own as a junior because of severe family problems.

After subsisting at times on syrup sandwiches, he wound up being taken in by Kathy and Joe Schwaba's family in Winnetka a year later, and Kathy Schwaba became his legal guardian. When the IHSA ruled that Townsend's transfer to New Trier failed to meet its eligibility requirements, a pro bono legal team headed by Hinsdale attorney Peter Rush won a controversial court battle to regain Townsend's eligibility. Todd helped New Trier to the Class AA basketball quarterfinals, and his senior year turned out like something out of a fairy.