Baseball: L-W Central's Bieterman Reaches a Milestone

Lincoln-Way Central baseball coach Sean Bieterman won his 200th career game as a head coach with a 2-0 victory on the road against Homewood-Flossmoor on May 19.

“To get to this number of wins is a result of coaching really good kids for a long time and having good assistant coaches,” he said.

The Knights finished 25-10 last season. They won a conference title and a regional championship in his first season at the helm. He compiled a 161-74 record while previously coaching at Driscoll. The team finished this spring at 14-15-1.

“Sean’s track record speaks for itself. He built a highly successful program at Driscoll Catholic High School before coming to Central. In his first year at Central, he led our program to the best season in school history,” Lincoln-Way Central athletic director Hud Venerable said.

“He’s a proven winner who cares about his players as much as any coach I’ve worked with in my career. We’re very excited for Sean on this milestone and look forward to many more years of his leadership with our program.”

Lincoln-Way Central saw its season come to a close on Monday when the Knights dropped their playoff opener in the Lockport Regional. Plainfield Central simply proved to be too much for the Knights, winning 9-4.

Woodin Overcomes Odds and Injuries to Advance to State

Lincoln-Way West senior Justin Woodin sustained a broken hand and hernia this year. With two such injuries, just being able to handle activities of daily living could be difficult, but Woodin worked extremely hard and qualified for the state finals in Class 2A track and field by clearing 12-9 in the pole vault.

“It is obvious that Justin works extremely hard to anyone who knows him,” Lincoln-Way West coach Jason Van Swol said. “He also has one of the best diets I have encountered in a high school kid. His nutrition is lights years ahead of most people his age. I can’t say enough good things about him. He is an all-around great kid.”

The Warriors’ 4 x 400 relay team of senior Richard Kaemerer and juniors B.J. Bello Jake Bax and Mark Pedziwiatr also advanced with a 3:24.84.

Kaemerer qualified last year in the 200 but chose to focus on the relay this spring. Bello is making his second appearance at state as well.

“(Bello) has a tremendous amount of talent, and has been growing more focused each year,” Van Swol said. “Jake (Bax) is a quiet leader, always giving 100 percent, never messing around and always looking to get better. Mark (Pedziwiatr) is the lone middle-distance runner on the relay and one of the hardest working athletes I have worked with.”

L-Way Central, Providence Boys Look to Make Mark

A diverse group of track and field standouts will be in Charleston this weekend representing Lincoln-Way Central and Providence in the Class 3A boys state track and field finals.

Central senior Kyle Counter advanced in the 3200 (9:44.58). Providence senior Kevin Ryan did so in the 110 hurdles (:14.62), and Celtic junior Jesse Long will throw the discus (146-6), Providence junior Sean Fitzgerald will have a chance to high jump (6-1) and Celtic sophomore Chad Weaver will take his best shot in the pole vault (13-9).

Lincoln-Way Central sophomores Joel Swanberg and Brent Swanberg also will be in the mix on the Eastern Illinois University campus this weekend. Joel Swanberg advanced to the finals in the pole vault (13-9) and Brent Swanberg did so in the high jump (5-11).

New Lenox’s Lone Representative in Boys Tennis is Zeeman

Providence sophomore James Zeeman is the lone boys tennis player from Providence, Lincoln-Way Central and Lincoln-Way West to advance to this weekend’s IHSA boys state tennis finals. Zeeman is unseeded.

Boys Volleyball Playoffs

Providence (23-10) took care of Lincoln-Way North 25-21, 25-23 on Wednesday to win the Marian Catholic Regional. The Celtics received 12 kills from Marty Ross. But the Celtics' season ended on Friday in a 25-16, 25-18 loss to Sandburg in semifinal play at the Sandburg Sectional.

Marist ended Lincoln-Way Central's with a 25-21, 26-24 victory to claim the Marist Regional title. Central had little time to celebrate its 25-19, 25-18 victory against Lincoln-Way West on Tuesday in regional play.

Softball: L-W Central, Providence Ousted

Lincoln-Way Central dropped a 7-4 decision to Homewood-Flossmoor on Tuesday in the Homewood-Flossmoor Regional, while Providence lost a heartbreaking 2-1 game to Lockport in the Providence Regional. The game went 11 innings and the Celtics lost in on a bases-loaded, walk-off walk to Jenn Bond.

L-Way’s Senior All-Star Gymnasts Finish High School Careers

Lincoln-Way co-op’s Evan Hosman and Tyler Yost represented their high school gymnastics team for a final time last weekend as the two seniors competed in the inaugural John Brinkworth Senior All-Star Meet Championship at Niles North. The DuPage Valley Conference won the meet with a 167.15 point total. Representing the Southwest Suburban Conference, Yost and Hosman helped the conference take eighth place with a 114.55 score.

The meet gave the two multi-event specialists a chance to compete as all-arounders. Hosman’s top scores came on still rings (9.3) and floor (9.1), while Yost’s came on floor (9.4), vault (9.15) and high bar (9.0). Hosman finished with a 50.50 and Yost had a 48.05.

Unfortunately, due to prior commitments, L-Way seniors Jake Gratkowski and Ryan Reif were unable to attend. Reif, the state champion on still rings, would’ve had to top Stevenson’s Mike Wilner, who posted an eye-boggling 9.95.

A Quarter Century Ago at Providence

It was 25 years ago this spring that Providence’s Wendy Hegarty established a school record long jump of 16-8. Believe it or not, that record still stands today.

Hegarty, who is the head girls cross country coach at Lincoln-Way East and served as an assistant coach for the Class 3A Lincoln-Way East girls track and field team that took second in the state last weekend, remembers her glory days fondly.

“Those huge ad books from the Harvest Drive had blurbs on sports teams and clubs and my freshman year they had the girls track records listed,” she said. “I remember staring at that page and making that my goal.”

The page stated that Kelly Maloney had established a school record long jump of 16-1 in a 1974, a year after an oil crisis raised the average gas price to 55 cents a gallon.

Hegarty broke the record during her sophomore year in 1985 with a jump of 16-8. She extended it to 16-9 1/2 in 1986, when gas still was only 93 cents a gallon, but is a little foggy on exactly when she did it.

“I’m pretty sure I jumped it to win conference my junior year,” she recalled. “Thanks for bringing back the memories.”

L-W Central Soccer Girls Ousted

 The Lincoln-Way Central girls soccer team dropped a 1-0 decision to Granite City in the championship game of the Joliet Central Sectional on Friday night. Earleir, the Knights reached the Sweet 16 by scoring a 3-2 victory over Normal Community.

Cailyn Harrington's goal in the second half put Central up by two goals and the Knights were able to stave off Normal Community in the late stages of Tuesday's thriller.