Sports

Year in Review: Prep Athletes On Top of Their Game

New Lenox high school athletes were fun to follow this year, boasting state titles, pro talent and a whole lot more.

As a big sports fan, I'm happy to live in New Lenox. With three high schools and lots of history in the programs offered here, there's a lot to pay attention to.

Earlier this month, . But there are many other local athletes who deserve some recognition.

Making it into a top 10 list was difficult; what criteria would I use? And honestly, there were too many accomplishments to mention. So here are some of the prep athlete standouts this year in New Lenox.

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State Champions

Where else to start? This year, the boys , scoring a season-high 163 points. The team also added .

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continued its storied history in wrestling when two students won state titles: Edwin Cooper , and Mike Togher exorcized previous disappointments in claiming the title at 135 pounds.

Pro Talent

Providence Catholic baseball fell just short of the state championship, but that team will always be remembered for how loaded with talent it was. The team in college, highlighted by Sam Travis, the power-hitting third baseman who was .

Providence football also rebounded from a terrible 2010, and the best player on that team—and one of the best in the state—was offensive lineman Ryan Ward. He'll play football at the University of Iowa next year, and .

Two-Sport Studs

Besides Jackovich, the dual-sport threat who won Athlete of the Year, the top two vote-getters were also extremely talented two-sport athletes.

Kaitlyn Neiheisel, of Lincoln-Way West, . She placed second at the 2011 State Diving Compeition and set pool records at Stagg, Lincoln-Way North, Andrew and West.

Lincoln-Way Central's Rachel Post was the leading scorer and made All-Conference...for two teams. She also led the Knights to a regional soccer championship (while making All-Sectional and All-Area) and made the All-Tournament Team in this year's Thanksgiving basketball tournament.

Aces in the Hole

The Lincoln-Way area is often pegged as a great place for football success, but what about golf? In 2011, Lincoln-Way Central's Bryant Bolden made All-Conference for the third straight year in 2011 after a season average of 76.8, helping the Knights boys golf team win its third consecutive conference title.

Not to be outdone, Ryan Utter of Providence Catholic and was named our October athlete of the month.

And a Whole Lot More

I'll spare you the rest, but without cutting out anyone, here's a few other names that made 2011 a great year in sports for New Lenox (and feel free to add more in the comments below):

Providence Catholic poms placed third in state...Brad Foster was a beast for Central basketball...Kylie Bennett led the Knights softball team and placed on an All-State team...BJ Bello led a great Lincoln-Way West defense and signed to play at Western Michigan...Central girls badminton tied for eighth in state...Alex Carr led West softball as the lone senior...Kaitlyn Ray passed the 1,000-point mark for her career and signed to play in college...Sean Blackwood signed to play volleyball in college after starring in that sport and basketball...Chris Kaminski helped Central's cross country team finish 25th in state...the Providence boys volleyball team was a force in the Southland.


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