Knights boys cross-country team fifth at Lake Forest Academy; Leahy named MSC golfer of the year
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
The IC Catholic Prep girls volleyball team added three Metro Suburban Conference Blue Division wins to its ledger recently.
The Knights were 25-17, 25-23 winners over Aurora Central Catholic.
Maya Stoval had eight kills and one ace, while Nailah Landon had five kills and one block. Isabella Leslie finished with 15 digs and one ace. Kristen Brachmann had two kills, two blocks and three aces. Sophie Hurt had 12 assists, three kills four digs, one ace and one block, while Kaya Hood added one kill.
The win pushed the Knights to 8-6 overall and 5-3 in MSC Blue play.
In earlier action, IC Catholic Prep downed Fenton 25-23, 23-25, 26-24. Landon had 14 kills. Leslie had 14 digs and one ace. Stovall had 10 kills and one ace. Hurt had 30 assists, six digs, one ace and one block, while Hood had six kills and two blocks.
In a 20-25, 25-21, 25-14 win over Wheaton Academy, Landon had 15 kills. Leslie had 11 digs. Stoval had 12 kills, five aces and three digs. Hurt had 31 assists, three kills and 11 digs. Hood had five kills and one block, while Brachmann had five kills and one ace.
IC Catholic Prep also lost 25-23, 26-24 to Riverside-Brookfield in conference play. Landon had eight kills. Leslie finished with seven digs. Stovall had five kills, one ace and four digs, while Hurt had 15 assists, two kills, three digs and one block. Hood had three kills. Brachmann had two kills, two aces and two digs. Jalene Pina had nine digs, while Sophie Zanoni had eight digs.
IC Catholic Prep boys cross country
The IC Catholic Prep boys cross-country team recently took fifth at the Lake Forest Academy Invitational. Pat Shannon took 12th at Lake Forest, while Casey Kristie was 18th.
“The team has improved on its pack running,” said IC Catholic Prep coach Jeff Fredrickson.
Kristie and Shannon, both seniors, continue to excel on the course and in practice. “At the start of the race they go out at a happy medium and continue to pass runners during the race,” said Fredrickson. “Casey and Pat have been working together not only in meets, but at practice as well.”
Also running well for the Knights is Fabian Perez. “Fabian has improved immensely since his freshman year,” said Fredrickson. “He has dropped two minutes off his times from freshman year.”
Fredrickson noted during a recent meet that Kristie and Shannon worked together and the squad’s three, four and five runners, Howard Huang, Dominic Gaudio and Liam Dacre, “were relatively close to each other.”
Fredrickson said the team is gearing up for the postseason run.
“At the conference meet, I am running everyone at their own levels,” he said. “At the regional meet, I will bring up some of the underclassmen to run varsity. I believe they can help us to a top-three finish and advance to the sectional.”
IC Catholic Prep boys golf
The IC Catholic Prep boys golf team finished third at the recent Metro Suburban Conference Blue Division tournament held at The Sanctuary in New Lenox. Illiana Christian finished first and Wheaton Academy was second.
Connon Leahy won the individual tournament title, shooting 76 and as a result was named the MSC player of the year.
Charlie Schoonveld added a 79, while Thomas Hilgart shot 89 and Kevin Cheng shot 90 for the Knights (334 team score).
“Connon and Charlie continue to play well,” said IC Catholic Prep coach Don Sujack. “Connon secured conference player of the year and Charlie was solid all day. Down the lineup, we had some wild swings between nine-hole scores on the front- and back-nine scores, which kept us from scoring like we wanted to. It’s unfortunate, but fixable.”
IC Catholic Prep hosted a regional earlier this week at Maple Meadows in Wood Dale.
“It’s a great opportunity for us on our home course to get over this lull and have some fun in the postseason,” said Sujack.
