The Heat Index

Now that Naperville Central has won both the boys and girls Neuqua Valley Sectional titles, the question for Naperville area water polo folk and Land O' Lincoln's WP community at large is simple.

Can anyone beat Fenwick?

The Fenwick boys have won four consecutive state championships and five of six overall. On the girls side, Fenwick is actually not defending champ, but was the runner-up in 2007 and won the previous three big trophies. So, you know, the questions still stands.

Neuqua Valley boys water polo coach Martin Bell was effusive in his praise of not only his goalie, Brad Kay, but also Naperville Central's Tyler Kelley after Bell's Wildcats lost 9-8 to Central in the sectional championship on Saturday.

"Fenwick's goalie is always talked about," Bell said, "but I think people forget about Tyler Kelley and Brad Kay. I think the two goalies that were playing today are one, two in the state of Illinois as far as goalies go. It depends on the game as far as who's one and who's two, but they're both amazing players."

In Saturday's championship match, Kay had seven saves and Kelley made six, according to The Heat Index.

Kelley stopped three shots when Neuqua had the man advantage.

Kay made two such stops, including one at the first half buzzer, but could not squeeze the ball when Max Saltzman scored the game winner off Bobby Rickert's lob pass in the final minute and change.

It's still up for grabs whether MLB hopeful Ian Krol will put soccer aside to solely focus on playing baseball for Neuqua Valley next year.

"He's like 50-50 on that right now," said Ian's father Bob. "But I think we can convince him."

Bob said the big-league scouts and college recruiters have supported and encouraged Ian to continue playing multiple sports.

Waubonsie Valley's Shakeia Pinnick qualified for the state meet in four events on Friday at the Waubonsie Sectional, including a sectional title in the 300 hurdles.

...Pinnick qualified for the state meet in four events: the 100 and 300-meter hurdles, 800 run and 200 dash.

''But in the 300 hurdles I might have been a little angry, and that ended up OK since that's my favorite race.''

And oh by the way.

Benet won the sectional team title with 88 points, followed by Batavia in second with 65 and Neuqua Valley in third with 60.

The semifinals of the Neuqua Valley Sectional went by the numbers on Friday night in the boys and girls matches, as Naperville Central and Neuqua Valley both advanced to both championships.

In both cases, the championship match pits No. 1 seed Central and against No. 2 seed Neuqua. In both cases, the final four featured the four top seeds. So, seeding committee take a bow.

Chad Ganden will not be back next season as the boys swimming coach at Waubonsie Valley, The Heat Index has learned.

Whether or not Ganden will remain as the boys water polo coach has yet to be decided. The Warriors lost to Naperville Central on Friday night in the semifinals of the Neuqua Valley Sectional.

Email queries sent to Waubonsie athletic director Mike Rogowski have not been replied to as of this posting.

Waubonsie's boys swimming head coach position was posted on the job board on the District 204 website on Thursday. Ganden told The Heat Index that he has accepted a teaching position at a Joliet elementary school.

"I needed a teaching job," Ganden said. "There weren't any available at Waubonsie."

He said he can't teach in Joliet and coach the Warriors because Waubonsie's afternoon practice starts before his new school's last bell.

"I became a teacher so I could coach," Ganden said. "But if I can't teach, I cant coach."

News that had the potential for disaster turned into just another challenge Friday afternoon for George Hood.

Hood, the Aurora resident pedaling his way toward a Guinness world record for longest stationary bike marathon at the Fry Family YMCA in Naperville, learned that the record he was shooting for had already been broken.

A phone call from Guinness came in earlier this morning alerting the Ride George Ride crew that the record had changed from 132 hours to 175 hours after being broken either Thursday or Friday morning.

Exact details are not known yet, but regardless, Hood announced he was still shooting to break the record and get his name in the Guinness Book of World Records.

"We're going to do this thing and be done with it," Hood said, shortly after learning the news. "I got a fight on my hands right now."

Hood's attempt will now take him to approximately 5 a.m. Monday. He would have broken the old record Saturday morning.

Ultimate Frisbee as an entity hasn't been around all that long; it was established in 1969. But the sport has plenty of colorful traditions. Jimmy Selleck, Wheaton Warrenville South's coach of 11 years, enlightened me on some of Ultimate's well-meaning quirks.

"At the end of every match, whether you win or lose, traditionally you go over to the opposing team and you sing to them a song that you've made up to compliment them on their play," Selleck said. "It's always picking out something positive. It could be poetry, it could be a song, it could be rap. It's a lot of fun, so that's bizarre.

The attire in the sport can get rather ... creative.

"And you get some where guys will pull their shorts down and they'll have a Frisbee taped over their yank, and then they'll dance and run around you and give you a group hug," said Selleck, who grew up playing the sport in Michigan. He said Ultimate is much more mainstream in the Northeast. "It's just fun and good spirit. It's also wacky in the sense of the costumes and uniforms. They're very serious around here (in Illinois), and they are serious at the collegiate level. But there's always that sense of wackiness where you have guys who could potentially wear underwear on their head.

"We go up to Madison Mudbath (a tournament in Wisconsin). They might wear tie-dye-color socks, (or have) Wacky designs and wacky sayings on their uniforms. Just poking funs on themselves, just kind of atypical athletic behavior sometimes."

Waubonsie Valley graduate and Saint Xavier University senior Aly Kelley had five hits and two RBIs on Thursday, helping her team win two games to advance to the championship game of the NAIA Region VII tournament.

Kelley was named to the All-Region VII team on Thursday. She was previously named the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament MVP and the CCAC player of the year.

Saint Xavier must beat Olivet Nazarene twice on Friday to win the tournament. Last weekend, Olivet Nazarene swept Saint Xavier in the finals of the CCAC tournament.

Fresh off his conference championship in the long jump at the CCIW outdoor meet, Neuqua Valley graduate and Cathage College sophomore Buzzy Brown will be in Naperville on Friday for the Dr. Keeler Invitational.

Brown won his conference title with a leap of 23-feet, four inches at North Park University in Chicago. The Red Men placed third.

The Keeler Invitational begins at 3 p.m. at North Central College's Bendetti-Wherli Stadium.

This week's edition of The Hole Picture takes a peek at No. 7 -- a par 5 that's 530 yards from the tips -- at Naperbrook Golf Course in Plainfield.

Here's how Naperbrook head pro Tim Dunn suggests you attack it :

"A risk reward hole where birdie or bogey come into play," Dunn said. "Usually downwind and plays downhill. A good drive is a must to get home in two. Fairway bunker on the left and high rough and rolling hills on the right will leave you no option but to lay up. The green is surrounded by water hazards, which forces a great second shot if you are trying to get there in two. A back left pin is very tough to get at. The smart play is to lay up and leave yourself a flip wedge into the green for your third shot and hope you can one-putt for your birdie."