The Heat Index

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Monday, Nov. 23
Orange Pool at Oswego
Geneva vs. West Chicago, 5:30 p.m.
Waubonsie Valley vs. Oswego, 7 p.m.
Blue Pool at Naperville North
DeKalb vs. Oswego East, 5:30 p.m.
Marmion vs. Naperville North, 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 24
Orange Pool at Oswego
Geneva vs. Waubonsie Valley, 5:30 p.m.
West Chicago vs. Oswego, 7 p.m.
Blue Pool at Naperville North
Marmion vs. Oswego East, 5:30 p.m.
DeKalb vs. Naperville North, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 25 at Oswego
West Chicago vs. Waubonsie Valley, 12 p.m.
Geneva vs. Oswego, 1:30 p.m.
Marmion vs. DeKalb, 3 p.m.
Oswego East vs. Naperville North, 4:30 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 27 at Oswego
No. 4 Orange vs. No. 4 Blue, 12 p.m.
No. 3 Orange vs. No. 3 Blue, 1:30 p.m.
No. 2 Orange vs. No. 2 Blue, 3 p.m.
No. 1 Orange vs. No. 1 Blue, 5 p.m.

Benet's Nikki Bell is signing a letter of intent to play women's basketball at Eckerd College, a Division II program in St. Petersburg, Fla.

--Naperville North swimmer Joel Demuth has signed a letter of intent with the University of Illinois at Chicago.

--Huskies junior softball player Sammy Marshall has given a verbal commitment to Western Illinois.

Naperville Central senior outfielder Matt Cmiel has made a verbal commitment to the University of Illinois at Springfield, which will officially begin play during the 2010-11 academic year as a Division II program and member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

An all-DuPage Valley Conference selection as a junior, Cmiel helped lead the Redhawks to a sectional title. He hit .434 with a .529 on-base percentage, stealing 29 bases and scoring 42 runs.

"Coach Brian Grunzke has made it clear he is building a winning team from the ground up and I want to be part of it," Cmiel wrote in an e-mail. "UIS received D2 status and approval to build a baseball team in August. I'm excited about the opportunity to play baseball for four years and to academically major in education. It will be great to be part of a new college program."

Naperville North senior center Matt Hasse gave a verbal commitment to Austin Peay on Monday, according to Sean Connor, his AAU coach with the Velocity program.

The Governors have advanced to the Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship game in six of the past seven seasons. Coach Dave Loos, who is heading into his 20th season leading the program, has 314 victories at Austin Peay, which ranks second in conference history.

Basketball's early signing period runs Nov. 11-18. The 6-foot-9-inch Hasse figures to be in an immediate fight for playing time next year - Loos is guiding a team that features nine underclassmen on the roster.

Naperville North recently announced its 2010 Hall of Fame class. Dave Bucher, Jim Konrad, Chad Ganden, Mike Kuefler, Scott Kavanagh and Jackie Diekamper will be honored in February. For quick biographies of the inductees, click here.

Benet will hold an offensive skills clinic in October for boys in grades five through eight. The dates are Oct. 4, Oct. 11 and Oct. 25. For more information, visit benet.org or contact hoops coach Gene Heidkamp at 630-719-2824.

For the second week in a row, Army freshman Ariana Mankus (Benet) has been named the Patriot League's rookie of the week in women's volleyball. Check out the full release here.

The Huskies get spotlight treatment this week in the Chicago Sun-Times. It includes an essay submitted by North defensive coordinator Sean Drendel, a 1990 graduate. Drendel writes in part:

Football coach Larry McKeon, my mentor, brought in weight lifting. We never lifted before that. If you aren't playing another sport, he said, you better be lifting. I didn't enjoy lifting. So I played other sports.

But coaches such as McKeon, Carl Hunckler, Paul Ryan and Tom Vargos taught us that hard work pays off, that if you put time and effort in, there will be value in it, as an athlete and a person. Character counts, too. And everyone on the team matters. There are no cuts at Naperville North.

The Yankees and Jerry Hairston were left to wonder what could have been after Monday night's 5-1 victory in Baltimore. With two outs in the seventh inning, Andy Pettitte's perfect game ended once Hairston allowed a ground ball to roll through his legs at third base. The Naperville North graduate seemed to handle the error like a pro. New York Daily News columnist John Harper has the story here.

"Naperville Sports Weekly" will be back on the air just as the prep seasons begin again. The show starts its third season on Naperville Community Television on Aug. 30 at 6:30 p.m.

Viewers have three ways to watch: Channel 17; NCTV17.com through simultaneous streaming and on-demand; and iTunes podcast. The complete schedule can also be found at NCTV17.com.

The half-hour program has highlights and features from Benet, Naperville Central, Naperville North, Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley.