Elite players in the 1990 and 1992 age groups will compete in the 2009 US Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program (US Youth Soccer ODP) Girls Winter Interregional on Dec. 27-30 at Freedom Ridge Park in Ridgeland, Miss.

Waubonsie Valley's Vanessa DiBernardo of America's Soccer Club will play for 1992's Region II team along with Neuqua Valley's Megan Oyster of Windy City Pride. Emily Oliver of Flossmoor and Katie Nasenbenny of La Grange also represent Windy City Pride -- and along with FC United's Amber Fry of Northfield -- they represent the five players from Illinois on the four-region roster.

Kelsey Mulcahy, a Neuqua Valley graduate and freshman defender for the University of Missouri, will play for the 1990's Region II squad. She will be joined by two other Illinois representatives -- the Eclipse's Nicole Lipp of Lake Forest and KUFC's Lizzy Niles of Elgin.

They will train and compete in front of national and leading collegiate coaches to maximize their exposure. US Youth Soccer is divided into four regions: Region I (East), Region II (Midwest), Region III (South) and Region IV (West) to assist in national competitions.

US Youth Soccer ODP is known as the premier identification and development program for the nation's youth seeking the opportunity to compete at the national, professional and collegiate levels of play.

Designed to identify and develop a pool of players from which U.S. national teams may be selected, US Youth Soccer ODP is the original ODP program. And it's the only elite player development program that can claim members of Major League Soccer and the former Women's United Soccer Association, as well as a majority of current and past national and youth team members, as alumni.

--Brad Engel

Naperville North alumnus Adam Barhamand reached the peak of collegiate rowing this summer when his Wisconsin Badgers went undefeated and captured the national championship on June 7.

Thanks to a great photo from the championship celebration, Barhamand landed on the cover of Rowing News after he splashed down in the Cooper River in Camden, N.J.

"It's pretty awesome because that magazine, they cover international rowing," Barhamand said. "It's a U.S. magazine, but they don't really devote a ton of time in there to collegiate rowing. ... If you open that magazine, there is maybe, maybe a page about us at IRA, the national championships. So I think it was just the fact that the picture is pretty cool."

Throwing the coxswain into the water after a big win is a rowing tradition. Thanks to an undefeated season that included winning the Eastern Sprints overall team title for the first time since 1946, Barhamand's crew had some practice before nationals. So when the Badgers got to Jersey, they had this toss Adam into the river thing down pat.

Mackenzie Caquatto had to pull out of her first Olympic Trials because of a hamstring injury two weeks ago in Philly, but when it comes to college, the Naperville gymnast could be heading to Gainesville in a couple years.

Caquatto told The Heat Index on Thursday that she has received interest from 15 schools and emphasized that she is still listening to all of them, but at this point, she is favoring the University of Florida.

The opportunity to compete in the Southeastern Conference, along with the obvious benefits of living in the Sunshine State are appealing to Caquatto, who will be a junior this fall at Naperville Central.

Naperville native Mackenzie Caquatto did not perform on Sunday at the U.S. gymnastics Olympic Trials in Philadelphia. She warmed up, but was a scratch for the second day of competition.

As a result, she was not invited to the Olympic team selection camp.

The Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site that Caquatto pulled a hamstring.

Here is a clip of Naperville's Mackenzie Caquatto competing in the vault on Friday at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Philadelphia. Caquatto is sixth in vault after day one.

Naperville Central graduate and Indiana University diver Amy Korthauer finished 12th in the 12-diver field for the 10-meter platform on Wednesday at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis.

Korthauer posted a score of 210.50. Laura Wilkinson is in first place with 362.0 points.

Only the top diver is guaranteed a spot on the Olympic roster.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley might never get a casino at Navy Pier, but he's one step closer to seeing his dream come true of the city hosting an Olympics. The International Olympic Committee on Wednesday named the Windy City one of four finalists (Tokyo; Madrid, Spain; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are the others) for the 2016 Summer Games.

The debate over whether "faster, higher, stronger" necessarily means better for Chicago tends to be a polarizing one. Where do you stand? Will the economic impact and cache the games will bring the city be worth weathering the crowds and other potential pitfalls?

Naperville Central graduate and Indiana University sophomore Amy Korthauer is one of 13 women's divers that have qualified for the 10-meter platform event at the U.S. Olympic Trials, which are June 18-22 in Indianapolis.

Korthauer -- part of Central's 2004 and 2005 state championships -- placed seventh on the platform at the Big Ten championships in February.

Neuqua Valley alumna Marisa Mele recently found out from the race director that she actually finished 10th at the Green Bay Marathon, not 11th as the official results still report.

What's the difference, right? Money, that's what. By finishing 10th, Mele was in line for some cash, according to an e-mail sent to The Sun.

Naperville native Candace Parker now has plans for this summer.

Parker was one of nine players, along with Los Angeles Sparks teammate Lisa Leslie, who were named to the U.S. women's basketball roster for the 2008 Summer Olympics on Saturday.

Naperville native Mary DeScenza, who won the short course world title in the 200 butterfly in April, continued her march toward the U.S. Olympic team with her performance at the Santa Clara Grand Prix International meet last weekend.

DeScenza won four silver medals and one gold medal, in you guessed it, the 200-meter butterfly. She talks about her performance in this video.

"It just means that I've been training my little butt off and it just shows that my little workout-practice set has been doing wonders for my butterfly. So it just looks really good going into the trials."

The U.S. Olympic trials begin June 29 in Omaha, Neb.