Prep sports: January 2009 Archives

Naperville North will honor its past and present on Friday night.

The school's Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony will begin around 6:45 p.m. in the main gym after the sophomore boys basketball game against Wheaton Warrenville South. Before the ceremony, the school will also recognize Huskies baseball coach Carl Hunckler for his upcoming entrance (Jan. 30-31) into the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association's Hall of Fame.

The seven-person North class of 2009 includes: Tim Carlson, a two-time IHSA state swimming champion; Aileen Guiney, an all-state soccer player; Rachel Karos, an all-DuPage Valley Conference athlete in volleyball, basketball and softball; Dan Pettigrew, another all-state soccer athlete who later played at Princeton; Bart Smith, a two-time IHSA state champion in the 300-meter hurdles; coach Stan Gruszka, a state Hall of Fame coach in both football and wrestling; and the late Gene Drendel, the widely-respected long-time Naperville educator.

Previous inductees include Jerry Hairston Jr., now of the Cincinnati Reds, and NFL veterans Chris Brown, Glenn Earl and Justin McCareins.

Gruszka in particular has a lasting legacy with the North football program. Its offensive linemen are still graded by the metrics the assistant introduced in the mid-1980s. As we wrote in this feature last October: The Huskies count knockdowns - for every two it's a dog bone helmet sticker. They track "TDBs" - touchdown-enabling blocks that clear the way for someone to run into the end zone. That warrants another bone. And whoever registers the hardest hit is named "Captain Crunch" and earns a Ziploc bag full of the cereal.

If anyone else has good stories about the class of 2009, post a comment and let us know.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out Blake Baumgartner's Sunday feature on pitching guru Tom House. There's a lot of terrain covered here, from how coaches Bill Seiple (Naperville Central) and Robin Renner (Neuqua Valley) agree to disagree, to two pitchers from India signing big-league contracts. It's worth a read and has already generated some comments online. Feel free to share those responses here.
.

Naperville Central nearly gave away all of its 15-point lead on Saturday night at Wheaton Warrenville South before closing out a 54-46 win. WW South made it a one-possession game in the final minute, but what really added a layer of tension to the finish was the fact that Central had Drew Crawford down for three fouls while the official book had him with four.

Basically there was a miscommunication at the scorers' table. At some point, a foul that should have gone to No. 11 (Danny Ondik) instead went to No. 1 (Crawford - who incidentally is the son of a veteran NBA referee).

Afterward WW South coach Mike Healy said Crawford might be the most valuable player in the entire state - who knows what would have happened if the Northwestern-bound senior had picked up his phantom fifth foul.

Naperville Central announced today that girls swimming and diving coach Jon Carlson is retiring after guiding the Redhawks' program since 1983.

Carlson, who retired from teaching 18 months ago, guided Central to 20 top 10 finishes at the IHSA state meet, including winning team championships in 2004 and 2005.

He also coached state-champion relay teams in the 200 medley (1989, 1990, 2004 and 2005), and the 400 freestyle (1994 and 2004), and individual champions Ellen Stonebraker (1993 and 1994 200 freestyle relay), Kelly McNicols (2004 and 2005 500 freestyle and 200 freestyle) and Amy Prestinario (2005 and 2006 200 individual medley and 2006 500 freestyle).

He was also the boys swim coach from 1988-1992.

"Jon's record of success speaks for itself," Central athletic director Marty Bee said in a news release. "But Jon's true success lies beyond the championships. Jon fostered a great atmosphere among the girls he coached. He understood the need to help them develop as young people and did an awful lot to promote that growth."

Neuqua Valley (12-1) checks in at No. 15 in the latest edition of Michael O'Brien's Super 25 boys basketball rankings. The Sun-Times slots Naperville Central (12-1) at No. 22 in the same poll.

The Wildcats, whose only defeat was a 74-70 overtime loss to East Aurora, rebounded to win the Elgin holiday tournament. Neuqua travels to Plainfield Central on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.

The Redhawks - coming off a Wheeling tournament championship that saw Northwestern recruit Drew Crawford earn MVP honors - next host Glenbard North on Friday at 7:30 p.m.