Neuqua Valley's John Mikuzis and Naperville Central's Kara Wilson were named Offensive Player of the Year on Thursday by illpolo.com, which released its All-Illpolo Teams.
Other individual award winners were: Central's Claire Fleming (most improved player), Central's Mark Menis (sophomore MVP), Central's Tyler Kelley (top junior goalie) and Naperville North's Conor Handley (most versatile player).
Naperville Central's Kara Wilson, Naperville North's Conor Handley, Neuqua Valley's John Mikuzis and Naperville Central's Tyler Kelley were voted to the first team all-state water polo teams on Monday, The Heat Index has learned.
Other all-state honorees on the girls side Neuqua's Chelsea Reczek (2nd team), Neuqua's Kathleen Patterson (3rd team), Waubonsie's Bailey Gucinski (3rd team), Central's Claire Fleming (4th team) and Allison Szott (4th team).
On the boys side, Central's Mark Menis and Ben Reasons made the second team, and teammate Bobby Rickert was voted to the third team. North senior Jackson Hill is on the fourth team.
Illpolo.com published its final boys and girls top-25 rankings on Sunday and there were some non-standard grades issued.
While the boys top four followed what happened at the state tournament, there were three state quarterfinalists that did not appear in the top eight of the illpolo.com rankings. Schauburg dropped to 20, Stevenson to No. 9 and York to No. 12.
The replacements were No. 8 Neuqua Valley, the sectional runner-up to state runner-up Naperville Central, No. 6 Homewood-Flossmoor, the sectional runner-up to No. 4 Sandburg and No. 7 Brother Rice, the runner-up to No. 3 Lyons.
Naperville North is 10th and Waubonsie Valley 15th, meaning their value is that of a sectional runner-up, despite both losing in the sectional semifinals.
On the girls side, Naperville Central slipped to No. 6 despite making the state semifinals (and losing twice) for the first time. Quarterfinalists H-F (9), Fremd (16) and Evanston (12) all fell out of the top eight.
The usurpers are No. 4 St. Ignatius, which lost to state champion Fenwick in the sectional final,and Sandburg (7) and Lyons (8), both of whom lost to defending state champion and state runner-up Mother McAuley in the sectional.
Fenwick's boys team scored 490 goals this season in 33 games. By my toes, that's roughly 15 goals per game.
Sure that sounds like a lot o' offense, but it sounds like more if you break it down further.
The Friars had 17 games with at least 14 goals, including six with at least 20 goals (two this weekend), four games with 18 goals and two with 19 goals.
But none of that madness happened against Naperville Central.
"Fenwick, the whole year has been blowing out teams like 10-0 in the first quarter," said junior Ben Reasons. "We knew they weren't going to do that to us."
The Redhawks held the six-time state champs to 10 total in their championship game loss on Saturday night and to nine in a regular-season loss to the Friars.
"Our other game against Fenwick, we lost 9-5, you know," Central coach Bill Salentine said after finishing as state runner-up for the second time. "So holding them to what was it, 10? That's great for us. So I'm very proud of my boys. We got a lot of sophomores, a lot of juniors, only losing four seniors. It just shows us great things for the future."
Here's the bad news for the Naperville Central girls water polo team: Kara Wilson, the school's all-time scoring leader with 319 goals, including a school-record 106 this season and Sam Shamburek, the team's second-leading scorer with 53 goals just played their final game as a Redhawk.
Wilson was also the team leader in assists with 56, while Shamburek was fourth with 35 assists, including five this weekend at the state finals. The seniors combined for 12 goals and seven assists as they led Central to its first final four in school history.
The good news, The Heat Index thinks is that some of the others, the same ones that leaned on the seniors in the early going, have made it clear that 2008 was no flash in the pan.
Naperville Central athletic director Marty Bee told The Heat Index that the school will recognize both the boys and girls water polo teams for their state tournament runs at graduation ceremonies on Wednesday.
Since seniors take their final exams on Monday and graduation is scheduled for the stadium on Wednesday, there wasn't a lot of room on the schedule to do it any other time Bee said. He said the school does plan on another ceremony next winter during a basketball game over the holidays when most of the graduated players could attend.
According to illpolo.com's live blog, Claire Fleming and Haley Nelson both scored three goals. Sam Shamburek scored twice. and Kara Wilson scored one goal apiece.
Central will play Stevenson in the third-place game at 5 p.m.
In a rematch of last season's state title game (and 2004), McAuley will play its rubber match with Fenwick, which beat Sandburg 11-8 in the other semifinal, at 8 p.m. The Friars and Mighty Macs have split the first six IHSA state championships.
Central is making its second championship game appearance, having finished as the state runner-up in 2005, losing an 8-7 decision to Fenwick. For Glenbrook South, this was its second overall loss of the season. Both were to Central.
The Redhawks (28-4) will play the winner of four-time defending champion Fenwick and Sandburg, which play in the second semifinal at 10:15 a.m.
UPDATE: Fenwick won. Well, calling it a victory doesn't really do it justice. The Friars showed no mercy in classic Cobra Kai style, sweeping the leg of Sandburg 22-10. That's two games and 44 goals for Fenwick.
According to the live blog at illpolo.com, Menis scored three of his goals on lobs, two in the first quarter from outside the 5-meter mark, including one on the opening possession of the match. He also scored in transition in the third quarter after Zach Cejna forced a turnover.
Max Saltzman and Bobby Rickert both had two goals and two assists. Ben Reasons scored on penalty shot in the second quarter and from 7-meters in the fourth quarter. Mark Giuliani scored from 5-meters in the first quarter on a pass from Saltzman.
The Redhawks (23-11) will face defending state champion Mother McAuley (21-7) in the semifinals on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. at Stevenson High School. The Mighty Macs beat Central 8-5 in Naperville on April 29.
Powerhouse Fenwick (26-4), last-year's state runner up and the winner of three of the six IHSA titles, will play Stevenson (28-6) in the other semifinal.
The championship is at 8 p.m. and the third-place game is at 5 p.m.
For the second time this season, the Naperville Central boys water polo team will play Glenbrook South. This match -- Saturday in the semifinals of the IHSA state tournament -- will be significantly more important than their regular season clash.
Central (27-4) beat Glenbrook South 8-7 in that match, which was in pool play of Central's Best of the West Tournament on April 11, to give the Titans (29-1) their lone loss.
So the teams are acquainted. Here's what you have to know (or remember if you must) about the Titans: they are the champions of the Glenbrook North Sectional and the champions of the Central Suburban Conference. OK, you don't really need to know that, but it's true, and slightly impressive.
The Friars, whom have won five of the six IHSA state titles, will play Sandburg in the semifinals on Saturday. Naperville Central will play Glenbrook South in the other semifinal.
For a spot of perspective, this was the fifth match this season where Fenwick (30-1) has scored 20 or more goals. The other seven state finalists combined to do that once this year.
With the boys water polo state quarterfinals set to begin Thursday night, four-time defending state champion Fenwick is obviously the heavy.
If you ask the Friars, as the Sun-Times did, that leaves Naperville Central as the team that could give Fenwick the most trouble.
Friars utility man Chris Wendt said even though Fenwick already has beaten four state qualifying teams -- Naperville Central, York, Lyons and Stevenson -- a five-peat isn't a lock.
''We think Naperville Central will be the best game,'' Wendt said. ''All the teams are good. We have to play every game with a high intensity.''
The Redhawks (26-4) play tournament host Stevenson (18-14) in the first quarterfinal at 4:30 p.m.
For their efforts in the championship games of the Neuqua Valley Sectional on Saturday, Sam Virella and Max Saltzman were given Super Baller honors by illpolo.com.
Sam Virella made 15 saves in Naperville Central's 8-5 win over Neuqua Valley, which qualified the Redhawks for the state tournament. Virella did not allow a goal in the first half.
I watched the game and counted 13 saves, but Virella was indeed solid. The sophomore said she was "terrified" about the prospect of playing in the state finals. Somehow I think she will get past that fear when Loyola starts whipping the ball at her goal.
Max Saltzman scored the game-winning goal in the final minute to give Naperville Central a 9-8 win over Neuqua Valley in the Sectional finals.
Saltzman's goal was impressive, coming on a lob pass from Bobby Rickert. Saltzman had defenders around him and was still able to redirect the ball into the net past Neuqua's Brad Kay when the pressure was on. Max celebrated the game-winner with an emphatic double-armed slap of the water.
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.
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."
When Neuqua Valley's Chelsea Reczek gets in the pool on Thursday night for the second-seeded Wildcats in a sectional quarterfinal against St. Charles North, she will do so with a broken finger.
Reczek told The Heat Index that she broke the middle finger of her left hand during the Stevenson Co-ed tournament last weekend. The fracture is on the side of the finger between the second and third knuckle.
Despite her finger being in a metal splint and spending a lot of time with an ice pack, Reczek was all smiles about her prognosis.
"It's not my dominant hand, so I'm not worried about it," Reczek said on Wednesday night.
The right-handed Reczek said the swelling on her finger has reduced drastically. She said she didn't expect the fracture to be an issue on Thursday.
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