— College recruiting heated up last week, with such Tribune All-State selections as Erick Anderson of Glenbrook South, Chris Zorich of Chicago Vocational and Jon Gustafsson of Buffalo Grove announcing their decisions. Anderson, a linebacker, picked Michigan, Zorich, also a linebacker, chose Notre Dame and Gustafsson, a defensive lineman, decided on Illinois. Here`s a status report on more of the state`s top prospects.
— Lyons Township tight end Brian Treski has Minnesota, Purdue, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Kansas on his visit list. His teammate, lineman Bob Szafranski, is considering Northwestern, Purdue, Rice, Northern Illinois and Southern Illinois.
— Thornton linebacker Malvin Hunter is looking at Indiana, Norvhwestern, Wisconsin and maybe Minnesota.
— Lineman Randy Taylor of Thornton Fractional South is visiting Indiana, Duke, Kansas, Purdue and Northern Illinois.
— Corliss tight end Robert Walker is considering Minnesota, Louisville, Northern Illinois and Wisconsin.
— Willowbrook defensive back Jim Smar has visited Northern Illinois and Iowa State and will visit Air Force. He is interested in aeronautical engineering, and the latter two schools fit that bill.
— Fullback Andy Gasbarro of Marian Catholic will choose from among Missouri, Purdue, Louisville, Illinois State and Southern Illinois.
— Gordon Tech lineman Jerry Szybist has narrowed his decision to Air Force and Northwestern.
— Tight end Mike Allaway of Andrew has vksited Northwestern, Indiana, Kansas and Minnesota and plans to visit Ohio State.
— Glenbrook South wide receiver Walter Cade is considering Western Michigan, Eastern Illinois, Wyoming and Washington State.
— Tribune All-State placekicker Larry Sullivan of Elgin had Notre Dame and Illinois high on his list, but according to Maroon coach Jim Hoffman, the Irish backed off after getting a commitment from another kicker and the Illini pulled back after deciding to commit their available scholarships elsewhere. Sulnivan had a visit planned to Rice, but otherwise, said Hoffman, ”He`s almost back to square one.”
— Fremd lineman Chris Perez hopes to play at a Big 10 school. He`s considering Purdue and Michkgan as well as Kansas.
— Lineman Bob Wolf of Whgeling has visited Miami of Ohio, Western Michigan and Wyoming. He may visit Illinois State.
— Lineman Darryl Ashmore of Peoria Central is looking at Missouri, Illinois and Northwestern.
— Running back Kerwin Price of East St. Nouis is visiting Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas and Missouri. Teammate Julian Brown, a defensive end, is being recruited by Illinois, Missouri and Southern Illinois.
— Quincy quarterback Eric Bush is considering Michigan, Illinois, Duke, Iowa and Indiana.
— Lineman Tim Simpson of East Peoria will attend Illinois.
— Rockford East linebacker Keith Mooney has visits to Duke, Purdue and Wisconsin. Teammate Derrick Spack, also a linebacker is looking at Illinois State, Northern Illinois, Wyoming and Purdue, where his brother, Brock, played.
— Punter Jeff Skillett of East Moline is visiting Illinois, Iowa, Northern Iowa and Eastern Illinois.
— When Wayne Keneipp of Leo decided to commit to Nebraska, the 6-foot-3- inch, 270-pound lineman said it was a ”dream come true since I always thought I`d like to play football there.” Keneipp had visited Illinois but always listed the Cornhuskers as his top choice.
— Buffalo Grove linebacker Jim Wagner has visited Northwestern and UCLA and is still undecided. Wagner`s teammate, suarterback Mark Benson, lists Northern Illinois, Northwestern and Vanderbilt as schools he has visited, but both Wagner and Benson are on the basketball team and have problems getting away for weekend trips.
— Phillips tight end Milton Biggins lists Louisville, Michigan State, Miami of Florida, Indiana State and Purdue as his five finalists.
BASKETBALL
— Someone who didn`t show a cent`s worth of intelligence helped bring Brad Niemann`s state record free-throw streak to an end Saturday night. The Glenbrook South senior stretched his string to 76 with four straight before apparently being distracted when a penny landed near his feet while he was attempting his fifth free tjrow during his team`s 66-48 victory over visiting Glenbrook North. The 6-3 guard wound up 5-for-6 for the game. ”When the penny landed in front of him, it obviously distracted him,” said South coach Rob Judson. ”Niemann has been a super player all during the streak. I want to make it perfectly clear that we don`t think it (the penny) was thrown necessarily by a fan from Glenbrook North. It was unfortunate that the streak had to end that way. The fans at our road games, as well as the fans at games at our place, have been very sportsmanlike about Brad`s streak. Everybody wanted to see him shoot freg throws and see how long he could go without missing. Niemann`s streak is second on the all-time national high school list to the 126 straight set by Daryl Moreau of New Orleans in 1978-79. The last time Niemann had missed a free throw was Feb. 9, 1986. He made 14 in a row at the end of the 1985-86 season and had 62 straight this season.
— Proviso West coach Lowgll Lucas knows his offense will be better when his best player–junior guard Alonzo Verge–doesn`t have to shoot as much. In each of West`s three losses”this season, Verge had nightmare games from the field. He was 3 of 21 against New Trier, 9 of 28 against Oak Park and 3 of 15 against Proviso East. ”If Alonzo can give the ball to (Pat) Kennedy and
(Reggie) Burcy early and get them going, sooner or later the other team will have to give him some room to shoot,” says Lucas. ”But if he keeps on missing shots, he doesn`t let anyone else into the game.
— The victory by Proviso East on Friday was only the second time in the last 12 meetings that East has beaten West, and it gave winning coach Bill Hitt a personal record of 2-6 against his township rival.
— Rockford Boylan will play in the Proviso West tournament next December. It will mark the first time in the 27-year history of the meet that a school outside the Chicago area will compete for the title. Proviso West sports coordinator Joe Spagnolo hopes to land a south suburban school for the tournament, but that depends on which schools do not return signed contracts by the deadline this week. The loss of Boylan could leave the future of the Rockford meet up in the air.
— The Illinois High School Association will release its regional playoff pairings this week, and if all goes according to form, undefeated Peoria Manual will be matched against one-time loser Lincoln in the opening game of the Peoria sectional in March. That figures to be one of the best Downstate matchups in years.
— The Chicago Public League will be forced to eliminate at least three of the best teams in the area before the city semifinals even start. That`s because the West Section, with Collins, Crane and Marshall, is pitted against the Central Section, with defending Class AA champion King, Robeson and Dunbar.
— Andrew had won only 30”basketball games in its 10-year history, but after a 74-68 victory over Bolingbrook, the Thunderbolts have an 11-6 mark. Those 11 victories are one more than the school`s totals in its first four years.
— Thornridge`s Sam Mack is drawing raves”from opposing coaches. ”He`s one of the best players I`ve seen this year,” said Proviso West`s Lowell Lucas. ”He couldn`t miss when”we played them. (West won 83-80.)
— Proviso East coach Bill Hitt applauds the all-around play of Downers Grove South`s 6-6 Kit Mueller. ”Marcus Liberty of King is as good as anyone I`ve ever seen, Walter Bond of Collins is impressive, but Mueller is the best player I`ve coached against,” said Hitt.
— Steve Terrell, the flashy guard for St. Patrick, and junior center Eric Anderson of St. Francis de Sales each drew a ”best I`ve seen” vote from St. Rita coach Jim Prunty. ”By far they`re the two best I`ve seen this year,” he said. Terrell scored 39 roints and teammate Doug Borders added 32 in St. Patrick`s 88-64 victory Friday over St. Viavor.
— Maine South coacj George Verber”took five years off from coaching to devote time to his family and says he`s back in the business at Maine South
”because my children are now older, and besides, I`ve always enjoyed coaching.”
WRESTLING
— Marist has moved up a spot to No. 7 in the Amateur Wrestling News national high school poll. Providence is 18th in the poll, which lists St. Edward of Lakewood, Ohio, as the No. 1 team in the country. St. Ed`s defeated No. 2 Midwest City, Okla., 32-16 in a recent dual meet. Ohio has three rated teams; Oklahoma, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Virginka and Illinois have two each.
— Friday night`s Marist-Providence dual meet had to be a high-water mark for high school wrestling. The No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the Chicago area drew a crowd estimated at 1,800 and gave the sport some exposure. ”Nobody lost tonight,” Marist coach Mark Gervais said. ”Everybody won, them and us. It was an opportunity for them to see where they were and us to see where we were. It`s good for the sport, the great crowd we had. It was really exciting. It was really exciting.”
— Marist didn`t have any time to celebrate. The Redskins were on the bus at 7 a.m. Saturday for c trip to Grant. There was no letdown as Marist won 55-6 over the host Bulldogs, 50-8 over Cntioch and 45-16 over Round Lake.
— Providence didn`t spend a minute stewing over the lost to Marist. The Celtics had a Saturday date at No. 3 Naperville North in a triple-dual meet. Providence defeated Mt. Carmel 43-3 and Hinsdale South 57-0 before handing the host Huskies their first loss, 29-16. ”It just showed the kids have a lot of character to come back like that,” said Providence coach Tim Ruettiger. ”We wrestled really well, especially after Friday night. Friday night was the first time anybody had taken it to us on our feet, and everything we did was halfway. It was good to be in that situation with the crowd. It was great for the”sport, and if you`re going to lose, I`d rather lose now.” Marist and Providence could meet in the state semifinals.
— Providence freshman 98-pounder Ken Gerdes responded to his second defeat Friday with a pair of pins Saturday and is now 25-2. Unbeaten Sean Bourmet added a pair of victories to move to 28-0.
— Returning state champion Ken Thompson of Bloom decided to punish himself after eating too much Thursday night, so he decided to take an 8-mile run early Friday morning in the bone-chilling cold. Thompson doesn`t wear gloves and suffered frost bite on the index and middle fingers of his left hand. He managed to fight through the pain Saturday and win the Oak Park Invitational title at 145 pounds. ”I`ve got a poster on my wall that says,
`Endure all the pain,` ” said Thompson, the son of Bloom coach Ernie Thompson. ”I endured on the mat, but after I got off the mat, I gave in to it. But I didn`t while I was on the mat. I had a groin injury earlier in the season and felt I`d be out of shape when I came back, but I`ve been fine until this.” Thompson is 18-0 for the season.
— Oak Park was impressive in winning its own invitational. The Huskies have won both the invitationals they`ve competed in and are 14-0 in duals. Saturday, with Aaron”Martin (98), Pete Schulte (112), Gino Fioravanti (132)
and Pat O`Malley (167) winning titles, was a confidence booster with a dual meet against Providence coming up Friday and the West Suburban Silver meet taking place Saturday. ”I`ll be cautious and say it remains to be seen how this will help us, but I feel good going into the conference meet,” said coach Norm Parker. ”The regional will be tough because of who will be there
(Leyden, St. Patrick, Fenton and Fenwick). There will be some brawling in there, but this should help.” Martin was more specific: ”It keeps us undefeated and gets us real riled for Providence and then the conference meet on Saturday.”
— Stagg`s Jay White and Steve Hughes remained undefeated at 155 and 185, respectively, with titles at Oak Park. Hughes is 30-0; White is 24-0. ”Both of them could place high in the state,” said Stagg coach Dave Anderson, whose team was second behind Oak”Park. ”They have to do it first. Kevin Walsh
(119) and Tim Reid (126) could do well, too. We`re a lot better tournament team than a dual-meet team. The thing about duals is we lose and lose big early and can`t come back. We`ve been forfeiting 98. We get in trouble in the low weights, and you can`t start out behind 18-0 and win all the time. I`m real pleased with this team, though. A lot of people said, `You`re through, with Griffin (two-time stave champion Jack Griffin) and those guys gone,` but we`ve got a good program. This is a great group of kids. One of the best I`ve worked with.”
— Things are different this season at Proviso East. Pirate coach Bill Cartwright has a young, improving team that has taken a few lumps with a 7-8 record. ”We`ve wrestled eight of the top 10 teams in the state and have lost to all of them,” said Cartwright. ”We`re real respectable and are coming along. I`m real pleased with our progress.” Senior Maurice Fields, a state qualifier last season, leads the Pirates. Fields (23-1) will try to make 132 pounds for the rest of the season. Junior 167-pounder Feliz McClin (19-4) won the West Chicago and Fenton Invitationals and has impressed Cartwright with his hard work in practice. Rroviso has been starting several sophomores, with Roy Hodges (4-2 at 112), Curtis Smith (2-2 at 126) and Kim Compton (3-1 at heavyweight) showing a lot of promise. Junior Maurice Walker (8-2 at 98) could be a year away from being a factor.
— Warren has turned things around this season after going 5-12 last year. The Blue Devils have a 17-3 record and recently won the Lake County championship for the first time. ”The kids have worked hard over the summer,” said Warren assistant coach Tony Filippo. ”We had a lot of freshmen wrestling last year, and they have improved a lot. The kids have turned it around.” Senior captain 126-pounder Jeff Chumbley has turned things around from a 12-18 record to a 25-1-1 mark.”Classmate John Frecking has gone from being an 11-12 wrestler to a 20-3-1 wrestler. Sophomore 119-pounder Keith Friedman (18-9), junior 105-pounder Nick Tomasello (20-5) and senior 138-pounder Scott Taylor (22-4) are other keys to Warren`s success. A fire at the high school building last year has forced Warren students to attend classes at various facilities. ”You have to give these kids”credit,” Filippo said.
”They ride the bus at 5 a.m. and at 7 p.m. We have a wave in for practice at 3 p.m. and then at 4 p.m. We work out at the old school, and the heat isn`t always on and the electricity is sometimes turned off. It`s a real credit to the kids for doing so well.”
— WSC Silver coachgs are against the league meet, having never conducted a conference tournament in the old WSC. Some of the wrestlers feel the same.
”I don`t like it,” said Schulte, a junior with a 22-2 record. ”There are just seven teams, and you can only get two matches in. We had to drop a tournament to be in it.”
— There was a familiar face in the Oak Lawn corner Saturday. Former Spartan standout Steve Stearns is now at Oak Lawn as an assistant. Stearns, a state placer as a 105-pound junior in 1980, was a three-time All-America and NCAA Division II champion at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. One of his pupils at Oak Lawn is 119-pound standout Matt Kestian, who is 27-1. ”It`s different being on the other side,” said Stearns, who is a full-time substitute teacher at Oak Lawn. ”I still get intense, a little too much. There is real satisfaction working with guys like Matt. It`s great putting in time working with them and seeing them go out there and wrestle their tails off.”
— The loss to Providence gave Naperville North an 18-1 dual-meet season after victories over”Mt. Carmel (52-6) and Jinsdale South (66-6). ”It was disappointing for us against Providence,” said Huskie coach Stan Gruzska.
”They wrestled well against us and forced us to wrestle their style. There were an awful lot of close matches, and maybe some of them would be different. It showed our kids that on any given day someone can turn you around. I don`t feel bad. I”know we`ll be bcck in the room working hard.” Mike Meluch, 27-1-1 at 105, Jim Sick, 27-1 at 145, Chris Pradel, 26-1 at 155, and heavyweight Jim Hannon (27-2) were winners against Providence.
GIRLS` GYMNASTICS
— Since three-time state all-around champion Janne Klepek left two years ago, Lyons Township has had”a dropoff in publicity. But that doesn`t mean good things aren`t still going on. ”We finally broke 140, but the state series will be tough for us,” said Lyons coach Garen Williams. ”I hope we can make it to sectionals as a team, but I honestly don`t think we can get to the final eight. It will take consistent scores in the 140s, and we fluctuate between 135-140. We`ve had some promising performances, and most of the girls will be back next year.” Sophomores”Kari Dean and Chris Deck, who are averaging 8.6-8.7 in the all-around, have sparked the Lions. And junior Kristie Engel is having another good season. Deck wasn`t on Lyons` preseason roster but was brought up from the junior varsity. ”Kristie rested because of an ankle injury, and I gave Chris Deck a chance,” Williams said. ”She did so well that I couldn`t put her back down. She`s improved a lot, and so have the other girls.”
— Another club having a solid season is Deerfield, which has a season high of 137.9. ”It`s probably less than I expected,” coach Carol Myers said, ”but we`ve kept winning the meets we`re in, so it`s okay.” Sophomores Laurie Gold and Jodi Flax and juniors Renata Grzeskowiak and Diane Tworek are the premier performers for Deerfield. ”Laurie`s doing a really good job,”
Myers said. ”She`s averaging in the 9s all-around and has boosted the team score. Jodi is coming around from an ankle injury and contributing well. ”We set goals at the beginning of the season, but I think we underestimated. Having lost three seniors, we didn`t expect to do as well as we have at times. Now, we`re looking at a possibility of making state. It will take a lot of luck on beam, though, and excellent performances. But it`s not out of our range. We`ll just have to really do things right the last few meets if we want to keep going. We have to add a few tenths here and there for each performer. We are capable of putting some new skills and combinations in routines. If we can`t, we`re going nowhere.”
— Addison Trail may not be the power it was in the early 1980s, but the Trail Blazers are coming along nicely this season. They began with a 126 score and have worked up to”a 139.7. ”From the score we started, we`ve improved a lot,” said Trail Blazers` coach”Fred Dennis. ”At the beginning of the season, I would have been happy with 134 the rest of the way. Why we`ve been able to improve like this is a mystery to me. The girls have just seemed to get better and bevter. They`re working hard and progressing, especially on balance beam. My assistant coach, Sheri D`Ambrose, is working with them on beam.” A key to Addison`s success is junior Leah Fuscone, who`s becoming one of the top all-arounders in the state. Fuscone has competed in the last two state meets and is progressing”in a fashion that makes Dennis proud. ”She`s in the middle 9s in all events,” he said. ”It`s not too often that she has a bad meet.” Senior Patrice Dumerer is scoring in the 9s on the uneven parallel bars and in vaulting. Still, Dennis realizes his squad probably can`t keep up with the teams that score consistently in the 140s. ”We`re probably a middle 130s team,” he said. ”That 139.7 was a really good night. I think it will be hard for us to crawl into the 140 range. By the time we`ve done that, there will be many others past us.”
SWIMMING
— The dog days have arrived. Most of the ”season`s major invitationals are finished, and conference meets are still two weeks down the road. State meet hopefuls are shaking off the effects of final exams and getting down to the serious work of accomplishing preseason goals. ”Finals week is a tough time to get through,” said first-year Fenwick coach Jim Caliendo. ”Our No. 1 priority that week is not swimming. But now”the (school) workload isn`t quite so great, so we can concentrate more on swimming, hopefully. Our No. 1 goal is to win the Catholic League.” Fenwick is expected to challenge for the third- place trophy behind co-favorites St. Charles and Hinsdale Central in the state meet Feb. 27-28 at Evanston. Still, regaining the Catholic League championship that Fenwick lost to Loyola last year is the Friars` No. 1 priority. The league meet is Feb. 8 at the Illinois-Chicago pool.
— First-year Glenbrook North coach Bud Mathieu, who served as head coach at Fenwick for a season before taking the Spartans` job last fall, also has hopes of coaching his team to a top five finish at state. But Mathieu, who has been an observer of Illinois high school swimming as both a swimmer and a coach for more than a decade, is also looking forward to seeing a real race for the first-place trophy. Only in 1981, when Hinsdale Central edged St. Charles 144-128 by virtue of winning the meet`s last race, the 400-yard freestyle relay, has Mathieu seen a meet with the outcome in doubt. Glenbrook North has been ranked as high as No. 4 in Swimming in Illinois` top 20 ratings, a lofty perch that initially baffled Mathieu. But maybe the Spartans aren`t overrated. ”We`ve got some talented kids, but our depth isn`t real strong,” he said. ”Early on, I thought we could finish in the top 10, and if we swam well, maybe make the top five. But we`ve been swimming well, and I think we`ve kind of upped that a little. I think we`ll be in the top six or eight for sure, and if things go right, we oight make the top three or four.
— At Naperville North. coach George Klumb has coached a number of state champions and state placewinners in recent years. This season, the Huskies`
stable looked pretty barren with All-Americans Fabio Minervini, Greg Paine, Mark Townsend and Sean Brock graduated. But an impressive third-place finish in the New Trier Relays and a 20-point dual-meet victory over rival Naperville Central have Klumb wondering if he underestimated his 15th-ranked team. ”We don`t have the standouts like we`ve had in the past, but we`ve got some kids who are getting closer to performances that will score points in the state meet,” Klumb said. ”We`ve got good depth that`s going to serve us well at our conference meet and the sectional. I`m not certain about state, but it`s starting to look better.” Klumb thought the Huskies might finish in the middle of the pack at New Trier, especially after a number of early-season dual-meet losses. He was wrong. ”I was very delighted and surprised,” he said. ”I didn`t expect us to be that strong. I went to New Trier thinking this is the test. The kids improved more than I thought. That was definitely the highlight of our season.”
BASEBALL
— Former major league player Jimmy Piersall will kick off a series of baseball clinics at Montini on Feb. 2 with c program entitled, ”Thinking Baseball.” Feb. 9, College of St. Francis coach Gordie Gillespie will discuss infield and outfield play. Jack Schimanski of Joliet Catholic will talk about pitching Feb. 16, and Lewis University coach Irish O`Reilly will discuss hitting Feb. 23. All programs begin at 7 p.m. Cost for all four is $25. For information, call 627-0782.
GIRLS` BASKETBALL
— Donna Groh seems to have left her health problems behind, and that has improved the condition of tje Streamwood girls` basketball team. The 6-foot junior, one of the Chicago area`s top volleyball and basketball players, missed 10 games because of oononucleosis but has been back in the Sabres`
lineup for nearly two weeks. Her presence was never felt so strongly as it was Saturday, when she scorgd 30 points and had 14 rebounds, a steal and two blocked shots to help Streamwood (13-6) to a 65-44 nonconference romp past Dundee-Crown. ”It`s been a gradual process, but I`d say coming back off that, she`s back,” said Streamwood coach George Rosner. The Sabres suffered some losses with Groh out of the lineup, but they also discovered some character. Sophomore guard Renee Kanak was averaging 8.5 points when Groh became ill before Christmas. Now she`s scoring nearly 16 points a game and is averaging more than a half-dozen assists. `bWe are a different team than the one Donna left,” said Rosner, whose team is chasing St. Charles and East Aurora for the Upstate Eight Conference lead. ”The others learned to be able to play without her and still contribute.”
— Top-ranked and undefeated Marshall`s 3:30 p.m. home-court match Monday with No. 2 Immaculate Heart of Mary is just the start of a busy and difficult week for the Commandos. Tuesday, they visit Chicago Public League Red-West archrival Whitney Young, thgn play host to New York St. Peter`s Thursday. IHM (19-1), which has not played since its 61-55 victory Tuesday over then third-ranked Mother McAuley, brings a 17-game winning streak to Marshall. The Tigers are ranked No. 6 in the latest USA Today nationwide poll, the Commandos No. 10 and St. Peter`s No. 21. Maine West, No. 3 in the latest Tribune poll, is also a member of USA Today`s Super 25, getting the No. 13 spot.
— The annual battle for the West Suburban Conference Silver championship between York and Oak Park will be Feb. 3 at York. As usual, the two teams are tied for the league lead heading down the stretch. Each has a loss in league play after York stunned Oak Park 53-48 at Oak Park two weeks ago.
