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38 | March 22, 2018 | The winnetka Current sports winnetkacurrent.com This Week In... Trevian varsity athletics Badminton ■March ■ 22 - at Vernon Hills, 4:30 p.m. Baseball ■March ■ 22 - host Notre Dame, 4:30 p.m. ■March ■ 26 - at Brentwood Academy (Tenn.), 4:30 p.m. ■March ■ 28 - vs. Stagg (at Shelby Park, Nashville), 9:30 a.m. Boys lacrosse ■March ■ 22 - at St. Ignatius, 7 p.m. ■March ■ 27 - at Cathedral (Ind.), 7 p.m. ■March ■ 28 - at Carmel (Ind.), 5:30 p.m. Girls lacrosse ■March ■ 22 - at Vernon Hills, 7 p.m. ■March ■ 24 - host Upper Arlington (Ohio), 10 a.m. Girls soccer ■March ■ 22 - host Maine South, 7 p.m. Softball ■March ■ 22 - host Lane, 4:45 p.m. ■March ■ 24 - at Beecher, 11 a.m./1 p.m. ■March ■ 26 - at Bradley- Bourbonnais, 11 a.m./1 ■March ■ 27 - at Lincoln-Way East, 10 a.m./noon Boys tennis ■March ■ 23-24 - National Invitational Boys High School Team Tennis Tournament (Newport Beach, Calif.), TBA Boys volleyball ■March ■ 24 - vs. L-Way East (at Loyola University), 3 p.m. Gear up for baseball season with the latest cleats from New Balance. Two new styles for pro performance. Vote for Athlete of the Month Help support young athletes. Vote online March 10 - 25 at: winnetkacurrent.com Boys water polo ■March ■ 23-24 - vs. TBD (at York Invite), TBD Rambler varsity athletics Baseball ■March ■ 22 - host Taft, 4:30 ■March ■ 24 - host De La Salle, 11 a.m. ■March ■ 26 - at Fenwick, 5 ■March ■ 28 - at Maine South, 4:30 p.m. Boys lacrosse ■March ■ 27 - host St. Laurence, 6:45 p.m. ■March ■ 28 - host St. Rita, 5:30 p.m. Girls lacrosse ■March ■ 24 - host Montini, 10 a.m. For full Loyola schedule, visit WinnetkaCurrent.com. Congratulations to this week’s Athlete of the Week. We’re pleased to be a sponsor of this program. New Balance North Shore 610 Central Avenue • Port Clinton Square Downtown Highland Park 847-266-8323 • Open 7 Days • ShopNewShoes.com ATHLETE OF THE wEEK 10 Questions with Alaina Vivian The New Trier senior is one of only four seniors on the varsity girls water polo team. When did you start playing water polo and why? I started playing freshman year after swim season. I had been a swimmer my entire life and I was having a really bad shoulder injury, so it was best I stop swimming. I decided to play water polo in the spring and loved it. What’s your favorite part about water polo? I love the swimming aspect but love that it’s exciting, there’s action, it keeps you on your toes and is fast-paced. It’s a great game to watch and be a part of. Best part bout New Trier athlete? We have access to some great facilities and awesome coaches. It’s really fun to be part of a team at a really, really big school where there are so many kids and you get to meet so many people in that sport and others you may not have met otherwise. There are definitely many girls I never would have met if it weren’t for water polo. If you could play another sport? I always wished I was good at basketball, something where you have to be good with your hands and run fast. I just have horrible hand-eye coordination. What’s one thing people don’t know about you? I love cats. Well, my cats. What’s one thing that’s on your bucket list? I really want to travel and go to Antarctica. If you had one superpower, what would it be and why? To fly. It’d be so cool to see the world in a different perspective and be able to go anywhere whenever you please. What’s the hardest part about water polo? Being in the mindset Photo Submitted that you have to work a ton. It’s not just twice a day, it’s going to hurt and be tiring but worth it if you put in the work. If you could have dinner with anybody, who would it be and why? A poet named John Keats. He’s really old but has really good work. He’s a weird and interesting guy and since he lived so long ago, there’s not a ton we know about him. I think it’d be cool to ask him about his work, what he thinks about society in the world and what he thinks about it today. What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten? If you’re thinking about something so much that it’s consuming you and you’re worried about it, it’s not worth it. Interview by Sports Editor Michael Wojtychiw
winnetkacurrent.com sports the winnetka current | March 22, 2018 | 39 Girl’s Basketball Coach of the Year Lake Forest’s Wilhelm chosen for inaugural honor Brittany Kapa, Sports Editor Boys Basketball Coach of the Year Giants’ Harris named inaugural winner Coaches are often the needle on a compass that points players in the right direction during a long season. They string different players, personalities and skill sets together into one cohesive unit. When done right, the season often ends in success. Kyle Wilhelm, the head coach of Lake Forest High School’s girls basketball program, guided a team punctuated by talented underclassman and players who stepped up in the wake of injury. The Scouts finished the season with a 22-10 overall record and a playoff run that ended with a loss to Lake Zurich in the regional final. Because of his efforts, the sports staff at 22nd Century Media chose Wilhelm as the inaugural Coach of the Year for girls basketball. “I was not expecting this,” Wilhelm said. “I’m honored and surprised. I’m surprised in the sense that I really respect a lot of the coaches that I coach against. I see the time that everyone puts into preparing and to be named Coach of the Year is an honor.” Wilhelm, who finished his seventh year as the Scouts’ head coach, has seen his current group of players grow. The seniors came into a program that only won eight games prior to their freshman year. In four years, the Scouts’ program is a far cry from where it began — their success includes a 2017 regional championship. Lake Forest coach David Wilhelm talking to his team earlier this season. 22nd century media file photo “This group, the seniors in particular, should really be looking back on their career and the mark that they left,” Wilhelm said. “They just finished (with season) wins of 17, 13, 23 and 22.” Wilhelm built his program, with assistant coach Reanna Perera, by harnessing the skills of individual players and rolling that into success at the team level. Wilhelm had two major challenges this season. The first was making up for the two key players who graduated. The success of the season prior acted as motivation for this year’s squad and Wilhelm saw evidence of that this past summer. “I think the big thing was ... they came in really focused this summer and really determined to meet and exceed last year’s performance,” Wilhelm said. The seconds, unfortunately, was making up for Maeve Summerville’s absence. Summerville suffered a season-ending injury at the end of the summer session. Wilhelm had to figure out how to make up 25-27 points per game from losing those three players. “As the season started, it was really just challenging those players to fill the void that Maeve was leaving,” he said. “We really talked about how it wasn’t going to be one person to do that. It was really going to have to be collective effort, and everyone was going to have to step up.” They didn’t disappoint. Sophomore point guard Halle Douglass was one of the team’s top scorers. Seniors Jen Whittington and Audrey Kaus stepped up in a big way and even Summerville’s younger sister, Finola Summerville, helped fill the gaps. “We started picking up those signature wins and every signature win you get you kind of see the belief and the expectation of the team,” Wilhelm said. “They raised the expectation-level themselves.” For the full story visit WinnetkaCurrent.com Brittany Kapa, Sports Editor Simply put, coaches champion their players. In a season filled with inevitable ups and downs, it is the coach’s job to keep their teams on task. When looking at who did that the best this season across 22nd Century Media area teams it was a hard decision. Programs like New Trier and Loyola Academy stand out as having coaching staffs that are undoubtably talented. However, the sports department looked deeper into regular-season play and chose a coach that helped lift his team from a shaky start to a team that finished the regular season with confidence. Highland Park High School’s Paul Harris was chosen as the inaugural recipient for the 2018 Coach of the Year. Harris, who just completed his 19th year as head coach with the Giants, led his team to a 15-11 overall record and an 8-2 Central Suburban League North conference finish after a 0-4 start. “Our mindset as coaches, and as a program, was to try and get the guys to focus on improvement and get them to remember that past success doesn’t guarantee future success,” he said. The team’s start didn’t define the Giants’ season, and Harris even celebrated a personal accomplishment in January after nabbing his 300th career win. However, none of those Paul Harris gives his team instruction in a timeout earlier this season. 22ND CENTURY MEDIA FILE Photo accolades are more important to Harris than the growth of his team from summer 2017 until the end of the season this year. “When I think about the season as a whole, I’m just really proud of how we competed,” he said. “This was a group that set high standards for themselves.” Slowly, the Giants’ came together for some big wins during the season. “They showed tremendous resiliency,” Harris said. “With playing a tough schedule, we weren’t going to go undefeated this year. We knew that wasn’t going to happen.” Part of that bounceback was the willingness of the group to work as a team, Harris said. The team didn’t care who was the top scorer of the night, as long as they won. “We had a group of guys that just wanted to be successful,” Harris said. “That’s fun to be around and that’s a credit to their character.” Part of the joy of Harris’ job is watching players develop over their careers and over the course of a season. However, part of the challenge of coaching is helping players reach the next level of their game. “It’s really rewarding to see players get out of their comfort zone, because that’s how they grow,” he said. There have been concepts that the Giants’ coaching staff will work with players during practice and to see that translate on the court during a game is another highlight for Harris. “To see players trust the coaching that they’re receiving – that feels really good,” he said. Editors Note: Coach of the Year was chosen by the Sports Department at 22nd Century Media. The decision was made on regular-season play and the development of the team from the beginning of the regular season until the conclusion.
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