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40 | May 10, 2018 | The orland park prairie Sports opprairie.com ATHLETE OF THE WEEK 10 Questions BOYS TENNIS Maratea for two: opposing coach and son enjoy tennis with Joey Jenkot Joey Jenkot is a senior swimmer/ water polo player who is heading to Marquette next year. Which sport do you like better, swimming or water polo? I like swimming and water polo both but for different reasons. I like swimming because I like to race and compete. But the practices are brutal and the season feels like it goes on forever. I like water polo because of the team aspect. Everyone needs to be working together for the team to be successful and I like the reliance on teammates. If you’re lacking they can pick you up, and vice versa What goes on under the water that people don’t see? Under the water is the most brutal part. There is so much punching, kicking, grabbing, scratching, and kneeing. There is times you will get out of the pool with huge gashes the length of you ribs. What are you majoring in at Marquette? I will be majoring in engineering. Why did you pick that? Engineers have the ability to build a new world, and I hope to help build that. Do you have a favorite pregame pump-up song? My favorite pregame song is “Whatever it Takes” by Imagine Dragons JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA Do you have a hero, or someone you look up to? I have a few people I look up. My brother (Jake) is currently a Naval Flight Officer, and my father (Jerry) is a retired police officer, so they are role models to me. Is there a movie you could watch over and over without getting bored with it? And Why? “Saving Private Ryan”. I love World War II movies and this is one of my favorites. It has a great cast and story line. Also it has one of the best battle scenes of all time in the beginning. Any superstitions? Before most of my races I do the same thing behind the blocks. I would do jumping jacks and slap my chest. If you could have dinner with anyone — living or dead — who would it be with? Definitely Ronald Reagan. He is one of the greatest presidents that the US has ever had and someone I truly admire and would love to hear speak. If they made a movie about your life, who should play you? Tom Hanks. He has some fantastic films and I know he can do the job. Interview conducted by Sports Editor Jeff Vorva PHIL ARVIA, Freelance Reporter For his 64th birthday, Mike Maratea got a reprieve. At least, that’s the way his oldest son, Nick, felt about it. “I was looking forward to giving him a loss on his birthday,” Nick Maratea, a Sandburg sophomore, said of his father, the Andrew boys tennis coach. Nick was scheduled to play No. 1 singles Thursday, May 3, for the Eagles against his father’s Thunderbolts, but a heavy shower and more threatening skies forced postponement of the match until Monday, May 7, after this paper’s deadline. On Thursday, the family — Mike, wife Julie, Nick and younger brothers Luke, Jacob and Zack — headed to Miller’s Ale House in Orland Park for a celebratory dinner. At least this way, everybody will be happy at dinner. “Last year was tough,” Mike said. “Nick lost at No. 2, and we lost to Sandburg. “I’m hoping this year will be the opposite — Nick wins at No. 1, we win the match.” Regardless, an Andrew/Sandburg battle will be a special event for many reasons. Like Mike, Sandburg’s coach, Brian Ostrander, is a Bremen High School graduate. He played for Maratea’s Prairie State Games squad in the early ‘90s, then got into coaching as an assistant under Maratea at Mother McAuley in 1994. Maratea started in coaching in 1979 with the girls team at Oak Forest, went from there to McAuley in ’91, has coached the Andrew girls since 2004 and picked up the boys job in 2012. He also had a stint as an assistant to Ostrander (Mike’s brother, Dave, is now on Ostrander’s staff) and is an assistant at Moraine Valley. “It’s always fun when Mike is around,” Ostrander said. “He’s very energetic — younger than his years. It was very easy to gravitate into what he was doing because it looked like a lot of fun.” Mike (left) and Nick Maratea share a passion for tennis. Mike is Andrew’s coach and Nick plays at Sandburg. The Andrew/Sandburg match scheduled for Thursday, May 3 was postponed. JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA Tennis has always been that for Maratea, despite growing up in Midlothian — not exactly a hotbed of tennis in the 1960s. Or ever. “I lived a half-block from the tennis courts,” Maratea said. “We were messing around there one summer, and I found out I was better than all my buddies.” In 1971 and ’72, Maratea led the only two state-qualifying teams in Bremen history, winning the district singles title both years. He played one year, with eventual touring pros Tim and Tom Gullickson, at Northern Illinois. “I had the fire in the belly,” Mike said. “And I was patient. “Nick’s technically a lot better than me. I was just tougher.” Nick took his lumps playing mostly first singles on the Sandburg varsity during his freshman season. He’s bouncing between doubles and singles this season, but was slated early at No. 1 for the Andrew match. “That’s kind of a show of respect,” Ostrander said before invoking Mike’s nickname. “The Wolf demands respect.” Nick’s game is beginning to do so as well. “This is the first year Nick has taken on an identity,” Ostrander said. “He has really started to improve. He’s gotten a lot more competitive.” While Mike preferred a steady, defensive style, Nick’s game is different. “He tends to take a lot of risks,” Mike said. “He’s got a big serve, a great backhand...of course, ever since he was 2, I was feeding him backhands, because he could only hold the racquet with two hands. “His forehand needs work, and he needs to learn patience.” To the degree that a 16-year-old can, Nick agreed with his father. “He’s a lot wiser and calmer,” Nick said. “I like to hit the ball hard and get to the net. He’s more about making the point.” If he plays singles in Sandburg’s own sectional later this month, Nick would have a tough path to the state tournament, given the top four finishers in last year’s sectional were underclassmen. The doubles draw might be more open, considering the state qualifiers last season were two pairs of seniors. “For this year, I hope to do well in conference and sectional, but it’s really hard to make it to state,” he said. “Stagg and Marist are really tough. But eventually, I want to get to state.” A member of the student council who also played on the freshman basketball team, Nick was unwilling to concede Mike’s fire burns hotter than his. “Not at all,” he said. “I get really angry. “I’m just not exactly the same as him. Back in the day, they did things a little different.” Granted, on-court behavior at all levels has mellowed somewhat since Ilie Nastase begat Jimmy Connors begat John McEnroe. And Mike conceded, given his full-blooded Italian ancestry, “I get a little animated.” He wanted to keep that to a minimum for the Sandburg match. “I try to abide by the 100-foot rule,” he said. “Nick says he hears the small comments I make no matter where I am.” And Nick doesn’t mind. “I’ve always loved tennis,” he said. “I was always into it. “That’s something me and my dad share — a passion for tennis.”
opprairie.com Sports the orland park prairie | May 10, 2018 | 41 Shelton breaks mold committing to football and baseball at Hutchinson PATRICK Z. MCGAVIN Freelance Reporter Nicky Shelton has never lacked confidence. “When I am playing football, I think of my style as more of an attitude, that I am on the best player on the field and nobody can stop me,” he said. “I think if you want to be successful, you have to think like that.” In charting the next stage of his athletic career, Shelton was not going to be placed in a box or limit himself. As a football and baseball prospect, he had choices. In the binary world of college recruiting, it is typically one or the other. A senior at Sandburg, Shelton insisted on both. He found a receptive partner. Shelton, who was one of 45 student-athlete Eagles honored by the school at a breakfast in the Gold Gym on May 2, committed to play both football and baseball at athletically prominent Hutchinson Community College. The two-year school in Hutchinson, Kansas has produced some very prominent professional athletes. Shelton is breaking the mold, becoming what is believed to be the first football and baseball prospect in the 90-year history of the program. And Shelton doesn’t even play varsity baseball. He’s on the track team. New Orleans Saints’ star running back Alvin Kamara and New England return man and receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, both played at the school. Quarterback Shaun Hill, who played for five NFL teams, also starred for the Blue Dragons. The legacy caught the imagination of Shelton. “I started researching on the internet the top five junior colleges for sending receivers to the NFL, and they were ranked No. 2,” he said. “I contacted the top five schools, and they were the only ones who responded. I went down there on a recruiting visit in late March, early April, and I loved the place. I also talked about baseball, and the coaches said of course, they’d even help get me a catcher to work on my throwing in the off-season.” Shelton is a multiple sport athlete for the Eagles. A two-year starter Nicky Shelton, shown during a ceremony at Sandburg on May 2, plans on playing both baseball and football at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas. PHOTOS BY JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA Football player Ed Schullo (left), his 18-month-old brother, Vincent, and father, Dominic, pose during Sandburg’s recognition breakfast. The senior is heading to St. Ambrose University. as a wide receiver, he scored nine touchdowns and had 700 yards receiving despite missing three games in his senior year. He is a late bloomer in the sport. “I never played until I came to Sandburg at the start of my freshman year,” he said. “I grew up in Stickney, a village that had no organized football leagues. I played baseball. We moved to Orland Park, and I wanted to make new friends and football was the way to do that.” A six-inch growth spurt the summer before his freshman year helped. He got a crash course in learning the subtleties of the game. “Football is like a new toy to me, and I am still figuring it all out,” he said. Now at 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds, he has the size to make an impact A sprinter and long and triple jumper on the Eagles’ track team, Shelton never played varsity baseball at Sandburg. Baseball is a developing program at Hutchinson. The coaches there like his potential as a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher. Shelton has been training with the Romeoville-based Rhino Baseball facility. “Both sports have produced Division I athletes,” Shelton said. “Whether it’s football or baseball, I just want to go out and make an impact and doing something I love.” Sandburg honors 45 athletes heading to college Sandburg High School honored 45 athletes who have announced their college commitments at a breakfast ceremony on May 2. Here is a list of those athletes, their schools and their sports: Kelli Bergmark, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire - soccer Gabe Carney, Aurora University - football Branden Comia, University of Illinois Champaign - baseball Lauren Corcoran, Carthage College - swimming Will Davis, Aurora University - football Andrew DeMatteo, Augustana College - baseball Colin Dominski, Aurora University - football Madison Fischer, Illinois Wesleyan University - soccer Kyle Fox, Illinois Wesleyan University- swimming Xander Furmanek, University of Wisconsin Platteville - cross country/track Erin Greenfield, Moraine Valley Community College - basketball Ryan Hampe, University of Illinois Chicago - baseball Maureen Imrie, Briar Cliff University - volleyball Sami Ismail, North Central College- basketball Dylan Jacobs, University of Notre Dame - cross country/track Luke Kazlauskas, Carthage College - soccer Angela Kelsey, Carthage College - water polo Matthew Kocinksi, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh - baseball Elena Krasowski, University of Dubuque - soccer Ricky Kwak, Marian University - football Jimmy Margas, University of Indianapolis - soccer Jamie Marines, University of Notre Dame (preferred walk-on) - football Jakob Martinez, Trinity International University - football Seth Masters, University of Illinois Springfield - baseball John Murphy, Carthage College - football Nicholas Orlando, Illinois Wesleyan University - football Jacob Ostema, Trinity Christian College - volleyball Karly Petro, Central Michigan University - cheer Nicole Poole, Moraine Valley Community College - basketball Jake Pygon, North Central College - basketball Jason Pygon, St. Xavier University - basketball Emily Schrader, St. Francis University - bowling Ed Schullo , St. Ambrose University - football Nick Shelton, Hutchinson Community College - football and baseball Claire Sokol, University of Illinois Springfield - soccer Emily Stankute, Illinois Wesleyan University - cross country/track Abbie Stefanon, Bellarmine University - volleyball Michael Stevens, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology - football Madison Stuursma, Indiana Wesleyan University - swimming Andrew Tenison, Lewis University - baseball Evan Tenuta, University of Notre Dame - baseball Carter Thoss, Lewis University - swim Andre Turner, Concordia University Wisconsin - football Heather Vetter, Aurora University - softball Ashley Wood, Southern Illinois University - softball
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