HP_052418

hplandmark.com sports
the highland park landmark | May 24, 2018 | 31
Decision made: Four Giants sign to play college athletics
Brittany Kapa, Sports Editor
22nd Century Media File
Photo
1st-and-3
Stars of the Week
1. Taylor Gilling
(Above).
The Giants junior
finished fourth
at state in the
100-meter dash,
took second in the
200 and helped
her team to a 10th
place state finish.
2. Stephanie Kriss.
The Giants
sophomore
distance runner
finished fourth in
state in the 800
with a time of 2
minutes 13.36
seconds.
3. HP Girls Track and
Field Team.
The Giants finished
10th at the 2018
IHSA State meet
in Charleston. The
team finished with
20 points and
most of the team
will be coming
back next season.
Another four seniors
from Highland Park High
School announced their
commitment to continue
their athletic careers.
The Giants celebrated
their own May 16 in an
brief ceremony before
school.
The boys golf team,
which finished fourth in
the IHSA state tournament
this past fall, was
well-represented as Joey
Harrigan and Josh Zoldan
announced their decisions.
Harrigan, who tied for
18th at the state tournament
with a 150, landed on
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
in Troy, New York.
“It’s an awesome engineering
school,” he said.
“I also really love golf,
so I thought that would be
the best option for me because
I get the best of both
worlds.”
Harrigan isn’t worried
about the pressures of handling
a tough academic
workload and being a Division-III
athlete.
“I’ve talked to a lot of
the guys and they say it’s
pretty easy to handle,”
Harrigan said. “They all
work together on bus rides
together to meets and
stuff.”
Teammate Zoldan is
staying a little closer to
home and will call Illinois
Wesleyan University home
for the next four years. He
only looked into three other
schools before finally making
the decision to become
Student-athletes (left to right) Justin Illes, Joey Harrigan, Zak Levy and Josh Zoldan pose for a photo during a
signing day ceremony Wednesday, May 16, at Highland Park High School. Brittany Kapa/22nd Century Media
a Titan. The Titans have
a strong alumni network
that supports the golf team.
With that support the team
is able to prepare for the
spring season by travelling
to difference courses
around the United States in
the fall for tournament play.
“The program just
seemed awesome with
their budget and all the
trips that they go on,” he
said. “Everything about
their team was really appealing
and made the decision
pretty easy.”
Zak Levy, a boys volleyball
player, will also
stay closer to home, and
will play for North Central
College in Naperville next
season.
Unlike Zoldan, Levy’s
process of choosing a
school was a little more
extensive. He visited 10
other colleges before deciding
that North Central
was the right fit.
“I felt like I could really
see myself going
there, more than any other
school,” he said.
The decision was made
a little easier when he
found out that Giants’
coach Kyle Muldoon had
gone to college with North
Central’s men’s volleyball
coach, Kyle Exline.
“The coach is really
great, his name is coach
Exline,” Levy said. “Actually,
coach Muldoon knows
him; they went to college
together. He’s a really nice
guy. He won coach of the
year this year.”
Levy will be coming
into a program that is on
the rise. Exline was the
first coach hired for the
men’s program in April
2014 and has continually
grown the team’s talent
base and has seen success
as a result. Exline, a
Loyola University Chicago
graduate, led the Cardinals
to a 17-8 finish this
season. The team was 9-0
in the Midwest Collegiate
Volleyball League.
Pitching in on the East
coast
Justin Illes, a centerback
for the Giants soccer team,
knew he wanted to be on
the East coast for college.
“I went to a few soccer
camping in Philadelphia
and that area on the East
coast,” he said. “I just
liked the coach and liked
the team.”
So, when Illes got the
opportunity to go to an East
coast school, he took it. He
will be attending Western
New England University
next fall in Springfield,
Massachusetts. Illes had
visited other schools, but
none were a better fit then
Western New England.
“I just kind of connected
with the team a lot better,”
Illes said. “I visited Penn
State Behrend, which is
another small DIII school,
and I just didn’t really connect
with the team as well
when I visited.”
Listen Up
“It ends a streak of state qualifiers for us since 1999.
It’s kind of a rough pill to swallow”
Steve Buti — HPHS boys track and field coach, on the Giants finish at the
Loyola Academy sectional
tune in
Boys Tennis
The Giants will take on the best in
this year’s 2018 IHSA state meet.
• Highland Park at IHSA State,
Thursday-Saturday, May 24-26
Index
27 - This Week In
27 - Athlete of the Week
Fastbreak is compiled by Sports Editor Brittany Kapa. Send
any questions or comments to b.kapa@22ndcenturymedia.
com.