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the winnetka current | August 16, 2018 | 31
NSCDS alum takes over girls tennis program
Michael Wojtychiw
Sports Editor
Last year, the
North Shore Country
Day School
girls tennis team
did something no
other girls sports
team had done in
the school’s history:
win a state title.
Bergman
Now, a year later, despite returning
pretty much their entire
lineup, the Raiders do have one
major new face on the sidelines,
as Alexandra Bergman takes over
the coaching duties.
Despite being new to the coaching
realm, Bergman isn’t new to
the North Shore or the Winnetka
school. She’s a 2012 graduate
of North Shore, who spent her
freshman and senior years at the
school, while spending her other
two years at Saddlebrook Prep, a
tennis academy in Florida.
Taking over a team coming
off of a state championship also
doesn’t seem to be something
that’s bothering the first-time
coach.
“(I feel) a little pressure but
more I think excitement,” she
said. “We have some great newcomers
coming in which I’m really
excited about. Just to grow
on the success from last year.”
Bergman doesn’t have a distinct
coaching style she plans to
put in place, but knows it will be
all about teamwork, while also
having fun.
Even though she only played
two years of high school tennis in
the Chicago area, she’s excited to
come back to her alma mater and
have the opportunity to represent
the school she grew up with.
“I always had a great time. So
I’m just excited,” Bergman said.
“I know they’re coming off of
a state championship so just to
keep growing the tennis program
just because it wasn’t always a
successful when I was there. Just
to generate interest and just really
let the girls have a great time.”
Bergman won’t go into the season
alone on the sideline though.
Her high school coach, Nazlie
Green, has stayed on as an assistant
coach, just as she had been
last year during the record-breaking
season.
The Raiders start their season
Aug. 25 at the Niles West Invite.
One shot
Winnetka golfer sinks hole-in-one, wins $10k check
Wade Keats (right), a Winnetka resident, sank a hole-in-one July
12 at Chevy Chase Country Club in Wheeling and was granted a
$10,000 check from Swing King. Swing King sets up automated
hole-in-one contests at golf courses across the state and gives
cash prizes to those who make the hole-in-one. PHOTO SUBMITTED
ALUMNI
From Page 33
It’d be fair to say the rising
senior broke out in his junior
cross-country and track seasons,
as he won the 10,000
meters at the New England
Division III Outdoor Championships
in May and was
third in the 5,000 meters.
This followed a crosscountry
season that had
him earn USTFCCCA All-
Region and NEWMAC
All-Conference honors en
route to a 16th-place finish
at the NCAA Regional and
a 47th-place finish at the
NCAA Championships. He
also finished second at the
NEWMAC Championships,
all three of which were personal
bests.
His win in the 10,000 is
actually a funny story.
That race was on Friday
night, and both he and a
teammate were coming back
for the 5,000 meters the next
day. The goal was to try and
score as many points in the
10K, while minimizing their
energy expenditure, so they
could recover for the next
day. Both runners were running
a pretty consistent pace
throughout, and staying
pretty comfortable, and everyone
started falling off the
back until it was just Rosenkranz
and his teammate. The
two ran the last three miles
of it together, not really
racing each other because
it didn’t matter what order
they finished in because they
would have scored the same
amount of points for the
team, and were trying to win
the team championship.
In the last 200 meters of
the race, Rosenkranz had
been leading, and turned to
his teammate, and told him
he should go ahead and win
because it was his senior
year, and he had placed second
the year before, so coming
in first would be a nice
improvement for him. A nice
way to cap off his MIT outdoor
track career.
So his teammate passed
him going into the final
straightaway, and then five
meters before the finish line
slammed on the brakes.
“I flew by him and crossed
the line first, and then he
turned to me afterwards,
and he’s like, ‘You had led
us through the whole second
half of the race. I couldn’t
just take the win from you.’
“It was definitely one of
the stranger races I’ve been
in, but I think it really spoke
to the focus that everyone on
our team has on helping the
team, rather than just helping
themselves.”
The 47th-place finish at
Nationals put him seven
spots short of being an All-
American, something he
knows he can achieve.
“The change I need to
make to get there I think
is just going to be training
more consistently,” he said.
“Because the spring going
into last fall, I didn’t run because
I had a stress reaction,
so I feel like my buildup for
cross country was a little bit
shortened because I hadn’t
run in the spring.
“I feel like having gotten
12 months of consistent
training leading up to this
summer, I think hopefully
will make the difference between
being just outside of
an All-American spot, and
getting one of those All-
American spots.”
Sports briefs
Murlick finishes Top 10 at Illinois
Open
A year after taking second place at
the Illinois Open, New Trier graduate
and Marquette University junior,
Matt Murlick finished in a tie for seventh
place at this year’s Illinois Open.
Murlick, who finished eight strokes
under par, was tied for the secondlowest
amateur score in the tournament.
Murlick earned Marquette’s first atlarge
NCAA Regional bid since 2009
when he was selected to the Bryan
(Texas) Regional and became the first
player in MU history to shoot better
than 221 in a 54-hole regional with
his 1-over-par 217 (74-72-71), which
tied him for 19th place overall. He
was also named to the First Team All-
Big East.
Local athletes make college
commitments
Numerous Loyola and New Trier
athletes made their decisions on
where they plan on playing collegiate
athletics this summer. These
commitments are ones found on
Twitter. Know of any more commitments?
Email m.wojtychiw
@22ndcenturymedia.com.
Loyola
• Elizabeth Ford, girls volleyball -
University of Pennsylvania
• Jake Gonzalez, football - University
of Pennsylvania
• Jake Novak, baseball - University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Celia Satter, girls basketball - University
of Richmond
• Jack Lombardi, baseball - University
of Nebraska-Omaha
• Mick Burden, boys lacrosse - University
of Richmond
New Trier
• Ciaran Brayboy, boys basketball -
Harvard
• Maddie McGregor, girls volleyball
- University of Pennsylvania
• Kasey Venn, girls swimming -
Michigan State
• Henry Scherb, boys lacrosse -
Tufts
• Henry Pelinski, baseball - Emory
University
Sports briefs are compiled by Sports Editor
Michael Wojtychiw
visit us online at WWW.WINNETKACURRENT.com