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34 | April 18, 2019 | the mokena messenger sports mokenamessenger.com Athlete of the Week 10 Questions with Madi Jager Lacrosse ‘Little things’ leading to big success for Lincoln-Way co-op Randy Whalen Freelance Reporter Mokena resident Madi Jager is a junior on Lincoln-Way Central’s girls water polo team. When did you start playing water polo? I started playing water polo in sixth grade. I didn’t like it that much back then and kind of got away from it but got back into it as a freshman and I really enjoyed it that time, so I decided to stick with it. How long have you been swimming and how did you get into it? I’ve been swimming since I was 6 years old. My dad (Mark) is a swimming coach at Metea Valley. My parents put me into swimming, and I’ve stuck with it all these years. It’s really fun and I have really good friends in the sport. Is it fun sharing swimming and water polo experiences with your family? Definitely. My mom was never so much of a swimmer but she supports it and really likes it. My dad is always giving me coaching advice and that helps a lot. What do you like most about water polo? Swimming is more of an individual sport. In water polo, we’re all competing together and bonding and I love that team element. If you could be someone else for a day, who would you want to be? I’d probably pick Missy Franklin. I’d want to be an Olympian, so I could go to the Olympics and see what that’s like. It’d be really fun. You’re stranded on a deserted island and can have an endless supply of one food. What do you pick? Cheese pizza. Definitely deep dish. What’s your favorite movie or TV show? I like all the “Harry Potter” movies and I like watching “Grey’s Anatomy” on TV. gary middendorf/22nd century media If a movie was being made about your life, who would play you? Let’s say Jennifer Lawrence. I always think she’s really strong and she’s like a fighter, so I think she’d be good to play me. Do you have any hidden talents? I like to think I’m good at working with people. I love working with special needs kids. I’m really involved in school. I like communicating with people and working with people. Who would you pay to see in concert? Ever since I watched “Bohemian Rhapsody”, I’ve wanted to see Queen. I’d go see them with Adam Lambert. Interview conducted by Sports Editor Steve Millar. “The little things.” The Lincoln-Way Co-op boys lacrosse team is off to a great start this season but knows it has to do those “little things” in order to maintain it. The Lincoln- Way squad, which is ranked No. 11 in the state by Max Preps, continued the good start with a 10-7 win over Wheaton North on a frigid, windy evening April 10 at Lincoln-Way West. It was the second straight win for Lincoln- Way (7-1) after its only loss of the season, a 9-4 at No. 6 Neuqua Valley (7-2 through April 10) on April 4. “We have a very talented group of players,” Lincoln-Way coach Mike McCormick said. “But there’s a lot to it besides talent. We’re working on the little things, but we’re not there yet. “Everyone wants those ESPN SportsCenter moments, the highlights that go on Youtube. But it’s the little things that get you there. We are good at scoring [tallying at least 10 goals in all 7 wins this season]. We hope to be playing our best at the end of the season.” Lincoln-Way led the whole way against the Falcons (2-4). There were highlights, especially to start. Junior attacker George Burchfield, who is from Central, had four goals, and senior midfielder Vince Grunert from East tallied three. They each Lincoln-Way Central junior George Burchfield looks for a shot during Lincoln-Way co-op’s game against Wheaton North on April 10. Burchfield scored four goals in the win. MARK KOROSA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA had a pair of goals in the first half to help Lincoln- Way to a 3-0 lead after the opening quarter and a 6-2 halftime lead. Wheaton North, which scored on a goal by senior midfielder Jeffrey Kim with just over two minutes left in the first half to close within 6-2, tallied another one in the opening two minutes of the second half as senior attacker Alex Blum scored to cut the lead to three. But midway through the quarter, Grunert got another goal to extend the lead to 7-3 and that held up as the score after three. Burchfield sandwiched a pair of goals around one from sophomore attacker Ethan Sieb from East and Lincoln-Way pulled away, taking a 10-3 lead with 7:10 to play in the game. Senior midfielder Cameron Daugherty, who goes to West, and senior midfielder Brendan Sullivan from Central scored firsthalf goals. Lincoln-Way ended last week on Friday, April 12 with a match at Wheaton- Warrenville South. This week brought a South Suburban Conference match at 6:30 PM on Wednesday, April 17 at Lemont. This Saturday, April 20, at 2 PM is a nonconference matchup at Glenbard West. Daugherty is excited about the team’s potential the rest of the season. “Right now, things are going well but we need to pick it up a bit going forward,” Daugherty said. “But we’ve got a lot of positive media and this is the fastest game on two feet. We’re excited. It’s my senior year, we’re all close and have come together.”
mokenamessenger.com sports the mokena messenger | April 18, 2019 | 35 Youth sports Mokena Baseball/Softball steps up to help fellow league after theft Steve Millar, Sports Editor Mokena Baseball/Softball Association president Jason Zimmer feels youth sports organizations share a bond over a common goal of enriching children’s life through sports. So, when Zimmer heard Belmont Little League in Joliet had thousands of dollars of equipment stolen from its storage shed with the new season right around the corner, he wanted to help. He also knew the families in his organization - which has players from Frankfort, New Lenox, Orland Park and Tinley Park, in addition to Mokena - would be eager to pitch in. “It’d be horrible it that happened to us,” Zimmer said. “One of our board members sent me a text message about what happened to Belmont Little League. I told them we’d have a lot of equipment for them to take.” Coincidentally, MBSA was holding an equipment donation drive when the Belmont theft occurred. The league was collecting equipment with the intent of donating to Turn Two For Youth, a national charity that collects baseball and softball gear to distribute to underprivileged communities.t MBSA placed boxes – which were donated by Midwest Moving and Storage – at Future Stars Baseball Academy in Mokena, where league players and families dropped off equipment. As word of Belmont Little League’s plight got out, MBSA’s equipment collection kicked into overdrive. Zimmer realized there was plenty of gear to make donations to Belmont as well as Turn Two for Youth. That was great news for Belmont president Rick Brown. When some Belmont board members went to their storage shed March 23 to begin the process of distributing equipment for the season, they discovered the theft, which Brown said is believed to have taken place March 21 or 22. “All our field equipment was gone, we had some fencing that we had for a new field, and that was stolen, and a ton of our equipment – bats, gloves, helmets – was taken. “A lot of the kids we service are from low-income families, a lot have single parents, but we don’t turn away any kids. We eat a lot of costs. We saw that stuff was gone and we’re like, ‘What do we do?’” When word got out to surrounding leagues, the response was huge. Brown said Belmont has heard from leagues as far as Itasca and Elmhurst looking to help. The MBSA was one of the first organizations to reach out, and Belmont board members Dan Vestal and Carlos Carreno filled the bed of a pickup truck – and part of the cabin – with equipment donated by MBSA. “They took baseball bats, softball bats, catching gear, a pitching machine, a lot of balls and helmets,” Zimmer said. “We told them they could take more, and they said they wanted to make sure the rest went to the charity. They were very gracious.” The result was a bunch of happy ballplayers as the Belmont season, which is set to begin April 20, will be able to go on. “Seeing all this equipment, a lot of these little kids’ faces are Belmont Little League board members Carlos Carreno (left) and Dan Vestal filled a pickup truck with equipment donated by the Mokena Baseball/Softball Association. Photo submitted. lighting up,” Brown said. “The help we’ve gotten has been amazing, very overwhelming at times. “It gives you a sense of what Little League Baseball is all about. It’s really crazy, but in a good way.” Volleyball Yurkanin helps Knights serving turn around in third straight victory RANDY WHALEN, Freelance Reporter “You Got Served.” No, it was not a remake of the 2004 dance movie. It was the theme of the Lincoln-Way Central boys volleyball team in its match against Richards last week. For a big stretch in the first set, it was more accurate to say, “You didn’t get served.” That’s because nearly half of the first 25 points in the match - 11 of them - came on service errors. In total, the teams combined for 19. But in the end, Central cut off the mistakes and went on to a 25- 22, 25-19 victory over the Bulldogs on April 9 in New Lenox. With their third straight win, the Knights (8-8) climbed back to the .500 mark for the first time since being 2-2. “We’re getting better each match,” Central coach Mary Brown said. “We talked about limiting our mistakes in the second set and we did that. We were trying to be aggressive and made some errors to start. But I don’t want the guys to be afraid to make errors. I want them to stay aggressive.” Jack Yurkanin, a senior outside hitter, led that aggressive attack with five kills, three aces, and three digs. Senior right side hitter Jason Sall came off the bench to add five kills, while senior middle hitter Brendan McCarthy (3 kills, 3 aces, 2 blocks) and senior setter Jimmy Kapsalis (8 assists) also contributed for the Knights. Alex Costa had eight of his match-high 10 kills in the second set for Richards (7-3 through April 10). The first set had eight ties and four lead changes. But trailing 14-13, the Knights took the lead on a 4-0 run. Yurkanin served three straight aces to cap that off. “I knew we needed to get some points back so I just took the line and told myself to be aggressive,” Yurkanin said. “We know we really need to bring the heat on the lines. “Coach (Brown) says when you’re serving it’s just you and the ball and the only thing you can control is the serve,” Yurkanin said. “So I tell myself to have no fear.” The Bulldogs closed within 23-22, but served into the net. A tip-kill by Yurkanin polished off the set. Kapsalis started the season as an outside hitter but has switched to a setter. “Richards is a great team with good hitters,” Kapsalis said. “So, as a setter going against them, I like to look to establish the middle first and then move to the pins to put the ball down.” The Knights only had one serving error in the second set. They trailed 7-4 and 8-6 before a pair of kills by senior outside hitter Sebastian Olmos highlighted a 4-0 run that gave them the lead for good. Ahead 13-11, McCarthy had a pair of aces to cap another 4-0 burst. Back-to-back aces by Costa closed the Bulldogs within 18- 15, but they couldn’t get closer. McCarthy mashed a kill to end it. The SouthWest Suburban Conference opener for the Knights is next week, on Tuesday, April 23 against visiting Lockport. They know a match like this can only help in preparation for teams like Lincoln-Way West, defending state champion Lincoln-Way East, and Sandburg. “The conference will be tough,” Yurkanin said. “We just have to learn from this one and get better from here.” baseball From Page 36 ative with the rest of their pitching staff. Landen Looper, Matt Clark, Ethan Lambrigger, Sean McLaughlin and Josh Ralston are among those who have contributed to the miniscule ERA. “Everybody knows Cole anchors our staff,” Brauer said. “When we use him every five or six days, that gives us a lot of flexibility with the rest of our guys. We might use four or five guys in one game because we know Cole’s pitching the next one and we don’t need a bunch of guys available in the bullpen.” Kirschsieper said he and the rest of the Griffins pitchers are soaking in Looper’s advice. “It’s amazing working with coach Looper,” he said. “He gives me different opportunities. He teaches me new things, new pitches. He’s helped me so much the last couple years and has helped me become the pitcher that I am.”
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