Marian Catholic Athletes Sign to Play on the Next Level

At Marian Catholic, it was time to hand out a collective high-five.

Five Spartan student-athletes recently signed letters of intent to continue their playing careers in college. All five were recognized in a ceremony at school.

The list: Marc Grkinich (St. Ambrose football), Wes Fleming (St. Ambrose football), Trish Resner (Dubuque soccer), Alyssa Wlodarczyk (St. Ambrose volleyball) and Michael Toliver (St. Ambrose football).

Kress Sets Hurdles Mark

Last weekend, Bloom boys track and field standout Chris Kress set a meet record in winning the 300 hurdles with a time of 40.26 at the Schaumburg Invitational.  Overall, the Blazing Trojans took fourth out of 10 teams.

Spartans Streak in Baseball

The Marian Catholic baseball team has been on fire of late. The Spartans have won six games in a row, eight of their last nine and have raced past their win total of a year ago (eight), improving to 11-2. In the last week, Marian defeated Joliet Central 9-3, highly rated De La Salle 14-10, Illiana Christian 10-2 and Thornton Fractional South 6-1. The Spartans will look to knock off the state’s No. 1 team when they play Providence at 10 a.m. Sunday in the "Do It Stevie’s Way Challenge" at Standard Bank Stadium in Crestwood.

Rich Central Rolling, too

The Rich Central baseball team wanted to see how it measured up against one of the area's top programs, St. Rita.  You can say they measured up just fine despite blowing a 10-5 lead in the seventh inning of a game that was eventually suspended due to darkness last Friday.

Missouri recruit Tyler House hit a monster two-run homer against the Mustangs.  The Olympians took on rival Rich South in two games this week and swept past them by 10 runs in each game.

On Tuesday, Rich Central won 17-7 as Brandon Fowler went 4-for-5 with five RBIs and Nick Collins added three hits and four RBIs.  On Thursday, the Olympians beat Rich South 13-3 at home, highlighted by Garret Spivey's performance. He threw a six-inning no-hitter and went 3-for-3 with four RBIs.  The Olympians improved to 10-1-1 overall and 4-0 in the Southland Conference.

Net Gain for Childers

Despite dropping a tough 3-2 match to Benet, the Marian Catholic boys tennis team is 10-2 overall and 2-1 in the East Suburban Catholic Conference.  No. 1 singles player Julian Childers scored one of the two wins for the Spartans vs. Benet. On Monday, the Spartans beat H-F 5-2. Then, on Tuesday, they beat Carmel 4-1 as Childers was victorious in both matches.