St. Francis and Huntley will make their annual pilgrimage to the Mt. Pulaski Volleyball Invitational this weekend to see how they match up against some of the top Class A competition Downstate.
The host Hilltoppers already have defeated defending Class A state champion Normal University High this season and will be the tournament favorite along with St. Francis, Huntley and Class AA Belleville Althoff.
Mt. Pulaski might not be the genial host it usually is.
“They are really tough,” said St. Francis coach Peg Kopec, whose fifth-ranked team has lost only a three-game match to No. 2 Providence. “It won’t be fun.”
Meanwhile No. 3 Naperville Central will get a big test this weekend at the Glenbard West Invitational, which features Prairie Ridge, Benet and Downers Grove North.
The two-day tournament ends with semifinals at 11:15 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Saturday and the final at 3 p.m. Prairie Ridge and Naperville Central could meet in the final.
Big loss: Not only did the Brother Rice soccer team lose 4-1 to Buffalo Grove on Wednesday, the Crusaders lost main scoring threat Cesar Zambrano with an injury to his left ankle.
“He’s definitely one of the top players in the state,” Brother Rice coach Nick Markulin said Thursday. “He does everything for us.”
Zambrano had scored in all of the Crusaders’ games this season. The junior went up for a volley in the game’s first minute and was hurt when another player fell on top of him.
Zambrano’s left ankle was swollen and Markulin was still waiting word on the severity of the injury.
Swimming: Was it the competition that gave them extra motivation, or were Jackie Goldman and her defending state champion New Trier teammates really that good at Saturday’s swimming dual meet at Lake Forest? Maybe it was a little of both.
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“Lake Forest is an amazing team and we definitely picked it up,” said Goldman, a 2000 state champion in the 100-yard freestyle and also part of two first-place state relays last fall.
“We’ve been training very hard. And with a team like Lake Forest, which is so good, we were really motivated to go fast.”
Three pool records were washed away and there were several other unusually fast times as the Trevians beat the Scouts 98-88.
Goldman anchored New Trier’s record-setting 400-yard freestyle relay, which closed in 3 minutes 32.26 seconds. That time was just 0.04 off the Trevians’ 2000 state-championship finish.
This fall she and her teammates are well aware that they’re targets as they seek a second straight team title.
“We’re in a different position this year,” she said. “Last year we were chasing St. Charles East to win state. This year we’re definitely the ones being chased. It’s harder for us.”