St. Viator Seniors Build Strong Foundation for Future
Cannon Gets State Trip with St. Patrick; MSL Girls Basketball Title-Sectional Final Rematches; Brett Harris' Ties to March Madness; Big Show at Meadows' Vault Summit
There was a different feeling for St. Viator after its second trip to the Class 3A boys basketball sectional semifinals in the last three seasons.
The Lions’ 63-23 ending stung but they were also up against one of the state’s premier programs in DePaul Prep at Antioch on March 4. And Viator coach Mike O’Keeffe focused more on the overall achievement of the senior class of MIT-bound star Henry Marshall, Dayvion Ellis, Brandyn Michaels, Jaylan Szlachetka and Ryan Kalaway.
The varsity won 10 games when they were freshman in O’Keeffe’s first full season as head coach at his alma mater. The next year they lost in the sectional semis but the overall record was only 15-19. It improved to 17-16 last year and 24-10 this season for their highest win total since a 25-7 finish in 2018-19.
“The five seniors come from wonderful families and were a lot of fun to coach,” O’Keeffe said. “They’re an extremely unselfish group and they always played for the name on the front of the jersey rather than the back. They were extremely coachable and they threw their egos out years ago and represented us well on the court.”
Particularly Marshall, who came back from missing the regional final with a badly sprained ankle to score 12 points in his final high school game.
“The second half was mostly about pride and coming out and competing,” Marshall said. “We were going to come out and compete and it’s what you play basketball for. To win a lot of games and play the best competition possible.
“To be able to play DePaul Prep this year is absolutely an honor. Our growth is a testament to the guys and our coaches.”
Four of the teams the Lions lost to are playing in the state semifinals this weekend in Champaign - Benet in 4A, DePaul and St. Patrick in 3A and Chicago Hope in 1A.
“The last four months have been outstanding and I thank them for all the memories we’ll take away from this team,” O’Keeffe said.
There were also positive indicators for the future as the Lions started sophomore Dawson Charles and freshman Jacob Only against DePaul. Freshman Landon Ray saw significant playing time.
“I can’t wait to see what they do in the future,” Marshall said. “They’re mature beyond their years.”
Only also exhibited no fear and had a couple of impressive plays in the third quarter. He drove right into the heart of the DePaul defense and hit a pullup jumper to finish with 6 points.
“Jacob is going to be special,” O’Keeffe said. “You can’t ask for a better young man. He’s a good student and a great kid who’s a really good basketball player.
“He’ll only get better and better because he lives in the gym. He’s taken after Henry and Dayvion and what those seniors do. We’re excited about the future.”
Cannon Helps Shamrocks Make Historic Trip
To say the St. Patrick boys basketball coaching staff has a wealth of experience and pedigree would be an understatement as the storied program will claim its first top-four trophy in Champaign this weekend.
Head coach Mike Bailey, a longtime Mount Prospect resident, was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2012. Fremd graduate and former Prospect head coach Dominic Cannon was inducted as a career coach in 2019. And Al Biancalana, who has worked at the high school and Division I levels, was inducted in 2015.
Bailey is in his 31st season but still has a few years to go to catch his predecessor. The legendary Max Kurland, who the school’s court is named after, was in charge of the program at Austin and Belmont on Chicago’s Northwest Side for 35 years.
Kurland’s only trip to a supersectional was in 1962. Bailey had been there four times before the Shamrocks avenged last year’s heartbreaking overtime loss to Mt. Carmel with a thrilling 49-48 victory Monday night in the 3A matchup at UIC.
Cannon played at Fremd for Hall of Famer Mo Tharp. He was an assistant for Hall of Famer Ed Molitor at Palatine and then at Prospect for Glen Elms when he took over and led the program from 2000-07.
Cannon’s first Prospect team won the MSL East and lost in the league title game to eventual state champ Schaumburg and his second won 18 games and ended a 10-year regional title drought. He also had a stint as an assistant and head coach at York before landing on Bailey’s staff at St. Pat’s.
Biancalana’s head coaching stops included York, DeKalb and Glenbard East and he also had two stints as a college assistant at Bradley (1999-2005) and UIC (2010-14). Bailey also had successful stops of two years at St. Gregory in Chicago and four years at Dundee-Crown before going to St. Pat’s.
MSL Girls Basketball Sectional Title Rematches
Rolling Meadows’ 73-58 Class 4A boys sectional title win over Fremd last Friday night was only the second rematch of an MSL title game. Meadows completed the sweep as Arlington did over Prospect in 1982.
This year was the eighth time it’s happened in MSL girls basketball - all since 1992 - when Fremd beat Prospect 48-37 for the league title and 54-44 in the sectional final. The first three years the MSL had a girls title game (1974-76) there was no state tournament. Here are the other girls MSL title-sectional title rematches:
1992 - Buffalo Grove beat Hoffman Estates 66-65 in OT for the MSL and 62-52 for the sectional.
1999 - Fremd beat BG 53-50 (MSL) and 54-49 (sectional).
2001 - Fremd beat Prospect 60-44 (MSL) and 56-42 (sectional)
2013 - Fremd beat Rolling Meadows 66-63 in OT (MSL); Meadows won 59-50 (sectional)
2014 - Fremd beat Rolling Meadows 49-42 (MSL); Meadows won 57-53 (sectional)
2017 - Hersey beat Fremd 36-33 (MSL); Fremd won 49-30 (sectional)
2023 - Fremd beat Hersey 58-39 (MSL); Hersey won 61-52 (sectional)
In 2000, the MSL title game rematch was played in the supersectional. Eventual AA state champion Buffalo Grove beat Barrington 51-46 and 55-52.
Also, this year’s MSL girls volleyball title match had a sectional championship rematch - and third matchup - between Fremd and Rolling Meadows. Fremd got a sweep of 20-25, 25-20, 25-17 (sectional), 25-21, 25-10 (MSL) and 25-13, 25-12 (MSL crossover in September).
Brett Harris’ March Madness Ties
Brett Harris is best known as the first Hersey graduate to play Major League Baseball when the third baseman debuted with the Oakland A’s last season.
But March Madness is a big part of the family history as his dad Lance is an IBCA Hall of Famer for teaming with fellow Hall of Famer Brad Bickett to lead tiny Ohio to a second-place state finish in Class A in 1986 and a supersectional in 1985.
Harris and Bickett were first-team all-tourney picks in 1986 as Ohio, which is between Dixon and Princeton and had only 69 students, lost 82-45 in the championship game to unbeaten Teutopolis in Champaign. Bickett scored a tourney-high 103 points in 4 games (including the supersectional) and Harris had 74 points, 22 assists, 27 rebounds and 10 steals. A year earlier Ohio lost in the supersectional to a Harvard team coached by Bruce Firchau, who is the IBCA Hall of Fame Chairman.
Those were also the only two sectional titles won by Ohio in its history, which Bureau County Republican sports editor, area historian and Hall of Famer Kevin Hieronymous shared last Friday with his readers. He referred to Bickett and Harris as “Thunder and Lightning” when they scored 26 and 27 points respectively as Ohio beat Peru St. Bede 81-60 in 1985. Harris had 24 and Bickett 23 in a 61-59 victory over Newark in 1986.
Harris has been the Arlington Heights Fire Chief since June 2022.
Vaulters Reach Summit at Rolling Meadows
Few athletic directors can match the passion for their school the way Jim Voyles has at Rolling Meadows. So a day after celebrating the boys basketball team winning its second sectional title, the school hosted the 24th annual Windy City Pole Vault Summit in its Fieldhouse.
Voyles started the event to get an extra meet for Dave Viken, who finished second in the state in the event in Class AA in 2003 and fourth in 2002.
“It just became a staple,” Voyles said in a message on Twitter/X. “Proud of my assistant AD, Charlie Larson, for putting in the work this year to get 37 total vaulters on the lineup card! Should be a fun day with some big jumps!”
How big? Bloomington Central Catholic junior Isaiah Whitaker cleared a national best this season of 18-feet, 1-inch. The two-time Class 1A state champion also set an Illinois indoor all-time best by passing the 18-½ in 2018 by three-time state champion Zach Bradford of Bloomington High, according to Illinois track and cross country reporting guru Mike Newman.
Newman reported that Whitaker cleared 17-9 and 18-1 on his first attempts. He missed three attempts at 18-4. Lake Park’s Eva Bach won the girls competition at 12-6.
Longtime coach John Lemke helped the Meadows’ boys set the bar for MSL pole vaulting with 13 of the 39 state medals by the MSL’s historical core 14 schools. Mick Viken, the last of three “Vaulting Vikens,” was a three-time medalist who won state in 2009. Dave won two medals and Don was 4th in 2000.
The Mustangs also have runner-up state finishes from John Sayre (1979) and Dan Dahlin (1998) and third-place finishes by Travis Spencer-Coye (1996) and Andy Ryan (2007). Mike Michaels took 6th in 1985 and Kody Cagwin was 8th in 2012.
Fremd is second in boys state pole vault medals at 6 and John Adamczyk was a two-time state champ (2002-03). Schaumburg has 5 medals and Palatine, with 2015 state champ Jake LaRocca, and Conant have 4. The other MSL schools with pole vault medalists are Wheeling (3), Arlington (2), Hoffman Estates (1) and Barrington (1).
The pole vault became an IHSA girls state event in 2001 and Palatine has the most medalists with 5. Meadows, Fremd, Prospect and Barrington have 3 and Schaumburg has 1. Three-time Barrington medalist Anna Etherington is the closest from the MSL to winning a state title when she took second in 2010.
Wheeling’s Spillane Finds Home with Boomers
Forrmer Wheeling baseball star Bren Spillane, who was inducted into the school’s hall of fame Class of 2025 in January, signed a contract to play with the Schaumburg Boomers in the Frontier League this summer. Spillane was chosen in the third round of the 2018 Major League Baseball draft by Cincinnati after his junior year at Illinois Wand in the 34th round in 2015 by Pittsburgh.
The 6-foot-4, 235-pound outtfielder is expected to bolster the Boomers’ middle of the order.
"We are excited about having Bren with us,” said manager Jamie Bennett on the Boomers’ website. “I have seen him from the other side of the field and have seen firsthand what he can do. Bren brings experience and is the kind of guy that can be a game changer from both sides of the ball. His presence on the field and in the clubhouse will be a great asset for our club.”
Spillane spent three seasons in the Reds organization and hit .213 with 12 homers, 47 RBI and a .331 on-base percentage in 122 games from 2018-21 (there was no season because of COVID in 2020). He went up against the Boomers in the Frontier League in 2022-23 and had a slash line of .241/.342/.495 with 28 homers, 85 RBI and 30 stolen bases in 35 attempts in 134 games. In 2023 he hit a Windy City-record 16 homers and was 27-for-28 in steals.
The Boomers open their season at home at 6:30 p.m. on May 8 against Windy City.
Fratto Wins 600th at Oakton
Oakton College baseball coach Bill Fratto, who also is an assistant/first-base coach in the summer for the Boomers, won his 600th career game as a head coach during a 16-5, 20-9 doubleheader sweep of Ridgewater (MInnesota) on Tuesday in Florida.
Fratto, who played at Maine East, Oakton and the University of Georgia, took over at his alma mater in 2006. His 2018 team won the NJCAA Division III World Series.
DePaul Prep Wins From Benet Loss
DePaul Prep, which is going for its third consecutive state title and second in a row in 3A this weekend in Champaign, lost its regular-season finale 64-51 to 4A state semifinalist Benet. Since then the Rams rolled back to Champaign with five wins by an average of 35 points.
“There’s a reason we play (Benet),” DePaul coach Tom Kleinschmidt said after a sectional semifinal win over St. Viator. “We can play a 5-25 team and win by 30 and not get anything out of it. We didn’t guard, we didn’t compete, we didn’t get after them on the glass.
“It was a little redirect going into the tournament and hopefully that game propels us to what we want to do.”
In the past 4 years St. Viator is 3 games over .500 and that is vs teams with a winning record of .414%. This year’s 24 wins came against team with a .430 win percentage.
Their conference record is 16-36, including going 2-24 vs Benet, Marist, Marian Catholic and St. Patrick.
They had ZERO Sectional playoff wins and produced ZERO D1 or D2 players.
14 players have quit the program DURING the season, 9 players have transferred in the off-season.
By no means does this reflect a program that is on the rise, but rather one that is a failure with a horrible culture.