Remembrances: Yates' Milestone 400th Win Highlights Stability, Success of Fremd Basketball Programs
Harper Adds Two More NJCAA Cross Country Titles Under Macnider; Kuehn Achieves Fremd Swimming History; Barrington's Derickson Part of EIU's Football Resurgence
NOTE: David Yates passed away much too soon on June 11, 2024 at age 54 after courageously battling brain cancer for more than a year. He was able to coach his final season that saw Fremd finish third in the Class 4A state tournament. I covered their MSL West title clincher and glad I got the chance to talk to him and see him one more time.
Fremd’s basketball programs are models in Mid-Suburban League sports for their combination of success and stability.
As a result, three of the eight boys or girls coaches to win 400 games at an MSL school are from Fremd. Girls head coach Dave Yates became the latest to reach that milestone Friday night when the Vikings beat Lake Zurich 56-46.
Yates now has a 400-130 record since taking over the Fremd girls program in 2006. It’s also great to see him back on the sideline after undergoing surgery for brain cancer in the spring.
"I've been very fortunate to coach a lot of good players," Yates told Daily Herald girls sports guru John Leusch after his 399th victory. "And I've had longevity which I appreciate even more these days."
Carol Plodzien was Fremd’s head coach for its first 33 years and won 558 games.
The Fremd boys program has had just three coaches since 1966 - Leon Kasuboske, Mo Tharp and Bob Widlowski. Tharp won 406 games in 27 seasons (1975-2002) and Widlowski has 379 victories going into his 22nd and final season before he retires.
The other MSL girls coaches with 400 wins are Buffalo Grove’s Tom Dineen (678), Hersey’s Mary Fendley (537) and Barrington’s Babbi Barreiro (506 after a 2-0 start to this season). Conant’s Tom McCormack is the boys leader at 550.
Schaumburg’s Joe Breault has a unique combination of 437 victories. Breault won 378 in 24 years as the girls head coach and 59 in seven years as the school’s first boys head coach.
Harper, Macnider Bring Home Two More Cross Country Title Trophies
The Harper College cross country dynasty under head coach Jim Macnider continued as the men’s and women’s teams won NJCAA Division III national championships on November 11 in Alabama. It is the men’s ninth title (the other eight were in succession from 2011-18) and the women’s second in a row and fifth overall.
"The team's strong point was their depth,” Macnider, who won three boys titles at Schaumburg, said on the Harper website. “It was the key to our success."
The Harper women beat Jefferson College 54-71 and sophomore Lilly Alberts (Richmond-Burton) won the individual title as she ran a season- and personal-best 18:15.8 to set the school’s 5K record. Alberts won the race by 49.8 seconds and was named the US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Collegiate National Athlete and Central Region Athlete of the Year. Alberts finished third last year.
Sophomore Kaili Decker (Fremd) earned second-team All-American honors as she finished eighth in a personal-best 20:19.3. Freshmen Kasey Ledinsky (Lake Zurich) and Claudia Wojchiechowski (Buffalo Grove) and sophomore Brianna Ruiz (Wheeling) finished 15th, 23rd and 24th respectively to complete the Harper scoring. Freshman Isabella Wojciechowski (BG) and sophomore Araxi Boghossian (Prospect) took 44th and 45th respectively.
The Harper men beat Region IV rival College of DuPage 53-97 as sophomore Albert Szewczyk (BG) earned first-team All-American honors by finishing fourth in a personal-best 26:29.7 in the 8K race. The Schaumburg trio of freshman Owen Whelan, sophomore Marcos Jaimes and freshman Jose Morales finished seventh, 10th and 14th respectively. Whelan and James were second-team All-American and Morales earned honorable mention All-American.
Freshman Eric Martinez (Wheeling) completed the scoring in 19th. Freshmen Jason Schmidt (Hampshire) and Konrad Jakubowski (Palatine) were 26th and 44th respectively.
Macnider was named USTFCCCA national coach of the year and Central Region coach of the year for the men and women. Harper also received the Gary Moore Award for the best overall cross country program for the fourth time under Macnider.
Kuehn Races to Fremd Swimming History
Fremd senior Katie Kuehn became the school’s first girls swimming state champion when she won the 50-yard freestyle in 22.79 seconds. Kuehn won the race by .42 and took second in the 100 free (50.11) to Deerfield’s Annika Parkhe (48.77).
Kuehn had the girls swimming program’s best finish when she took third in the 50 free last year. Fremd has three diving champions in Cindy Creek (1980), Hanna Shin (1992 and 1995) and Kelly Tellschow (1994).
Rolling Meadows sophomore Vera Conic took second in her bid to repeat as 100 backstroke champion as her 54.50 was just behind Parkhe (54.40). Conic’s finals time was better than last year (55.07) and she also took ninth in the 100 butterfly (56.26).
Derickson Assists Eastern Illinois Football Resurgence
Eastern Illinois just missed making the Division I FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) 24-team postseason with an 8-3 record under second-year head coach Chris Wilkerson. But that didn’t diminish from a major turnaround from a 2-9 season last year and three consecutive 1-win seasons.
Barrington graduate Kyle Derickson has been a big part in his second year as Eastern’s associate head coach and special teams and wide receivers coach. Derickson was a two-time Daily Herald All-Area wide receiver and defensive back and was the team co-captain with Fremd’s Patrick Brown when Barrington took second in the state in Class 6A in 1998.
The Panthers won 8 games for the first time since 2013 when they were 12-2 as Rolling Meadows grad and current Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo won the Walter Payton Award as the best player in FCS. Their last winning season was in 2015.
Derickson spent a year as an assistant at the University of Chicago, where Wilkerson went 51-27 in 9 years. Derickson also was an assistant at Western Michigan, Elmhurst College and Allegheny College.
MSL Football Title Game Drought Continues
Barrington ended a 25-year football program drought with its return to the Class 8A state semifinals this season. The Broncos’ loss to Lincoln-Way East extended the MSL’s drought to 17 seasons since a team from the league last appeared in a state title game (not counting the 2021 spring COVID season with no playoffs).
Prospect was the last MSL team to reach the state football finals when it won its third Class 7A championship team in five years in 2005. The longest stretches previously between MSL state title games was seven years on two occasions - Buffalo Grove in 1978 to Forest View in 1985 and Hersey in 1987 to Palatine in 1994.
Forest View’s second-place finish in the school’s final year and state titles by Buffalo Grove in 1986 and Hersey in 1987 marks the only time the MSL was represented in the state football finals in three consecutive seasons.
Great work, Marty! I sent Dave a congratulatory message yesterday. So happy for him!!!