Sycamore High senior Marckie Hayes was named to the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association 5A All-State football team on Wednesday.
Hayes finished the season with 1,792 yards rushing and 17 rushing touchdowns for the Spartans. He is now second all-time in the school's rushing leaderboard.
DeKalb High senior Chad Thompson signed to swim at Xavier on Wednesday. Thompson will join former DeKalb/Sycamore co-op and DeKalb County Swim Team teammate David Gordon at the school in Cincinnati next year.
The Sycamore High football team had several members receive Western Sun All-Conference mentions this season. Running back Marckie Hayes was also named Co-Offensive Player of the Year along with Glenbard South's Trace Wanless.
Here are the first teamers: C.J. Compher, D.J. Yunek, Beck Ackmann, Harlan Johnson, Alex Calendo, Steve Nayman, Eric Ray and Joe Dougherty.
Honorable mention are Zach Fraedrich, Steve Boekenhauer, Adam Dobson and Dorian Hryniewicki.
We'll release the lists from the rest of the teams as soon as we receive them.
Jordan Threloff has an old notebook that became the key to his college decision.
Over two pages, he charted the good and bad for his top 10 college options.
Then, after staring at those pages for hours, taking three official visits and having countless conversations with coaches, assistant coaches and players, Threloff chose Illinois State.
On Thursday afternoon, the 6-foot-10 senior center made the decision official by signing a National Letter of Intent in DeKalb High's auditorium.
"They have everything I was looking for," Threloff said.
Threloff said one of the exciting parts of the recruiting process was getting contacted by Illinois coach Bruce Weber and St. Louis coach Rick Majerus. But, when decision time came, he knew he made the right decision.
"It was a great honor to know that they saw potential in me," Threloff said. "But I know I truly picked the right place."
For their part, Illinois State was just as happy.
“We are excited to say the least that Jordan has decided to join our program,” Illinois State coach Tim Jankovich said. “We have targeted him for the better part of two years and are celebrating a long, but important, recruiting battle. His size is obvious. But more than his size, he’s a talented offensive player with outstanding touch, hands and passing ability. We think he will have an outstanding career at Illinois State.”
Sycamore resident Mackenzie Powers committed to swim in college at Penn State last Friday and will sign her Letter of Intent with the school in the next week.
Powers is a Rosary senior who won the IHSA individual title in the 100 butterfly last season.
She chose Penn State over Tennessee and Louisville after taking four official visits.
Sycamore isn't the only team with local high school football players still alive in the playoffs.
DeKalb resident Graham Glasgow will start for Marmion at left tackle Friday night when the Cadets play at 7:30 p.m. against Prairie Ridge in a Class 6A playoff game.
Glasgow has started all 10 games this season for the Cadets (9-1) this season. His coach said on Thursday that the 6-foot-6 junior is extremely skilled in downfield blocks on long runs.
"Graham has improved so much from freshman year and again within this season," Cadets coach Dan Thorpe said. "He was a question mark coming in, but now he's a tremendous contributor. People have challenged him for that starting spot but he's kept it and been solid throughout."
Glasgow's younger brother, Ryan, is an offensive and defensive lineman that was called up last week and saw time on special teams.
The Glasgows will play their second varsity football game together Friday night for the Cadets.
The Little Ten Conference soccer coaches met on Wednesday, October 21, to select the 16 member all-conference soccer team. Players selected are listed below.
**Trevor Becker (Sr)—D…2 goals, 2 assists; Team Captain
**Ryan Hardin (Sr)—F/MF…19 goals, 11 assists; Team Captain
**Dan Heath (Sr)—F/MF…18 goals, 12 assists; Team Captain
**Brad Nordlund (Sr)—D…2 goals, 1 assist; Team Captain
Hinckley-Big Rock (4-2)—Third place conference, Third place conference tournament
**Brian Michaels (Sr)—D…Three year starter at sweeper; Third time all-conference, twice a unanimous selection
Lee Klein (Jr)—MF…Two year varsity starter in midfield
Justin Salazar (JR)—GK…Three year varsity player; 13 shutouts in last two years
Indian Creek (3-3)
**Matt Kyler (Jr)—D…Team Captain; Three year starter; Team’s best defender
**Bret Ostrom (So)—MF…Team leader in goals and assists; Team MVP
Serena (2-4)
**Kevin Kreinbrink (Sr)—F…Team leader in scoring; Team captain; Three year starter
**Trevor Milam (Sr)—D…Top defender; four year starter
Paw Paw (1-5)
Brandon Safranek (Jr)—MF…14 goals, 17 assists; 23 goals and 27 assists for career; Team MVP; All Sectional selection
Newark (0-6) had no players selected.
Season Notes
--Somonauk won the conference title for only the second time in program history. The other conference title came in 1989.
--Earlville-Leland won the conference tournament for the fourth straight year. Only one other program (Hinckley-Big Rock 2000-2003) has won four straight tournaments. No program has won five straight.
--Earlville-Leland won the Hinckley-Big Rock Class 1A Regional, defeating H-BR (1-0) and Somonauk (3-0) in the process. The Red Raiders advanced to the finals of the Princeton Class 1A Sectional, where they lost to Rockford Keith 5-3.
