Sycamore Spartans

HAMPSHIRE – All game long, Sycamore's defense had been nearly flawless. It was an aspect of the game the Spartans felt great about before Saturday's Class 3A Hampshire Regional baseball final against Burlington Central.

CHARLESTON – Sycamore collected four medals out of five finals entries at Saturday's Class 2A boys state track and field meet.

SYCAMORE – The first person Nathan Haacker texted was his mom.

CHARLESTON – Sycamore senior runners Zach Aase and Erik Ruud glanced at the program for the IHSA Class 2A boys track and field state preliminaries and grinned.

HAMPSHIRE – Jason Cavanaugh called Thursday’s game against Crystal Lake Central “the most stressful game in the world.”

BURLINGTON – Katie Kowalski finally was able to get back into the circle Wednesday.

BELVIDERE – Sycamore prepared for a smaller, football-sized field at Belvidere. The Spartans shifted their formation, as they had done earlier in the season, to get used to playing in tighter quarters on a narrow pitch.

Sycamore finishes regular season with 20th win

SYCAMORE – Freeport girls soccer coach Nick Namio calls Sycamore coach Dave Lichamer one of his favorite coaches to talk to before a game.

The Sycamore softball team swept Sandwich on senior day to close out the regular season  Saturday. Sycamore defeated the Indians, 4-3, in the first game on a walk-off double by Brittany Huber and 9-3 in the second.

DeKalb's Brown takes 4th in triple jump; G-K's Neisendorf 7th in high jump

Daily Chronicle sports editor John Sahly and sports reporter Steve Nitz spend their days covering the area’s sports scene. Occasionally, they give their viewpoints on those local sports. In this installment of their 2012 Take 2 column, they discuss the upcoming Class 3A softball playoffs.

CHARLESTON – When Jasmine Brown’s feet landed well into the triple jump pit at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium, she got up and went to the take-off board.

DeKALB – Emma Floit made up her mind. She had to get off a shot.

DeKalb freshman Dre Brown took sixth in the long jump (20 feet) and seventh in the 100-meter dash (11.54) at Thursday's Class 3A Hononegah boys track sectional. The Barbs did not qualify any athletes for the state meet.

ROCHELLE – Before Thursday’s Class 2A Rochelle Sectional, Kaneland boys track and field coach Eric Baron projected his team to score 91 points.

Once again, conference realignment appears on the horizon in the region.

The Hiawatha softball team’s season came to an end with a 3-0 loss to Ashton-Franklin Center in Wednesday’s Class 1A Indian Creek Regional semifinals.

DeKALB – Thanks to a Kelli Cardine blast in the 116th minute of Wednesday’s 1-0, quadruple-overtime win over Hampshire, the DeKalb girls soccer team will have a rematch with Sycamore in Friday’s Class 2A DeKalb Regional championship game.

Spotlight on ...

Sycamore softball pitcher Abby Foulk struck out seven batters in a 1-0 shutout of Richmond-Burton on Tuesday. Foulk (6-10) gave up five hits and walked one.

SPOTLIGHT ON ...

The Genoa-Kingston baseball team swept a doubleheader against Plano on Saturday, winning the first game, 11-7, and the second, 7-6.

At Friday’s Class 2A Sterling girls track sectional, Sycamore senior Lake Kwaza won the 100-meter dash and qualified for state, running a time of 12.8 seconds.

DeKALB – During the 1,600-meter relay in Friday’s Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference boys track and field meet, one Kaneland athlete yelled “Let’s go Rochelle, get them!”

At Friday’s Class 2A Sterling girls track sectional, Sycamore senior Lake Kwaza won the 100-meter dash and qualified for state, running a time of 12.8 seconds.

The DeKalb girls track and field team had three athletes qualify for next weekend's Class 3A state meet out of Thursday's Hononegah Sectional.

Bates resigns as DeKalb girls basketball coach

Tatonni performs well for Kaneland

SYCAMORE – Dion Hooker didn’t used to think he was fast.

DeKalb-Sycamore II would have changes

The Kaneland baseball team clinched a share of the Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference title with a 4-2 win against Morris on Wednesday.

One run, no hits, one balk.

Cogs can get comfortable at home

SYCAMORE – When Sycamore pitcher Matt Godinsky came to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning Tuesday against Yorkville, the Spartans were just 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position.

DeKALB – Michelle Doran didn’t feel like she had any time.

The IHSA released the seeds for the Class 3A state baseball tournament on Tuesday. Here they are.

The IHSA released the seed for the Class 3A state softball tournament, and fans will get a third DeKalb-Sycamore game when the rivals meet in the regional semifinals. Here are the seeds.

Spotlight on ...

Jessica Coia had a hat trick in the Kaneland girls soccer team’s 7-0 win over Morris. Madi Jurcenko and Brittany Olson each scored twice for the Knights (9-4-1, 4-2-1 Northern Illinois Big 12).

If Sycamore soccer player Sarah Papini loses the ball, she knows the game could be lost.

SYCAMORE – Sycamore boys rugby coach Mark Lancaster said he was proud of how his team played this season.

Meranda Brashears and Brittany Huber each hit home runs in the Sycamore softball team's 6-0 win over Antioch. Claire Koertner was 1 for 2 with an RBI while Becca Schroeder went 1 for 2 for the Spartans.

The DeKalb girls track team finished in fourth place at the Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference track meet on Friday, scoring 66 points.

DeKALB – Forget that it was against rival DeKalb. Forget that it was a night game at Northern Illinois. Forget that Abby Foulk carried a no-hitter into the sixth.

MAPLE PARK – The Kaneland baseball team finished off a three-game sweep of Sycamore on Friday and knocked the Spartans out of contention for the Northern Illinois Big 12 East Conference title.

SPOTLIGHT ON ...

MAPLE PARK – Kaneland pitcher Alexis Villarreal noticed the umpire was giving her the outside corner.

SYCAMORE – Brian Aversa kept it short.

Katherine Kohler scored on an assist from Emma Norris, and Lauren Miller scored on a penalty kick in the Sycamore girls soccer team’s 2-0 win against Kaneland on Thursday.