By Jeff Vorva
Staff Writer
Hannah Kilbane helped the Saint Xavier women’s golf team qualify for the NAIA nationals for just the second time in program history.
Kilbane, a junior, needed a playoff hole to be crowned the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference champion, and her red-hot shooting on the second day of the conference tournament helped the Cougars win the title April 18 at TPC Deere Run in Silvis.
The NAIA Women’s Golf National Championships, which begin May 23, will be held at the same course.
Kilbane, a Sandburg graduate and Orland Park resident, helped SXU win the conference meet with a 731, nine shots better than St. Ambrose. The Cougars went into the second round of the competition six shots off the pace.
She won her fourth consecutive tournament after firing rounds of 89 and 77, which tied her with the University of St. Francis’s Shannon Smith. Kilbane won a playoff hole to attain her second CCAC crown in three seasons.
Cougars juniors Emily Hunt and Maddy Palmer finished in a three-way tie for eighth place.
Saint Xavier sophomore Abby Graeber, a Mother McAuley graduate, was in 27th after the first day with a score of 109, but she finished in a tie for 21st by shaving 15 strokes off with a second-day score of 94.
Cream of the crop
The area is represented well in a recent compilation of top sports programs in Illinois.
The Stacker information service used data from Niche to come up with a list of the top 25 Best High Schools for Sports in Illinois. Mount Carmel finished third in the state behind No. 1 Lincoln-Way East and No. 2 Glenbard West.
Providence is ranked sixth, Marist is at No. 9 and Nazareth is 15th.
A Stacker news release states the information was based on parent/student surveys on sports, enrollment, K-12 sports championships, number of sports offered and athletic participation rates.
Soccer seeds
The postseason opens for girls soccer with Class 1A quarterfinal action on May 5.
In Class 3A, Lyons drew the No. 1 seed at the Reavis Sectional. Riverside-Brookfield is sixth, Morton eighth, Reavis 11th, Kelly 13th, Curie 14th, Hubbard 15th and Argo 16th.
At the Shepard Sectional, Sandburg drew the fifth seed while Mother McAuley is eighth, Oak Lawn 12th, Stagg 14th and Shepard 16th.
In Class 2A, De La Salle drew the No. 1 seed at the Kankakee Sectional. Marist is third, St. Laurence fourth, Evergreen Park seventh, Richards 12th and Goode STEM Academy 16th.
Nazareth drew the fifth seed at its own sectional. Back of the Yards is 13th, Kennedy 14th and Solorio 15th.
In Class 1A, Catalyst/Maria drew the fourth seed in the sub-sectional of the Manteno Sectional. Chicago Christian is sixth.
Tough start ahead
Brother Rice released its 2023 football schedule.
The Crusaders will not play a home game until Week 5. The first four games are on the road against Maine South on Aug. 25, Marist on Sept. 1, St. Ignatius on Sept. 8 and defending Class 8A champion Loyola on Sept 16.
They finally stay in Mount Greenwood for a battle with St. Viator on Sept. 22.
Hochgraber makes history
Sandburg senior MJ Hochgraber became the first female power lifter in school history to attend a college for the sport.
Hochgraber signed a national letter-of-intent to lift at McKendree.
McKendree is coming off a season in which it finished 14th in the nation in the USA Power Lifting meet in Arlington, Texas.
Junior Olympians
St. Rita water polo standout juniors Davion Nichols and Kevin Castellanos will join Mustangs sophomore Joaquin Vazquez on the Elmhurst water polo team, which will participate in the Junior Olympics competition in Irvine, California in July.
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