It was quite a week for Lyons senior swimmers Audrey Cavaliere, Lauren Jablonski and Ella Jean Kelly.
On Nov. 13, the trio put pen to paper to ink national letters of intent to continue their athletic and academic careers with Cavaliere heading to Illinois, Jablonski to Bowling Green and Kelly to Iowa.
Three days later, they put on some big performances to help the Lions to an area-best fifth place finish in the IHSA state meet at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont.
Lyons’ 200-yard medley relay team of Kylie Thompson, Jablonski, Maeve Collins and Cavaliere took third with a 1:43.41.
The 200 free relay team of Cavaliere, Jabolnski, Anna Pansing and Kelly placed fourth with 1:33.21 as did the 400 free relay team of Cavaliere, Collins, Pansing and Kelly with a 3:25.09.
Collins took fifth in the 100 butterfly, with a :55.34. Jablonski grabbed eighth in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:04.12, while Kelly was 11th with a 1:04.55.
Cavaliere finished 10th in the 100 free with a :51.02. Kelly took 12th in the 50 free with a :23.46. Dylan Jorgensen took 13th in the 200 IM with a 2:07.21.
Riverside-Brookfield senior Hailey Vlcek took fifth in the 200 free with a 1:50.07 and 10th in the 500 free with a 4:57.67.
Signing frenzy
The Nov. 13 signing day saw a flurry of activity among area schools.
At Lyons, the three girls swimmers highlighted a powerful class.
Others who committed were volleyball player Katherine Badrov (Carthage), male swimmer Colin Schertz (Quincy), lacrosse players Ashley Cullin (Eastern Michigan) and Graine Kristufek (Rockhurst), basketball player Nora Ezike (Stanford), tennis player Mia Graziano (St. Mary), baseball player Tucker King (Cincinnati), water polo player Maya Mladjan (Michigan) and soccer player Caroline Mortenson (Miami Ohio).
St. Laurence had a huge haul with basketball player EJ Mosley (Purdue-Fort Wayne), swimmer Matthew Gaughan (Valparaiso), volleyball player Kayla Birmingham (Green Bay), baseball players Jonathan Medina (Lake Land), Connor Marino (Wisconsin-Stout), Joe Olson (Louisville), Jozef Torres (Wabash Valley) and Aadden Guerrero (McHenry County) plus soccer player Marissa Amador (Benedictine) and flag football player Ava Fiore (Graceland).
Mother McAuley signees were volleyball players Sydney Buchanan (Memphis), Abigail Murzyn (Webster), Mary Claire Deacy (Siena) and Abbey Williams (Gannon) plus softball player Ellie Wood (Blackburn).
Brother Rice athletes signing were basketball players Marcos Gonzalez (Citadel), Evan Wills (Catawba) and Max Justic (Lakeland) plus baseball players Aidan Nohava (Eastern Michigan), Gavin Triezenberg (Arizona), Jackson Natanek (Illinois State) and Tadgh Callaghan (St. Xavier).
At Nazareth, baseball player Mac McGarry (Western Kentucky) and basketball player Allia von Schlegell (Valparaiso) signed.
At Mount Carmel, basketball player Grant Best signed with Air Force.
Stagg’s signees were basketball player Domas Narcevicius (Illinois-Springfield) and golfer Noah Rhodes (Carroll).
Happy homecoming
Carnell Tate, who started his football career at Marist before heading to Florida to play at IMG Academy, caught a pair of touchdown passes in a 31-7 Big Ten win over Northwestern on Nov. 16 at Wrigley Field.
The sophomore receiver returned to the area for the first time since his mother, Ashley Griggs, was a victim of a fatal shooting in 2023.
“It was a lot of high emotion and stuff like that, but I had to manage it,” Tate told reporters after the game. “It means a lot to me playing back in my city.”
He had plenty of friends and family on hand.
“They wanted to see me put on a show,” Tate said.
SXU finishes strong
St. Xavier’s football team snapped a four-game losing streak as it finished the season with an impressive 38-6 home win over Judson Nov. 16 in a Mid-States Football Association Midwest Division game.
The Cougars (5-6, 1-4) were at one time ranked as high as ninth in the nation but struggled in the conference.
Evergreen Park native and Brother Rice grad Jessi Plunkett had 74 yards and a touchdown, while St. Rita grad Joe Polselli had five catches and a touchdown.
Triple figures
St. Xavier’s men’s basketball team’s offense was in high gear when the Cougars beat IU Columbus 117-100 on Nov. 9 in Chicago.
It was the sixth-highest scoring output in team history and most since hanging 127 on East-West in 2010.
Jordan Jackson led the team with 23 points and seven assists.
Soccer updates
Ludovic Taillandier is out as coach of the Chicago Fire II. He had been the coach since the team was formed in 2022. … The Chicago Fire named Gregg Boughton as its sporting director. … Chicago Stars standouts Mallory Swanson (15th) and Alyssa Naeher (30th) were named to ESPN’s Top 50 list as the best players in the world in 2024.