Marist accolades keep on coming.
Three RedHawk coaches were inducted into the East Suburban Catholic Hall of Fame: wrestling’s Brendan Heffernan, softball’s Colleen Phelan and boys and girls volleyball’s Jordan Vidovic.
In basketball, Brian Hynes was named the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year. He led the RedHawks to their first state championship.
Girls hoops coach Renee Chimino was also named a District 3 Coach of the Year by the IBCA.
Meanwhile, the students were not ignored. The girls basketball team was recognized by the IBCA for All-Academic Team status by boasting a 3.84 team GPA.
Vidovic said it’s no accident the school is receiving these honors.
“I’ve fed off of so many different coaches,” he said. “I’ve learned so much from the camaraderie that we have. Coach Phelan and I started the same year and we’re very, very close friends as we have done this together.
“We challenge each other on the results end and have some friendly stuff going. We feed off of each other and support each other’s success.”
Andrew junior shines in badminton
Andrew junior Emma Staniszewski was the lone area sectional badminton champion as she beat teammate Nathaniah Johnson 21-16, 22-20 at the Lockport Sectional.
The state championship is May 15-16 at DeKalb.
Track champs
Shepard won 10 events to capture the South Suburban Red title with 179 points on May 7 at Oak Lawn.
Makynzee Harris (200 meters, 400), and Ayat Tantawi (1,600, 3,200) were double individual champions for Shepard.
Evergreen Park’s Nia Shakir won the 100 and 300 hurdles. Londyn Gwin broke a 20-year program record with a 119-foot, 11.75-inch throw in the discus.
At the GCAC Meet, freshman Mariah Woods of St. Laurence won the 100 hurdles and Aniya Hamilton of De La Salle won the 400.
Fire report
The Chicago Fire dropped a 2-1 MLS decision to Red Bull New York on May 9 at Soldier Field, but Hugo Cuypers scored in his eighth straight game.
The Fire (5-4-2) were scheduled to visit D.C. United on May 13 and Montreal on May 16.
The Fire II lost 2-1 to New York City FC II on the road May 5 in an MLS NEXT Pro game. Damian Nigg scored for Chicago.
Four days later, the team racked up a 3-2 win against Crown Legacy at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview. Tidiane Diawara and Dean Boltz scored and the Fire picked up an own-goal.
The Fire (2-3-4) visits Carolina Core FC at 4 p.m. on May 16.
Hounds stay perfect
The Chicago Hounds remained perfect in Major League Rugby after breaking a team record for scoring while beating Anthem Rugby Carolina 61-36 on May 10 at SeatGeek Stadium.
Mac Jones and Mark O’Keeffe each scored two tries.
The Hounds (6-0) visit California Legion at 3 p.m. May 16.
Sports bits
Former Stagg boys wrestling coach Brian Jackson has been named to lead the new Stagg/Sandburg girls wrestling coop. The teams had previously joined Andrew in a District 230 girls coop.
- St. Laurence coach Wade Bittner was named the inaugural flag football coach at St. Xavier.