Marist’s softball and Brother Rice’s baseball teams both hit the jackpot on Nov. 11 when it came to having athletes sign Division I letters of intent.
Crusaders coach Sean McBride watched colleges sign six of his players — Luca Agne (Boston College), Myles Broome (Coppin State), Colin Campbell (Louisville), Anthony Cartolano (Northern Illinois), Brady Cunningham (Texas A&M) and Gavin Stanislawski (Wright State).
Brother Rice bass fisherman Jovan Mijailovic signed with North Alabama.
Marist, which finished third in the state in Class 4A this spring in softball, had five signees — Mary Fortner (Northwestern), Layla Peters (Notre Dame), Lexi Kyros (Michigan), Soleil Tate (Wisconsin) and Alia Rowles (Western Michigan).
“This class is super special,” RedHawks coach Colleen Phelan said. “They worked tirelessly for these opportunities and I am so excited for them. They are special kids, students, and players and all their universities are so lucky to have landed them. It has been fun to watch these girls from little freshman players on varsity to our leaders this year.”
Other RedHawks inking DI commitments were tennis player Helena Klooster (Villanova); wrestler Ethan Sonne (Purdue); volleyball players Maggie Kurpeikis (Michigan), Taylor Berg (Western Michigan) and Briggs Corona (Ball State); baseball player Tommy Hosty (Northern Illinois) and lacrosse player Erin O’Neill (Central Michigan).
Nazareth basketball player Sophia Towne (Northwestern) and volleyball player Alexis Van Eekeren (Hawaii) signed.
St. Laurence also had a strong group with baseball players Jimmy Benson (Texas Christian) and Tristan Steger (Kentucky), volleyball player Aubrey Martinez (Ball State) and basketball player Markese Peoples (Illinois-Chicago) signing.
Lyons volleyball player Taylor Carroll (Xavier) and baseball player Blake Ragsdale (Texas Christian) signed, while swimmer Jovan Mijailovic officially committed to Cornell.
Sandburg’s Estela Loureiro, the 2026 Class 2A state tennis champion, signed with Iowa.
Lions swimmers roar at state
Lyons’ 200-yard medley relay team of freshman Collins Brock, junior Livia Joern, sophomore Tatum Fridrych and senior Claire Crimmins took second with a time of 1 minute 42.82 seconds behind New Trier’s 1:42.09 at the IHSA state meet Nov. 14 in Westmont.
Lyons finished fourth with 156.5 points.
College football report
Chicago State (3-7) beat winless Virginia-Lynchburg 45-0 on Nov. 14 at SeatGeek Stadium. Evergreen Park native Arshawn Powell caught a 7-yard touchdown pass.
The Cougars close their inaugural season at 1 p.m. Nov. 21 at Southern Utah.
St. Xavier finished the season losing 50-9 to Olivet Nazarene at home in a Mid-States Football Association Midwest League game on Nov. 14 in Chicago. Reavis grad Anas Everette racked up 14 tackles for the Cougars (5-6, 3-2).
Fire ready for playoffs
Seven Chicago Fire stars were called to represent their national teams during the November FIFA International window.
That list includes Robert Lewandowski to the Poland Men’s National Team. Matches were scheduled to take place Nov. 9-17.
The Fire hosts Charlotte in the first game of a best-of-three MLS playoff series at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 22 at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview.