Marty Maciaszek

3 weeks ago | martymaciaszek.substack.com | Marty Maciaszek

Prospect’s Trudi Rebsamen, Forest View’s Vanessa Calabrese and Hersey’s Kathy LaPorte set a high bar for the Mid-Suburban League in the first IHSA girls state track and field meet in 1973. Rebsamen won the 220- and 440-yard races on the way to five individual titles, LaPorte won the 80-yard hurdles and Calabrese took gold in the discus as their teams all finished in the top 10 of the team standings. It was only a beginning for the MSL’s rich history in the sport.

4 weeks ago | dailyherald.com | Marty Maciaszek

A selective memory served Barrington’s boys volleyball team well Thursday night. The Broncos have been fueled by seeing a Mid-Suburban West title streak of 11 seasons end last year. But they had little time to dwell on a 6-point deficit midway through the third set against defending champion Conant. There were a few more twists left but a cross-court kill by Northern Kentucky bound senior Sam Grozdic returned host Barrington (16-5, 8-1) to the best in the West with a 21-25, 25-15, 25-23 victory.

1 month ago | dailyherald.com | Marty Maciaszek

Warren desperately needed junior right-hander Peyton Balanag to knuckle down Tuesday in Gurnee. The Blue Devils dragged a 6-game losing streak into their North Suburban Conference baseball matchup with Stevenson. Balanag ended the skid by mixing a knuckleball with his fastball and slider in a complete-game 3-hitter and 2-1 victory. “I’ve thrown it my whole life — my dad taught me,” Balanag said after throwing 50 of his 76 pitches for strikes.

1 month ago | dailyherald.com | Marty Maciaszek

Authors are not always overly impressed with their own work. That was the case for Hersey senior Keegan Luxem on Wednesday afternoon in Arlington Heights. This was after the UIC-bound right-hander authored a complete-game 1-hitter in a 6-0 Mid-Suburban East victory over Rolling Meadows. “To be honest I didn’t feel that good coming in,” Luxem said after he improved to 3-0 with 8 strikeouts and 2 walks.

1 month ago | dailyherald.com | Marty Maciaszek

A pair of major injuries forced Riley O’Grady to spend her freshman softball season at Grant as the team manager. Now O’Grady is back and managing to put a big hurt on softballs like she did in Tuesday’s Northern Lake County Conference game at Grayslake North. O’Grady’s four line drives in 4 at-bats resulted in 3 doubles, her sixth homer of the season and 7 RBI. Grant (13-7, 4-2) had 10 of its 18 hits go for extra bases in a 21-8 victory in 5 innings.