Gitelis named coach of the year
The Barrington girls track team has been on a roll lately.
The Fillies dominated last season capped by winning the Class AA state title.
In early January, the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association honored Barrington coach Jody Gitelis with its coach of the year award at the ITCCCA's 45th annual luncheon.
Gitelis is beginning her 33rd year in coaching, with 22 at Barrington.
Gitelis has guided the Fillies to four Mid-Suburban League titles, including the last two, and has also guided her team to 10 sectional titles.
"It's a very nice honor," said Gitelis, whose is the first MSL girls track coach to win a state title. "The girls took one meet at time, and they hit every meet."
The awards didn't stop there as Barrington assistant Cathy Jones was honored with the Dave Pasquini Assistant Coach Award, an honor specifically for distinguished assistant coaches.
Decisions, decisions:ŒThe fax machines around the area were kept busy on Thursday, as a number to top seniors made the college decisions.
Barrington seniors Molly Glantz, Samantha Learch and Amanda Schnack powered the Fillies to a state championship last year. Now they are looking to take their talents to the next level.
Glantz, a member of the state champion 3,200 and 1,600 relays, will be attending Cornell in Ithaca New York.
"Cornell was the first place I visited," said Glantz, who will be majoring in human development. "I just felt comfortable there -- the team, the coaches, the size, the whole package."
Learch was also member the Fillies' 3,200 relay and will be attending Arkansas, currently ranked No. 4 in the NCAA.
Learch will be participating in both cross country and track for the Razorbacks.
"It's a great group of people and I seem to have an immediate bond -- we instantly clicked," said Learch, who is undecided on her major but is leaning toward sports management.
Schnack was a member of the state-winning 1,600 relay and has narrowed her choices to Harvard and Yale. The senior would like to study either economics or biology.
• Conant's Toni Graham finished second in Class AA in both the 100- and 200-yard dashes. The Cougars senior will be taking her talents to the University of Alabama.
"The coaches, the team, everybody is goal-oriented," said Graham who is deciding between majoring in either pre-law or broadcast journalism.
• Palatine's Colleen Standridge and Jocelyn Kuksa also made their decision.
Standridge has been a member of the Pirates' 3,200 relay team the last three years which has won a state championship (2005) and finished second twice ('06 and '07).
The senior also finished 11th in Class 3A for cross country this year.
Standridge will be attending Alabama-Birmingham and will participate in both cross country and track.
"I really liked the coach," said Standridge, who has not yet settled on a major. "He reminds me a lot of coach Currins. They have a lot of the same philosophies."
Kuksa cleared 11-3 in the pole vault last year in taking the third place for the Pirates in Class AA. She enters this year as one of the top vaulters.
Next year Kuksa will take her vaulting skills to Grand Valley State in Michigan.
"I really enjoyed the atmosphere and I will be able to participate in the heptathlon," said Kuksa, who will major in physical therapy.
Class changes: Track and field is one of the few sports that has not added more classes, but it looks like it will change beginning in the 2008-09 season.
The IHSA is looking to expand track and field from two classes to three classes.
Currently the two-class system is held over a two-day period with preliminaries run on Friday and finals on Saturday.
In a three-class system, one class would run preliminaries on Thursday, with the other two classes running prelims on Friday. All three classes would run finals on Saturday. Thursday's prelims would alternate between the three classes from year to year.
The final vote for expansion of the boys and girls track is scheduled for June.