Pro basketball career takes flight for Wheeling’s McClellan
Chris McClellan played basketball the last four years at Lewis, a university in Romeoville which specializes in aviation.
McClellan will now know first-hand about flying long distance.
The former Lewis and Wheeling basketball standout has signed a contract to play for Uni-Riesen Leipzig in Germany’s Pro A Division.
“It wasn’t an easy road, but I have worked extremely hard to get where I’m at now and I couldn’t be happier,” McClellan told the Lewis sports information department. “Just to say you’re a professional athlete means a lot to me and I look forward to the start of my career here in Leipzig.”
During his career at Lewis, McClellan scored 1,371 points with 297 assists and 228 3-pointers.
He is the ninth all-time leading scorer in the Division II era (1980-present) at Lewis and second in 3-pointers.
McClellan is also the best free throw shooter in Lewis history, as he connected on 88.7 percent (267-of-301) of his charity tosses.
“I am very happy for Chris,” said Lewis coach Scott Trost. “He is a very dedicated and driven young man and I know he will do very well over in Germany.”
Women’s soccer
Fremd senior Cristina Mursuli has committed to play soccer at Mercer University.
Even though she has never played soccer at Fremd, Mursuli has been the starting goalie and a member of the Eclipse Select club for the past seven years.
Mursuli’s club has been ranked No. 1 or 2 by Soccer America Magazine for the past six years and won the ECNL club title in 2011.
Mursuli has played in the Costa Rican International tournament and was on the only United States Olympic Development Program team that has won the tournament.
She, who holds a 4.0 weighted GPA at Fremd, was voted to the ECNL all-tournament team for outstanding goalkeeping.
Ÿ Saint Xavier University junior goalkeeper Kyle Held (Palatine) was named the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer Defensive Player of the Week.
In the season-opening game, the No. 25 ranked Cougars upset No. 4 University of Rio Grande (Ohio), 1-0, at Bruce R. Deaton Memorial Field in Chicago. Held helped pace the shutout, the eighth of his collegiate career, by making 9 saves over the 90-minute affair.
Volleyball
Augustana sophomore Emily Leazer (St. Viator) was named to the all-tournament team at the Vikings Invitational over the Labor Day weekend.
Leazer was instrumental in helping Augustana tie for the team title with a 3-1 record, winning three straight matches after dropping the opener to Loras.
After that loss, the Vikings defeated Greenville, Knox and Blackburn to tie with Coe, Loras and Greenville for first place as all four teams ended with 3-1 records.
Leazer saw action in 14 games and had 28 kills with 7 errors in 81 attempts for a .259 hitting percentage.
The Mt. Prospect native recorded 30 digs, 12 service aces and added 11 total blocks (4 solo, 7 assists).
Football
Running back Justin Wallace (Fremd) helped lead MIT to a 28-21 victory over Becker College in the season opener. Wallace had 17 carries for 148 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also caught 2 passes for 28 yards.
Tennis
Tom Calbi ofBarringtonPrairie Middle School won the 2012 Illinois State Elementary School Association state golf championship for the second straight year on Saturday.
The ISEA championship was among middle school students (grades 6-8) from all over Illinois. This year, 97 boys and 36 girls from more than 60 Illinois schools participated.
Calbi fired a 3-under 69 to win by 1 stroke at St. Andrews Golf and Country Club in West Chicago.
Baseball
Former Carmel baseball standouts Tim and Kevin Hendricks were asked to play for the North Shore Navigators in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League this past summer.
Unfortunately, due to surgery for a tear in his labrum, Kevin was unable to play in the wooden bat league in New England this summer.
But Tim made his presence felt in a big way for the Navigators, who are managed by ex-major leaguer Richie Hebner.
Tim won a starting position in right field for the Navigators and enjoyed a great experience out east. He batted .324 for the regular season as the team went 34-23.
Tim was named a starter for the FCBL All-Star team, and was named “Player of the Year” for the Navigators. The team made it to the FCBL championship series where Tim was the leading hitter (. 500 and .471 overall in the playoffs).
Kevin, who is captain of the Benedictine team, was named the team’s MVP as a sophomore.
He was selected to the All-Northern Athletics Conference first team and Division III All-Midwest Region Baseball team. Due to his injury, he red-shirted last season. After successful surgery, he plans to return this season.
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