Lake Zurich's Schmid looks for a new basketball challenge

Stephanie Schmid still hasn't decided where she will continue her basketball career next season.

But one thing's for sure - the Lake Zurich graduate's game has flourished out west playing for Arizona Western College the last two seasons.

She was recently named the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference's player of the year.

The sophomore guard was the only player in the conference to average more than 20 points while often being the focus of opposing defenses.

"It was hard, but I took it as a challenge," Schmid said in a news release from the school. "I just felt like I could beat whoever was guarding me."

Despite all the attention, she still scored in double figures in 27 of her 31 games this season while pouring in at least 20 points 20 times. She scored her 1,000th point at home against Scottsdale in overtime on Feb. 18.

The game that stood out the most to her was the Matadors' 79-73 win against then ninth-ranked Eastern Arizona College on Feb. 11.

"I thought we played really well together," she said. "That showed how we were capable of playing."

Schmid has four official visits that she hasn't planned yet.

Wherever she plays next, she hopes the fan support is as good as it was in Yuma.

"I'll miss the fans a lot, the atmosphere of the games," she said. "It was a good environment to play in.

"I want to get playing time at my next school and get a good playoff push and try to get to the national tournament, wherever I go," she said. "That's the goal. I'm excited for the next two years."

Schmid said the biggest difference between her two freshman and sophomore years at Arizona Western was her confidence.

"I thought my confidence got a lot better this year compared with last year," she said. "I kind of knew it was sort of my year. I mean, last year I was a little nervous to take as many shots, and my teammates helped me take the right shots this year and passed me the ball."

During the season, she said she tried to lead by example and always be there for her teammates.

While reflecting on the team, she said she was proud of this year's team (13-9).

"We all stuck together and all had the same goal - trying to get to nationals," Schmid said. "Although we fell short in the playoffs, I will always remember this team."

Softball

Drake sophomore Megan Sowa (Warren) was named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week.

She went 9-for-17 in five games at the Colorado State Classic in Fort Collins.

She had 1 triple, 1 home run, 2 doubles, 5 runs and 7 RBI along with a slugging percentage of .941 and .550 on-base percentage.

Sowa was held hitless in the tournament's first game against Omaha, but bounced back with 9 hits in her next 13 at-bats along with two walks.

She was 3-for-3 with a double and 3 RBI in the win over Valparaiso, and Sowa was a home run short of the cycle in Drake's other win over Omaha.

CLC Open House

The College of Lake County is hosting the first CLC Athletics Open House on April 9, at 7 p.m. in the Physical Education Center. It will be geared toward the local high school students and coaches.

Men's track

Lewis junior Isaac Jean-Paul (Warren) broke his own school-record and won the national championship in the high jump to lead the Flyers to a second-place finish after day one of the NCAA Division II Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships in Alabama.

Jean-Paul captured the title with a leap of 2.21m (7 feet, 3 inches), besting his previous record of 2.19m (7-2¼) set earlier this season.

He is the first Flyer Indoor National Champion since Mark Zilch captured the pole vault championship in 2005.

"Isaac has had his sights set on this since nationals last year," Lewis men's track and field coach Dana Schwarting said in a news release. "He's earned this title with his hard work over the summer and he deserves all of the credit.

"He prepared himself when no coach was there to help and gave me a great canvas to help mold him into a champion."

• Grand Valley State's Sean Wells (Grant) won the Division II Indoor national championships in the 60-meter high hurdles. He blazed through the hurdles to finish with a school-record time of 7.78.

This marks the third time that Wells has broken the school record on the season, as he first broke it with a time of 7.83 at the Gladstein Invitational in late January and again on the second day of the 2015 GLIAC Indoor Track & Field Championships with a time of 7.79.

Wells also becomes the first individual indoor men's sprinter champion in school history and the first indoor individual champion since Bryant Wilson took the pole vault in 2008.

• Illinois State's Antonio Farley (Round Lake) earned all-conference honors in two events at the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track Championships.

His 4x400 relay team took first place in the meet, while individually, Farley ran to a third-place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.39.

Men's swimming

Lewis sophomore Bryan Wiener (Mundelein) used a time of 47.40 in the finals to earn all-American honors in the 100 backstroke with a sixth-place finish at the 2015 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving national championships.

It is Wiener's first outright all-American award.

His 11th-place finish in the 2013 100 backstroke gave him honorable mention status.

He was also part of the Flyers' 14th-place 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:01.12.

Wiener finished 20th in the 200 backstroke (1:49.42).

Valuable volunteers

Thirty two girl soccer players from Libertyville High School were able to help pack food at 'Feed My Starving Children' on March 12. They helped pack a total of 72 Manna Pack Potato-D meals which will feed 43,200 hungry children.

Baseball

Illinois State's Paul DeJong (Antioch) was been named the Missouri Valley Conference's male scholar-athlete of the week.

DeJong, a redshirt junior infielder/catcher, earned the honor for the second time this year, after previously earning the award in February.

DeJong reached base six times over Illinois State's three-game stretch at the Snowbird Classic last weekend in Port Charlotte, Fla., helping the Redbirds to a pair of wins.

DeJong tallied a double, 2 singles, a walk and was hit by two pitches over the stretch, to post a .250/.400/.333 slash line. He also scored three runs and played error-free over the weekend, while spending time at catcher, second base and third base.

DeJong currently leads the Missouri Valley Conference in home runs (5), total bases (35) and slugging percentage (. 686), while ranking among the Valley's Top 10 in hits (16), runs (14), RBI (11) and batting average (. 333).

Equally strong in the classroom, he owns a 3.79 grade-point average while majoring in biochemistry/pre-medicine.

Men's basketball

Two Libertyville residents have played a key role in Augustana's berth in the NCAA Division III Final Four slated for March 20-21 in Salem, Va. The sixth-ranked Vikings (26-4) will take on fourth-ranked Babson (29-2) in the first semifinal on March 20.

Vikings junior Griffin Pils (Libertyville) leads the team in 3-point percentage at .418 while classmate Brandon Motzel (Carmel) has blocked a team-best 34 shots this season.

• Please email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com