advertisement

Bukovsky, Westerkamp at their best in state Showdown

The television broadcaster was astounded to hear Amy Bukovsky had only made four 3-pointers on the season.

Jack Westerkamp hit nine of them on 29 percent 3-point shooting.

Both Montini basketball players got hot when it counted. Bukovsky and Westerkamp became the first boy and girl from the same school to win their divisions of the state Three-Point Showdown in the same year. Classmates, too.

A junior guard, Bukovsky won the girls Class 3A division while Westerkamp, also a junior guard, captured the Class 3A boys division and won the "King of the Hill" competition between winners from all four classes. In the final round on Saturday Westerkamp made 14 of 15 shots.

In each case their achievements surpassed humble beginnings.

"To be honest, I was not really expecting much," said Bukovsky, who averaged 1.4 points in 16 games for the fourth-place Broncos. "I just went out there and wanted to do the best I could do."

"You're not thinking about numbers," Westerkamp said, "you're just going out there and shooting."

That's exactly the proper attitude for a 5-foot-2 guard who made nine 3s on the season in 22 games, shooting 29 percent for the 3-point line. As Broncos boys coach Brian Opoka reported Saturday from the Peoria Civic Center, Westerkamp's win was the silver lining to a three-win season.

"One of the coolest basketball experiences I have ever had," Opoka said.

It started at the regional level. Bukovsky said she "just squeaked by" netting 6 of 15 to grab the fourth spot behind three other Montini players, Madison Mallory, Nikki Oppenheimer and Elysse Pitts.

At the sectional she made 10, followed with 10 more in the March 5 state preliminaries in Normal, then turned it up to 11 to win the 3A plaque.

"It was an amazing experience," she said.

"The nice thing about it was the kids were so supportive," said Mike Bukovsky, Amy's father - and coach, as she pitches and plays second base on his varsity softball team.

"It was a tough deal on Friday when they lost then she had to shoot right after that for the 3A state championship. It was kind of emotional, to be honest," he said.

Two weeks later during the boys 3A-4A festivities in Peoria, Westerkamp made 10 of 15 shots in Thursday's preliminaries, tying with two other players. In the shootout Westerkamp made 7 of 10 to advance to the 3A finals, where he made 10 of 15 to win. In Saturday's King of the Hill competition he missed only the first shot from the top of the key. Westerkamp said the 14 makes is the contest's all-time best.

"Actually my brother looked it up," said Jack, whose brother is former Montini and Robert Morris quarterback Matt Westerkamp. Nebraska receiver Jordan Westerkamp is their cousin.

Both Amy Bukovsky and Jack Westerkamp made the "money ball," which earned $500 in scholarship funds from Country Financial.

Between girls and boys state finals Montini held a school assembly to recognize its winter sports teams. Westerkamp and Bukovsky were asked to compete in an impromptu 3-point contest. Westerkamp won the friendly competition against Bukovsky and her array of supporters.

"The girls basketball team was reminding me that Amy was the champion at that point," Westerkamp said.

We can imagine how gently they were "reminding" Jack of that. Tested under fire, he was ready for whatever the state contest offered.

"I think the most pressure I felt was probably shooting in front of the whole school," Westerkamp said. "I think after that I felt like shooting anywhere else was a little bit easier."

The more the merrier

Waubonsie Valley junior Tyler Kirkwood qualified for the 2014 Class 3A boys state track meet in high jump. He's also a downstate candidate in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles.

Asked at the Upstate Eight Conference boys indoor meet on March 20 if he preferred one discipline over the other, Kirkwood said he once did but that meant he didn't work as hard on the other.

Now, he said, "I have a preference for both."

Hail the Trojans

Congratulations to Timothy Christian's Kaitlyn Gehrke and Allison Zeilstra. Each was noted among Illinois Christian Schools Girls Basketball All-State Awards.

Gehrke, a 6-foot-1 senior post player, earned first-team all-state selection. Zeilstra, a 5-4 sophomore guard, made the all-defensive team.

Coaches from each of the state's 55 Christian high schools were eligible to submit candidates for the all-state team.

Special teams

In February we listed an update on U.S. speedskater and Wheaton North graduate Jeffrey Swider-Peltz, who finished eighth in the World Single Distance Championships in Heerenveen, Netherlands.

Coming off the second of two knee replacement surgeries his father, Jeff Peltz, isn't doing anything that crazy. He still gets around.

As ministry coordinator for Wheaton College's football team (and its defensive line coach), for the past 16 years Jeff Peltz has coordinated and accompanied Wheaton Football Ministry Partnership teams dispatched around the globe to assist football alumni doing missionary work.

Earlier this month 60 Thunder players split into five different teams - two headed to separate outposts in South Africa, two more in the Dominican Republic and a fifth headed to Selma, Alabama - for a full week of work.

"I wish I could clone myself," said Peltz, who split his time with the groups in and around the Dominican capital of Santiago.

"Whatever project or ministry they have going on we want to go on site and be a partner," Peltz said. "Ultimately the goal is if we can help bring their ministry and their community closer together, when we're gone that's going to keep going."

It also benefits football: "When my guys spend 10 days together 24/7, my guys become a closer team and that's going to translate to how we play on Saturday," he said.

In the Dominican one group met up with Wheaton North and Wheaton College graduate Kyle Bradley, who is helping develop an athletic complex. The football players took out an old barbed-wire fence, about a quarter-mile long, and dug a trench.

As Peltz said, "We bring the work."

In the mountains of Palo Alto outside of Santiago they partnered with 1988 Wheaton College graduate Seth Cohen to continue work on a school dormitory started last year. Specifically, their job was to grade a road and try to mitigate erosion from the rain.

It rained quite a bit while they were there, too. It often felt as if their wheels were spinning on that road. But when the footballers returned to the village they were greeted by scores of area children ready to play.

Really, that's the point.

"Eventually whatever you build is going to fall apart but the relationships, in the long run, those are the things that last," Peltz said.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

Follow Dave on Twitter @doberhelman1

Jack Westerkamp, a Montini basketball player who won King of the Hill basketball shooting competitions downstate.
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.